Chapter 12
Cooper’s heart dropped to his stomach when Livie screamed. The anguish and fear in her voice tore at him. He followed Kendall as she ran to the room. Livie was sitting up in the middle of the bed crying her little heart out. He flipped the light switch on.
“Sweetheart,” Kendall said, scooping Livie up.
Livie wrapped her arms and legs around Kendall. “Mommy, the bad man came.”
“Oh, honey, it was just a dream. The bad man isn’t here.”
“He was!”
Cooper wasn’t sure if he’d make it worse by approaching her, but he couldn’t stand back while his little girl was hurting and afraid. He eased up next to Kendall. “Livie, I promise the bad man isn’t here. I wouldn’t let him come here, and I’m way bigger and stronger than he is.”
She lifted water-filled eyes to his. “You promise?”
Just go and slay me, little girl. That she trusted him to keep her safe humbled him. He tapped his chest. “With all my heart, I promise.”
“Let’s get you back to bed,” Kendall said.
“You stay, Mommy.”
“I will, but I need to put on my jammies, okay?”
Livie shook her head. “No. You stay.”
“What if I stay with you while your mommy puts on her jammies?” Had he ever before now said the word jammies? Pretty sure he hadn’t. What other words would he learn to use because of his daughter? He couldn’t wait to find out.
“Cooper will stay with you while I change, okay? I’ll only be a few minutes.”
Livie looked from Kendall to him, and he had the feeling she was judging his ability to keep her safe.
Then, surprising him—and Kendall by the expression on her face—Livie held out her arms to him.
It was a momentous moment, and he was overwhelmed by the trust she put in him and the deep-seated protectiveness he already had for his child.
Kendall pulled some clothes from her suitcase, and after she left the room, he sat on the edge of the bed with Livie wrapped around him. It was the first time he held his little girl, and he swallowed against the lump in his throat as he gently rocked her.
“Did you know that princesses have magic powers?”
She leaned her head back so she could see him. “I’m a princess.”
“Yes, you are. What are your magic powers?”
“I can run fast. And…and I…” She lifted her eyes to the ceiling.
“Hit home runs?”
“Yes!”
“That’s a very good magic power to have.”
“Can we play baseball?”
“Not tonight, but sure, we will tomorrow.”
“I brought my bat and ball. And my glove.”
“Yes, you did.”
Kendall returned, and when she sat next to them, Livie didn’t try to go to her, which made him absurdly happy. It seemed she’d forgotten her nightmare and was, unfortunately, wide awake.
“We need to get under the covers and go to sleep,” Kendall said.
He lifted Livie and set her on the bed. “I’ll leave you two now.”
“No, Cooper,” Livie said, tears welling in her eyes again. “You stay, too. The bad man might come back.”
How was he supposed to walk away and make his little girl cry?
“I can sleep in Livie’s bed if you want the other one,” Kendall said.
“We’ll have a family sleep-in. I just need to change into my jammies, too.”
“Don’t go, Cooper,” Livie said when he reached the door.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes.” In less than five minutes, he returned, wearing sleep pants and a T-shirt. Kendall and Livie were under the covers, and Kendall was reading Livie a story.
“You’re back!” Livie said, grinning at seeing him. “You can get in bed with us. Mommy can read you a story, too.”
His gaze shot to Kendall. Amusement lit her eyes, and when she didn’t seem inclined to help him out, he shifted his eyes back to Livie.
“I’m too big to fit in your bed with you and Mommy, but I’ll be right next to you in this bed.
” Once he was settled in a bed that his feet dangled over the end, he said, “Okay, Mommy. Read me and Livie a story.”
She chuckled, then began to read again, something about a unicorn named Uni that wanted to find a little girl to have for a friend.
“I’ll be her friend,” Livie said. She looked across her bed to Cooper. “You’re a boy, but you can be her friend, too.”
“Do you think she’ll like me?”
Livie gave an adamant nod. “I’ll tell her you’re nice and you’re strong, so if anybody scares her, you’ll save her.”
His little girl tickled him. “I will.”
After Kendall finished reading the book, she slipped out of bed, turned off the light and returned to bed. “Time to go to sleep, sweetie.”
“Good night, Princess.”
“Good night, Cooper. Sleep tight.” She giggled. “How do you sleep tight, Mommy?”
“It just means to have a good sleep. Now hush and close your eyes.”
Cooper rolled onto his back. His bed would be more comfortable, but a family sleep-in beat comfort any day. He wasn’t used to going to bed this early, and his thoughts drifted to how drastically his life had changed since Kendall’s phone call.
Tomorrow morning, he would introduce his daughter to his friends, and he couldn’t wait to be the proud father.
As for Kendall, he wanted to see where this chemistry between them could go.
He liked her, wanted her in his bed, wanted a chance with her.
At least, a chance to see if he could be more than just her baby daddy.
He chuckled at the thought that he was a baby daddy.
“Can’t sleep?” Kendall whispered.
“A lot on my mind,” he whispered back. He rolled onto his side to face her. It was too dark to see her other than a dim outline but whispering to each other in the dark felt intimate. “You can’t sleep either?”
“No. Same reason.”
They could talk for a while, get to know each other better.
He wanted to know more about when she was kidnapped as a little girl, but that might bring up too many dark memories for her.
She’d already said the anniversaries of her kidnapping were hard for her, and the reason she was out the night he’d met her.
He thought of another thing he wanted to know.
“Tell me about your podcasts.”
“I don’t remember what I’ve already told you about them. My head was messed up with Livie missing.”
“You only said they were about cold-case children kidnappings.”
“Well, I do one the first Monday of every month. I feature one cold case of a missing child. I’ve been doing them for three years, and two of the cases I’ve featured have been solved thanks to my listeners.”
“That’s great, Kendall. I’m curious, though, how does that work?”
“I have a dedicated email that I give out at the end of each podcast. Anyone who knows something or has a suggestion or picks up on a clue the police missed can email me. I pass any of those emails on to a retired homicide detective. I’ve never met Ray, but he’s pretty awesome in that he investigates on his own time. ”
“Because of you, you said two cases were solved. That’s amazing.”
“It’s because of my listeners and Ray that the families finally got closure.”
“I’d say it’s because of you, your listeners and Ray, so give yourself some credit, too. You said you were kidnapped when you were seven.” It was bizarre that they’d both been kidnapped, and now Livie. “Will you tell me about it?”
She was quiet for so long that he thought she wasn’t going to answer. Maybe if he shared his own story, she’d feel more comfortable sharing hers.
“When I was a senior in high school, I went to spring break in Florida. Funny thing. I was accidently kidnapped.”
“What?” She’d exclaimed that, and she glanced at Livie before lifting onto her elbow. “How do you get accidently kidnapped?”
He told her the story. “And that’s how I met Gray and Liam and why my life took a direction entirely different from what I’d planned.”
“Wow,” she said. “That’s… Just wow.” Still facing him, she dropped her head back down on her pillow. “What had you planned?”
“My dream was to play professional baseball, hopefully for the Atlanta Braves. I had a full baseball scholarship to Vanderbilt in Nashville.”
“You must have been good to get a full scholarship.”
“That’s one thing I can’t be humble about. I was damn good.”
She chuckled. “Do you regret the way things turned out?”
“Not for a minute. Gray and Liam are my brothers, and as much as I would have been happy playing ball, I fully believe I wouldn’t have the satisfaction I get from rescuing children.” He grinned. “Besides, if my life had gone the way I’d planned, I wouldn’t have met you.”
“And we wouldn’t have Livie,” she whispered.
“Now that I know about her, I can’t imagine a world without her in it. Has it occurred to you that if you hadn’t been kidnapped, you wouldn’t have been at The Tipsy Turtle that particular night?”
“And we wouldn’t have our daughter. I never thought about it like that.”
“So as awful as that time in our lives was, something incredibly amazing happened because of those events. We had a baby.”
“Yeah, we did.”
“Tell me what happened to you, Kens.”