Chapter 7
Kendall was afraid to believe it, but Amy wouldn’t lie to her or play that kind of joke on her. “We need to go home.”
“Talk to me. What happened?”
She thought she might pass out and sucked in air.
“Kendall. What’s wrong?”
“Wrong? Nothing. Nothing at all. Amy found Livie sitting in the yard.”
“Is she okay? Does she know how Livie got there?”
“No, she was just sitting in the yard, crying. Can you go any faster?”
“Yes.”
Breaking all the speed limits, he got them home in eight minutes.
As soon as he stopped the car in her driveway, she jumped out and raced to Amy’s house with Cooper right behind her.
She didn’t bother knocking, and when she made it into Amy’s living room, she almost fell to her knees at seeing her daughter safe on Amy’s lap.
“Mommy!” Livie cried at seeing her.
“Oh, baby.” She rushed to take Livie in her arms, and Livie wrapped her arms and legs around Kendall like a spider monkey. She glanced at Cooper, who’d come up behind Livie. He met her gaze, and there was so much longing in his eyes. There was also relief that their daughter was safe.
“Mommy, where were you?”
“I’m right here, sweetie. Are you okay?”
Cooper eased around until he was in Livie’s view. “Do you hurt anywhere, Livie?”
Livie buried her face against Kendall’s neck. “Don’t let the bad man take me.”
“Oh, baby, he’s not a bad man. This is Cooper, Mommy’s friend. He helped me look for you.”
Livie shook her head, refusing to look at Cooper. “Make him go away.”
“I’m sorry,” Kendall said to Cooper. “She’s traumatized right now.”
He backed away until he was out of Livie’s sight. “I understand. She just needs the comfort and safety of her mother right now.”
“There’s a note pinned to her shirt,” Amy said. “I didn’t touch it.”
Kendall pulled Livie away from her neck and leaned away. Yes, there was a note on her shirt. It was folded in half, so she couldn’t read it. A bad feeling traveled through her.
“Don’t touch it,” Cooper said. He turned to Amy. “Do you have any rubber gloves or dish gloves?”
“Who are you?” Amy asked.
He glanced at Kendall before answering, and she nodded, giving him permission to tell Amy he was Livie’s father.
“Can we go find some gloves where we can talk without little ears nearby?”
“Ah, sure. In the kitchen.”
Kendall couldn’t hear their conversation, but she could imagine Amy’s surprise when she learned who Cooper was. All she’d told her friend was that Livie’s father wasn’t in the picture. While they talked, she moved to the sofa, sitting with Livie in her lap.
“Do you hurt anywhere?”
“No, Mommy.”
Although relieved she seemed to be physically all right, they’d need to have her checked by a doctor.
Cooper returned carrying yellow gloves and a baggie. He stopped a few feet from Livie. “I don’t want to scare her, but we need to get the note off her.”
“Why don’t I do it?”
“Probably better.”
Livie looked back at him when he handed Kendall the gloves. “Mommy, make the man go away.”
Cooper backed up, and Kendall felt sad for him.
He’d been excited to meet his daughter, but Livie didn’t want anything to do with him.
She’d never reacted like this around men, and Kendall didn’t want to think about what the past twenty-four hours had been like for her.
They were going to have to ask her, though.
Maybe not tonight when she obviously still wasn’t feeling safe.
“That’s Cooper, sweetie, and he’s Mommy’s friend. He’s a very nice man.” She pulled the gloves on. “Hold still a minute, and let me take this note off you, okay?”
“The bad man put it on me.”
“Well, the bad man isn’t here, and he’s not coming back.” She wanted to cry, to yell, to pound on something. How dare the bad man scare her little girl. But she couldn’t break down in front of Livie. She had to make her daughter believe she was safe now.
Cooper held open the baggie, and she dropped the note in. What did it say? She almost didn’t want to know. Whatever words were on it, they wouldn’t be good.
Tears welled in her daughter’s eyes. “He said he’s coming back. I don’t want him to, Mommy. Don’t let him take me again.”
“I won’t, I promise.” She met Cooper’s gaze. Was he going to leave now that Livie was back? Would he stay for a while if she asked him to? Livie would be safer with him here. His face was unreadable. Was that his soldier face, the mask he wore when walking into danger?
“Can I do anything?” Amy asked.
Livie started crying. “I want to go home.”
“Okay, baby.” As she stood, Livie tightened her grip on Kendall’s neck.
Cooper touched Amy’s arm. “There’s really nothing you can do but thank you for taking care of her until we got here.”
“Of course.”
Propping Livie up with one arm, Kendall gave her friend a hug. “I’m so glad you were home and found her. Thank you.”
“If you see a stranger hanging around or anything out of the norm, call the police,” Cooper told Amy.
“Believe me, I’ll be watching.”
When they arrived home, Kendall handed Cooper her purse. “My keys are in the side pocket.”
He got them out, and when he unlocked the door and followed them in, Livie cried harder. “The man can’t come in, Mommy. No mans!”
“Remember I told you Cooper’s Mommy’s friend? He’s big and strong and won’t let the bad man take you away again.”
“Livie, I promise I won’t let the bad man take you,” Cooper said softly.
She hiccupped as she peered around Kendall to look at Cooper. “Okay, Mommy. He can stay with us.” She buried her face into Kendall’s neck again.
“I’m going to give her a bath and get her in her pajamas.”
“You can’t. I know you don’t want to hear this, but she needs to be checked by a doctor before you bathe her.”
Kendall squeezed her eyes shut. He was right, but she hated that she couldn’t wash the twenty-four hours and whatever had happened in that time off her daughter.
“Do you have a doctor you can call now?”
“Yes.” God, she hated having to put Livie through an exam.
“We’ll need to call Rossi, but I’d rather get this taken care of first, and I’d also like you to see if she’ll tell you what happened before Rossi knows she’s back.”
“Okay.” She leaned away so she could see Livie. “Sweetie, Mommy needs to make a phone call. Will you sit on the couch for a few minutes while I go do that?”
“No, Mommy!” She pushed her face back against Kendall’s neck.
Kendall sighed. “I don’t want to explain things where she can listen. I’ll call, tell Dr. Townsend who you are, then you can go in the other room and talk to her.”
“Okay.” He glanced at the baggie he still held. “Do you have rubber gloves? We need to see what this says.”
“Under the sink.” She wished she never had to know what was on that note. While he was in the kitchen, she pressed her face against Livie’s. “Are you thirsty or hungry, sweetie?”
“Can I have ice cream?”
Tonight, she could have anything she wanted. “Yes. We’ll all have some.” Maybe she’d get comfortable with Cooper if he ate ice cream with them. She stood and carried Livie to the barstool. “You’re going to have to sit here while Mommy makes our ice cream.”
Livie tightened her hold and shook her head.
“I’ll make us some ice cream,” Cooper said.
He’d put on the gloves and had taken the note out of the baggie.
She stared at it for a few seconds, then nodded and returned to the living room.
She could see him from the couch, and his lips thinned as he read the note.
He glanced up at her, and there was fury in his eyes.
Her stomach rolled, and she swallowed hard, afraid she was going to be sick.
“What does it say?”
He shook his head as his gaze fell on Livie. “Later. Right now, let’s get something into her stomach, then you can call the doctor.”
She managed to get Livie to sit on the couch to eat her bowl of ice cream, and she didn’t freak out when Cooper sat at the other end from them. When they finished, Cooper took their bowls to the sink, rinsed them, then put them in the dishwasher.
When he returned, he sat on the sofa next to her. “We should bag up the clothes she’s wearing and give them to the police. It’s quite possible his DNA is on them,” he quietly said.
“I hate this.” What had happened to Livie while she was with the man? Livie lowered her head to Kendall’s lap and closed her eyes.
“I know,” Cooper said. “I’m not going to call Rossi until the doctor has checked her out. He’ll show up, demanding to talk to her, and she’s not ready for that.”
“Thank you. Can I tell you how much I hate thinking of a strange man having his hands on her?”
“Yeah, makes me want to hunt him down and show him just how much we hate what he did. Can I get your phone out of your purse so you can call the doctor? You can change her clothes while I do that.”
“Sure. Can you get her pajamas from the top drawer of her dresser?”
“Of course.”
Thankfully, Livie didn’t wake up while her clothes were changed. Kendall had never in her life known such rage. She’d never thought she’d want to physically hurt another person, but she would gladly go with Cooper to hunt the man down who’d traumatized her little girl.
After getting Livie’s pajamas on her, Kendall called the doctor. “Hi, Patty,” she said when Dr. Townsend’s receptionist answered. “This is Kendall Hart. It’s urgent that I talk to the doctor as soon as possible.”
“Is Olivia sick?”
“No, I just have to talk to Dr. Townsend about a private matter, and it really is urgent.”
“Okay. She’s with a patient, but she’s almost finished. I’ll give her the message as soon as she comes out.”
“Thank you.” She glanced down at Livie to see she was still soundly asleep.
Cooper had returned to his end of the couch, and his gaze was on Livie. “Our daughter’s beautiful, Kendall.”
She liked that he hadn’t hesitated claiming Livie as his. “What did you tell Amy?”
“I wasn’t sure how much you wanted her to know, so I only told her that I’m Livie’s father, and that it was your story to share. What did you tell her about Livie’s father?”
“Only that he wasn’t in the picture. She’ll have questions, for sure.”
“I wish…” He shook his head.
“What? You wish what?”