Chapter Twenty-Four
Emmett paused in the hallway to look himself over in the mirror. He only realized what he was doing when Tanya came to stand beside him and grinned at their reflection.
"You look good, Dad — handsome. I'm sure Harper will notice."
He was about to protest that that wasn't why he'd made an effort. But as he met his daughter's gaze in the mirror, he thought better of it. Why should he deny it?
Tanya looked down at herself. "Do you think I look okay?"
"I do. You look great. You're beautiful, Button."
"Aw, thanks. You're such a good dad, you know."
"I do my best."
"You are the best, Papa Bear."
His breath caught, hearing the name, and she gave him a rueful smile. "I messed up when I called Harper Mama Bear, didn't I?"
He hugged her to his side. "No, you didn't mess up. In fact, it probably did us all a favor. It brought things out in the open."
"Yeah, but Harper moved out because of it."
"She didn't move out because you called her Mama Bear."
"No, I know. But it sounded like I was calling her Mom. And that upset Alana. And..." Her words trailed off and she shrugged.
"I've told you — and Alana has — you don't need to feel bad about it."
"The only thing I feel bad about is that Harper isn't here anymore."
"She'll be here very soon," said Emmett. He didn't want to voice how much he was missing Harper already. "And you did see her last night."
Tanya grinned. "I know, right? That was awesome. And I love that Alana was the one who called her."
Emmett did too. He'd been on his own with the girls for years now, and he'd taken care of all their needs by himself, as best he could.
When it came to school stuff, he'd never missed — not with cupcakes for birthdays, projects for the science fair, or costumes for Halloween.
But last night, when Alana had gotten into a panic — wanting to make sure she had everything she needed, since she wouldn't be coming home after school today before the play opened tonight — she'd insisted that she needed to talk to Harper.
Harper was the one who'd been most involved the last few weeks.
She'd helped with costume details, bought makeup, all the little fiddly things that Emmett would normally have done himself, but hadn't been able to while he was out of commission.
And since he was so far out of the loop, Harper was the one Alana wanted.
She'd arrived within fifteen minutes of Alana's call.
And when she'd walked into the house, it had felt like home again.
That had hit Emmett hard. This place had been home since he'd returned to the valley after the military.
Both girls had lived here their whole lives.
This had been Emily's home. His and Emily's home.
Harper had only stayed here with them for a few weeks.
And after that, she'd only been gone for a couple of days.
But with her gone, the place hadn't felt the same anymore.
Tanya touched his arm and he looked down at her with a smile, realizing that he'd been lost in his thoughts.
"Do you think she'll come back to us soon?"
"She'll be here to pick us up. Any minute now."
Tanya narrowed her eyes at him. "You know what I mean, Dad."
"Yeah, I do. Sorry, Button. I shouldn't have done that."
"It's okay; I know it's because she's important to you."
"She is. And you don't mind that?"
Tanya grinned. "Of course I don't. I'm keeping all my fingers and toes crossed, when I can, that you and Harper will be together and we'll be a family." She frowned. "A new kind of family. I still love Mom."
He rested his hand on her shoulder. "I know you do. So do I. But that doesn't mean we can't love Harper, too. And I do love her, you know."
Tanya made a face at him. "Well, duh, of course you do. I know that. We all do."
"And you don't mind?" He had to ask.
She seemed older as she looked up at him and said, "Of course I don't mind, Dad.
I want you to be happy. No one ever talks about it—I mean, everyone thinks it's sad that Alana and me lost our mom, but you lost your wife.
The person you loved most in the world. That's sad, and I don't want you to be sad; I want you to be happy.
And Harper makes you happy. I can see that.
" She grinned. "She makes me happy too. And Alana.
Even though Alana gets sad about Mom still.
" She let out a little sigh. "Life's complicated, isn't it? "
Emmett chuckled as he ran his hand over her hair. "It sure is. But it's good as well. You and your sister are the best things in my life. You make it good."
"And you make us good." Tanya glanced toward the window. "Oh look, here's Harper. Are you ready to go?"
"I am. Do you have everything you need?"
She shrugged. "I don't need anything. Let's go."
She scampered out the front door ahead of him and gave Harper a quick hug before climbing into the back seat of her truck. Harper came to greet him. And from the way she let her gaze travel over him, it seemed that Tanya had been right—she liked the way he looked.
He leaned in to press a quick peck to her lips. "You look great."
Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she said, "So do you."
"Thanks."
Once they were settled in the truck and on their way up toward town, he glanced over at her. He was glad that they were going together tonight. And after everything that had happened with Alana last night, he was hopeful about the future. But there was still one big doubt looming in his mind.
She turned and gave him a quick smile. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything's great," said Tanya from the back seat. "We're excited about tonight. Alana’s going to be great, isn't she?"
"She is," said Harper. "She already is great. We've seen her so many times, we know how good she is; she's going to be the star of the show."
"Hmph. She really should be the star of the show. Kennedy Sinclair only got the lead because of her dad's sponsor thing."
Emmett smiled to himself as Harper bristled behind the wheel.
"I'm really not impressed with that whole deal," she said.
"Don't get me wrong, neither am I. But it's just the way things work around here. Always has been."
"Well, they shouldn't."
"Hey, I agree."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to bite your head off. It just annoys me."
"I'm not thrilled about it myself. But unfortunately, it's the way life tends to work. Alana knows the deal. And she's fine. She enjoys her part."
"She doesn't need to be the star of the show to be the star of the show," Tanya said from the back seat.
Emmett exchanged a smile with Harper.
"You're absolutely right about that," Harper said. "And I think that by the time this evening is over, the whole town will know it."
~ ~ ~
When they arrived at the theater, Harper brought the truck to a stop out front.
"Do you guys want to get out here, and I'll go and park?"
"No, thanks."
She turned to Emmett, and he chuckled. "I'm doing better, and we're here early." He jerked his chin toward the parking lot. "We can grab a space close by, so I won't have to walk too far."
"Yeah, we'll come with you," said Tanya, peering through the window.
Harper guessed that she was looking out for Nat. "I don't expect the others will be here for a while yet. I wanted to come early to make sure..."
"To make sure of what?" Tanya asked.
She gave them both a shame-faced smile. "I don't really know what I wanted to make sure of.
I just — I didn't want us to be late. I didn't want your dad to get jostled by the crowds coming in.
I didn't..." Perhaps she shouldn't say it, but it was true, so she didn’t see why not.
"I suppose what I mean, is that I didn't want to miss a minute of tonight. "
A rush of warmth filled her chest when Emmett caught her hand, gave it a squeeze, and said, "I'm glad."
She went to park the truck at the end of the row of spaces closest to the front door, but Emmett pointed to a row along the side of the building. "We should go over there."
"But I wanted to get you as close as possible to the doors."
"And I appreciate it, but if we go over there, we'll be as close to the back exit later. We usually come out that way after a performance. They don't let the kids use the rear of the theater at night, since the back entrance is close to one of the bars."
"Oh no, has there been trouble in the past?" she asked.
"There hasn't, but it's because the theater manager likes to plan ahead."
She smiled. "And you do too."
She parked in the spot where he'd indicated, and she could see that there was a path that cut through to the front entrance from here as well, so he wouldn't have far to walk either going in or coming out. "You're right, this is much better than my idea."
"Only because you didn't know about the exit."
Harper nodded. That was the thing — she was good at figuring out the best solution with the information she had available, but she so often found herself cut off from insider information.
As if she'd read her mind, Tanya leaned forward from the back seat and said, "But you'll know in the future, won't you, Harpsichord? "
By the time they reached the front of the building, Trip and Shelley were already standing out there and greeted them with a wave. One of the MacFarland Ranch trucks passed by and came to a stop. The back door flew open, and Nat jumped out, hurrying toward Tanya.
Emmett raised a hand to Ford, who was driving, when he put his window down. "That's okay, she can hang with us. We'll keep an eye on her."
"Thanks," said Ford. "We'll catch up with you guys in a minute."
Trip nodded at Emmett. "You're moving around better."
"I am, thanks. I'm almost healed."
Trip rolled his eyes. "I'll ask you if you still feel the same way next time I hear you cough."
Shelley smiled at Harper while the men talked. "How is everything?"
"All good," said Harper.