Chapter Eight
This entire situation was beyond surreal. Not even considering that for almost a week Cooper had been responsible for a toddler—granted with a bit of help, but still—he’d been playing daddy and even more startling, enjoying it. Ignoring the fact that for some still unknown reason everyone, including his grandparents despite his reassurances to the contrary, seemed to believe he was Emma’s biological father. Regardless of those completely out of the ordinary and borderline unbelievable scenarios, what he seemed to struggle with most right now, was that Teresa Gordon, after all these years, was seated beside him.
If he ignored the circumstances, he could almost make himself believe he’d traveled back in time. Back to high school, back to stressing out about his grades, to struggling to stay awake and alert, and to forcing his Baron-sized ego to accept that he needed the then fourteen-year-old freshman brainiac to save his GPA and his dreams of AM. And back to the young girl who, no matter what, could always make him smile. Only now, she wasn’t fourteen, she was all grown up, and even weak and worn out, lit up the room.
At first, he’d thought the drive to the ranch would be the perfect time to talk and find out what had she been thinking. What was her intention? Once he’d settled Tess into the passenger seat, by the time he’d reached the driver side, she was sound asleep. They were only a few minutes out from the ranch and she hadn’t even blinked. Sleeping so soundly, her exhaustion made him wonder if the hospital had released her too soon. Thank heavens she wasn’t going home alone but to the ranch. He had a feeling there would be quite a bit of convalescence involved in the next few weeks.
Coming to a full stop in front of the house, he debated what to do now. Obviously, he needed to wake her up. On the other hand, perhaps letting her sleep wasn’t a bad thing. But in the car? A tap on his window startled him. Looking over his shoulder, Devlin stood on the other side of the glass, frowning.
Hitting the button to lower the window, he whispered at his brother. “What?”
“Emma is in a mood. I think seeing her mom might help, but not if you two sit out here parked like a couple of teens on Lovers Lane.”
Wasn’t that a laugh? Aside from not having seen Tess in more years than he cared to count, and even though he’d always regretted losing touch after she’d left for college, the poor woman couldn’t hold her eyes open, hardly apropos for a visit to Lovers Lane. “I hate to wake her up.”
Devlin glanced around him and sighed. “Well, you can’t leave her out here in the car.”
No, he knew that. Opening the door, and nudging his brother back, Cooper climbed out of the car and circled around to Tess’s side. Slowly opening the door, he squatted beside her. “Hey, sleepy head.”
She didn’t budge.
Gently tapping her knee, he tried again. “Tess. We’re home.”
Her head moved and she struggled to open her eyes.
“I’d better go back inside and have Grams distract Emma. I have a feeling that it would be better for Emma to see her mom more fully awake.”
“Agreed.” Right now he was actually very concerned how Emma might react to her groggy and weak mother. Not that long ago he would have assumed what an almost two year old would know about adult behavior. Only a few days with Emma and he was pretty sure there wasn’t a single thing that kid missed. Most definitely, she would notice the changes in her mother and he did not want the child frightened. “Tess.”
She blinked again, and then squinted at the sun hanging low in the sky. “Where am I?”
“Paradise Ridge.”
Confusion settled into deep lines on her forehead.
“The ranch. You’ve been here before.” This was not going the way he expected.
Still frowning, she looked around him at the front door. The moment a slow smile teased at the corners of her mouth, he knew she realized where she was. Oddly, it made him feel good that the revelation brought a smile to her face.
“Let’s get inside and see Emma.”
“Emma.” Her smile brightened even more and her head lolled back onto the headrest.
“Okay, sleepy head. Come on.” Having given up on waking her up without a large pot of coffee, he slipped his arm under her knees and the other around her back. In another moment, she was curled against him as he climbed the front steps. “Here we go.”
The front door opened. “Welcome home, Mr. Cooper.”
“Thanks, Jeeves.”
“Yes, sir. Your grandparents are expecting you in the parlor.”
He bobbed his head and marched into the front parlor. Without saying a word, his grandmother pointed to one of his favorite chairs. Another minute and Tess was settled comfortably, and more importantly, waking up.
“Thought you might like a little refreshment.” Hazel smiled at their latest houseguest and set a glass of her fresh squeezed lemonade on the side table. Taking a step back, her gaze met Cooper’s and he could read the concern in her eyes as easily as he could have had she written it on a piece of paper.
Offering a grateful smile, Tess reached for the glass and took a long slow sip. “Oh, that is good. I thought that my memories of Hazel’s lemonade had been built up more than the reality.” Holding the glass in front of her, she shook her head. “It’s even better than I remembered.”
Not sure what else to do for her, Cooper grabbed a fleece blanket out of a nearby basket and stretched it out over Tess’s lap.
“I don’t need a blanket.” Tess took another sip. She seemed to finally be waking up. “Where is Emma?”
Still holding the unfolded blanket out in front of her, Cooper looked to his grandmother.
“Margaret has her in the kitchen eating a snack. She’s especially fond of yogurt and Goldfish.”
Tess smiled. “She’d live on it if I let her.” Lips pressed tightly together, no doubt in an effort to hide her discomfort, Tess set the glass down on the table, waved Cooper and his blanket away, and easing herself back against the chair, smiled up at him. “When can I see my baby?”
From the moment Teresa had woken in the hospital and was fully aware of what was going on, all she could think about was holding her little girl. The current situation, the accident leaving her incapable of caring for her own daughter, confirmed that the Barons were still a family she could count on. What she wasn’t sure of was how much they knew about the father mix up and if anyone would be angry with her when they found out.
“Look who’s here.”
Nothing made Tess’s heart sing like Emma’s smile.
“Mama.” Her pudgy little arms stretched out, she leaned toward her.
“Whoa, sweetie,” Cooper chuckled softly, his grip on the little girl tightening as he handed Emma off to her mother. “Careful. Mommy has an owy.”
“Owy.” Frowning, Emma cocked her head at her mother.
The interaction between this bachelor and her little girl had so much emotion surging in Teresa’s chest, she didn’t know if she should smile, cry, or get down on her knees and thank heaven for bringing this man back into her life, even if only as a friend.
Pulling her daughter against her chest, Teresa squeezed as hard as she could without hurting herself or Emma. “Who’s Mama’s favorite girl?”
Emma wrapped her little arms around her mother, then leaned back and grinning widely, shouted, “Emma!”
“Yes, Emma is Mama’s favorite girl. And who is Mama’s big girl?”
“Emma!” she patted her hands on Teresa’s chest. “Emma a big girl.”
“Yes, you are.” She curled her arms around her daughter again and just breathed in the sweet scent of toddler and enjoyed how her soft locks of hair tickled Teresa’s cheek. “I love you.”
“Wuv you,” Emma repeated and leaned back, sitting on Teresa’s lap, leaving several inches of space between them.
Taking her daughter’s cue, Teresa pointed at herself, “I,” then made an X with her arms across her chest, “love,” And using her pointer finger directed at Emma lilted, “you.”
“Mama,” Emma whispered gleefully.
Aware suddenly how intently the people in the room were watching her, she cleared her throat. “It’s a game we’ve played since she first started learning words.”
Mrs. Baron nodded. “We noticed she uses some sign language, but didn’t see any signs of hearing loss.”
“No,” Teresa shook her head, “she learned it from a favorite TV show.”
“I see.” Lila Baron nodded, her focus, and smile, on Emma.
For the next few minutes they played pat-a-cake, and sang the itsy-bitsy spider with Emma trying desperately to mimic her mother’s finger movements, and then Emma crawled down from her mother’s lap, did her waddled run across the room to where a dog sat at Mrs. Baron’s feet. Emma plopped down on the floor and throwing herself on the animal, wrapped her arms around the pup and rubbing her face in the fur, gleefully announced, “Doggy.”
Teresa chuckled, then pressed her hand around her middle to stop the pulling pain.
“Easy there.” Cooper stood halfway between her and Emma, as if he were a sheep dog trying to view all of his flock, ready to pounce at the first sign of danger.
To Teresa’s surprise, the dog barely budged until Emma sat upright and the dog rolled over on its back.
“Gentle,” Cooper encouraged as Emma stretched out her hand and rubbed the dog’s under belly. “Atta girl. Nice and easy.”
“Mama,” Emma shouted happily to her mother, “doggy!”
“Yes, sweetie. A very nice doggy.”
“Mama,” Emma repeated.
“I’m right here.”
“Doggy.” She tried this time and it finally struck Teresa that her daughter wanted her to go pet the doggy.
“Mommy will visit with the doggy later.”
“Mommy needs to rest her owy,” Cooper offered.
Emma frowned again, obviously debating something about her mother’s owy, and finally toddled back. “Up me down.”
“Climb on up.” Teresa knew full well lifting her daughter onto her lap would not be a good idea.
“Up me down,” her baby’s tone grew stronger.
“Let me help.” Cooper swept her up off the floor, spun her about once while making zoom noises, and then set Emma down on Teresa’s lap. “And a perfect landing!”
Emma clapped, Cooper clapped, every Baron in the room clapped. Just one big happy family. Except no matter what she put down on any piece of paper, and no matter how gracious they all were, they still weren’t her family.