Authors: Brenda Minton
“Are you okay?” she asked, her hand still on his.
He looked down at the woman standing with bare feet, a long dress swishing around her legs. “What?”
“You left us for a minute in there.”
He sighed. “Yeah, I guess I did. I was just thinking about all Katrina missed out on and everything the kids will miss with her not being here. Callie misses her the most.”
“She was older. She remembers more about having a mommy.”
Yeah, she had memories of Katrina, that was a good thing. She had memories, a bad thing. He had memories, too. One of Katrina making him promise to marry someone who would love her kids. Someone who would be a real mom to them, she'd said. Because she'd had a stepmother who hadn't loved her. Katrina had run away at fifteen and lived a rough life for a few years.
“I should go. Cash is getting sleepy.”
Harmony touched his cheek and then she surprised him by standing on tiptoe and pulling him down to kiss him on the chin. He smiled at the sweet gesture.
“It will all work out.” Harmony walked with him back to the living room. Callie was curled up on the sofa and Cash was pushing a toy car across the floor making the appropriate sounds. Callie told him to drive a more quiet car and Cash giggled.
Yeah, he guessed it would all work out. But for now he had to pick Cash up and walk out into the rain. As they went out the door, he dropped his hat on Cash's head to protect him from the downpour. Dylan glanced back to see Callie wrap her arms around Harmony's waist. Harmony hugged her back.
It would all work out.
Chapter Fourteen
I
t was October, and Harmony's time in Dawson would come to an end soon. She sat next to Doris, crocheting colorful granny squares and thinking about what it would be like to go home, to Tennessee. When she thought of home, though, she thought Dawson. She didn't think about the large home her parents lived in, or her own apartment in Nashville.
Home had become the farmhouse her dad was considering putting on the market. Home was Dawson Community Church and the Mad Cow Café. Doris, Heather, Eva, these were her friends, the people who didn't expect more than she could give. They gave what she needed and were honest with their opinions.
She'd spent the better part of her life never knowing who liked her for herself and who wanted to be close to her because it might help them. Other than her family, Amy and these people in Dawson, she hadn't had a lot of honest relationships.
The buzz of her cell phone cut into the peaceful silence. She reached into her purse and saw her mother's name and picture flash across the screen. She answered with a smile.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hey, honey. How are you?”
“Good. I'm learning to crochet. You'll be proud. I'm making you an olive-green afghan for Christmas. With peach trim. Promise me you'll put it on your bed.”
Olivia Cross laughed. “It isn't really olive-green, is it?”
“No, you'll like it. What's up?”
And then Olivia Cross gave her an address in Missouri, a place less than two hours away from Grove and Dawson. It was where Patricia Duncan now lived. Olivia said something about homeless shelters in Texas and Kansas, then moving to Springfield and finally to a small town outside of Joplin. She worked at a hotel, in housekeeping. Harmony listened, her heart beating rapidly as the news sank in.
“How did you find her?”
“Lila helped me. It took a while but we found her. I'm going to call her. But I wanted to let you do this first. I want this to be between the two of you.”
“Okay.” Harmony drew in a breath. “Mom, thank you. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Call me after you see her, because I know you're going now.”
“I am.”
There was a long pause and then her mother sighed softly into the phone. “Do you want to wait and I'll go with you?”
“No, I think I need to face her alone.”
“I understand. But Harmony, I need for you to remember something. Remember that you're our daughter in every way that matters. From the moment you walked into our lives, you have been ours.”
“I know.”
She ended the call and dropped her phone back in her purse. Doris was watching her, questioning looks in her deep gray eyes.
“My birth mother lives less than two hours from here. All of this time and she's right here.”
“Goodness.”
“I should be excited to see her, right?”
Doris stopped crocheting. “I think you'd feel a lot of things right now, Harmony. I'm not sure if excited would be the word.”
“I'm afraid that if I look at her, I'm going to see myself.”
“Oh, hogwash.” Doris dropped her yarn and crochet hooks in the basket next to her chair. “You're not her. I'm not sure why you have such a poor opinion of yourself.”
“I think it comes from being raised surrounded by spectacular people. My sister is unbelievably beautiful and intelligent, Doris. My brother has our dad's talent. I'm the middle child in all ways. I'm medium.”
Doris shook her head, then laughed a little. “I think you are spectacular, Harmony. How many young women your age are spending their days at a nursing home doing senior Zumba, or taking meals to a cranky old farmer? You're as spectacular as they come. And you need to spend a little time believing in yourself. Don't you dare decide your future based on what has happened in the past or on the woman who gave birth to you.”
“Doris, I wish I could take you with me everywhere I go.”
“You'll always have me, honey. You just have to stop by and visit or give me a call. I'll tell you how the cow ate the cabbage. And I promise you, if I think you're messing up, I'll tell you that, too.”
“I'm counting on it.” She looked at her watch and stood to go. “I guess I'm going to make a trip to Missouri.”
“Why don't you take someone with you?”
“No, I think I have to do this alone.”
Doris shook her head. “I know I can't convince you otherwise.”
Harmony leaned to kiss her friend's cheek. “Not this time.”
She left, walking out into bright fall sunshine, the sky a brilliant blue. The summer haze had long gone, and the air felt free from humidity with a hint of a north wind that made long sleeves feel good.
As she crossed the parking lot to her car, she noticed the new dark blue Ford pulling in but didn't think much about it. Not until it parked next to her and she looked up did she realize that the cowboy behind those tinted windows was the last cowboy she wanted to see. He smiled at her as he got out. She opened her door and pretended the week since the storm had been a good week. A week in which the two of them had been moving toward independence. Because she'd pointed out to him the day after Callie's sleepover that they needed to prepare the kids for when she left town.
The deciding factor had been when Callie cuddled up with her that night and said she wanted her to be her new mommy.
“How's Doris?” Dylan asked as he approached her.
“Good. Nice truck.”
“Thanks. I finally retired my old truck. I bought that thing with cattle money when I was sixteen and it lived a long and useful life.”
“Not an easy life, I'm sure.”
He grinned at that. “No, not always an easy life. Where you heading to?”
She almost told him. Almost. “Home. Where are Cash and Callie?”
He rounded the front of her car and she wished she'd already gotten behind the wheel. Instead she found herself trapped by a man who was so casual about his good looks and charm that she found it hard to take a deep breath when he was around.
“They're with my mom. I've been out at Camp Hope helping Gage put together some team-building exercises for troubled teens that'll be there at the end of the month for a weekend retreat.”
Camp Hope was a local camp started by football player Adam MacKenzie. He'd grown up in the area and moved back after retiring from a pro football career. He'd married a local, Jenna Cameron.
“I heard a rumor that you're leaving at the end of the month.” He switched the conversation back to a subject she'd hoped they could avoid.
“I am.” She bit down on her bottom lip and looked off in the direction of the field behind the nursing home. “Dylan, please don't.”
“I'm not doing anything, Harmony. I was just going to say that we're friends, and you should treat me like a friend.”
“I know. It isn't easy saying goodbye. It isn't easy knowing that I won't be here and Callie might want her hair done and Cash might eventually say my name.”
“It isn't supposed to be easy to walk away from people you care about.”
Ouch.
That hurt and from the look he gave her, he knew it.
“I'm not walking away, I'm going home.”
“Yeah, I guess you are. For some reason, I thought this was home.”
“It's
your
home.”
He shook his head, adjusted his white cowboy hat and then pinned her with a glare. “You're one stubborn female, you know that?”
“I know. But I'm also the woman trying hard not to let you down.” She tried to change the subject. “By the way, I ordered the cake, like you asked. And I'll be here for Cash's birthday. If I'm still invited.”
“You know you are.”
He leaned in, resting one arm across the top of her car. “I wish you'd give yourself a chance. I wish...”
“What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. I need to go see Doris. I built a ramp for her, just in case she needs it when she goes home. Bill is out buying groceries, hoping that by next week she'll be home for good.”
“I hope she is. I know they miss each other.”
“Yeah, that's how it is when you care about someone.”
“See you later, Dylan.”
“See you later, Princess.” He closed her door and stepped back as she drove away.
She hadn't left Dawson yet and she already missed him. She hadn't expected to feel this way, but she did. And she couldn't tell him where she was going, because he had his own life to deal with. She couldn't be one more person Dylan Cooper felt he had to take care of.
* * *
Dylan rapped on the door of Doris's room and when she answered, he took his hat off and walked in. Her roommate, an older woman who never left the bed, glared at him. He smiled and nodded at her. But she couldn't be charmed.
“Dylan, it's so good to see you. You just missed Harmony.”
“I saw her in the parking lot. How are you doing, Doris? Ready to go home soon?”
“I'm very ready to go home. I'm going to miss Harmony, though.” She smiled at him. “I bet you and the kids will miss her, too.”
He raked his fingers through his hair and leaned back in the hard extra chair. Why wasn't the furniture more comfortable? Made no sense to him.
“Yeah, we'll miss her.”
“Go by and see her later, would you do that for me? Just check and make sure she's okay.”
He leaned forward and saw Doris smile a knowing little smile. “What is it, Doris?”
“She got a call about her birth mother living not far from here, in Missouri.”
“So she's going alone?”
Doris bit down on her bottom lip. “I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want me to tell everything.”
He grinned at that. “Doris, I love how you suddenly decide not to say anything. I should probably go.”
“Yes, you should.”
He hugged her goodbye and minutes later he was pulling up to the house at Cooper Creek. He had argued with himself all the way back to the ranch. He'd told himself that if Harmony wanted him to go with her, she would have asked. Then he told himself that Harmony didn't know what she wanted. Then again, he didn't know what he wanted, either. He knew without a doubt that she shouldn't go through something like that alone. He got that she was trying to put distance between them for the sake of the kids, but there were times that a person just needed a friend.
When he walked through the front door, Cash tackled him. He was wearing a cowboy hat, chaps and boots. And no pants.
“Where are your clothes?”
The little boy giggled and ran off in just his little-boy underwear. Dylan shook his head and walked into the living room where his mom was sitting in her favorite chair reading a book to Callie. It was a sweet sight.
“You're back earlier than I expected.” His mom looked over the top of her reading glasses as he approached.
“Yeah, well, I need some information and figured you could get it for me.”
“What's that?” She put the book down on her lap. Callie gave him a narrow-eyed look that led him to believe he'd interrupted a pretty good story.
“Pow, pow.” A toy shotgun poked him in the back of the leg. Cash laughed and ran off.
“Buddy boy, I'm going to have to do something with you.”
“Yes, like put him in a time-out once in a while, Dylan. He's becoming quite a handful.”
“Yeah, I know. Mom, I need some information.”
“Okay, what do you need?” She slid Callie off her lap. He smiled as Callie wrapped strong arms around him, giving him a hug. His mom had brushed her hair and pulled it into pigtails. Unlike Cash, she was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. She had a smudge of chocolate on her chin.
“I need to find out where Harmony is heading.”
“Ask Harmony,” his mom said with a sweet smile.
“She isn't going to tell me. And she's too stubborn to ask a friend to go with her.”
“Why don't you tell me what's going on and then I'll see if I can help.”
He sat on the sofa. Cash climbed up on his lap. Dylan cringed, lifting the little boy off his lap. “He's wet.”
“We're potty training, Dylan. That's why he's dressed like that.”
“I'll get him some clean clothes. Where's his bag?”
His mom pointed to the bag on the hall tree near the front door. “Have at it. I'm just glad he saved it for you. Also, I think there's a puddle.”
Dylan headed for the kitchen to get paper towels and cleaner. He held Cash under his arm and the little boy made airplane noises. Dylan laughed. Kids.
After the floor and Cash were cleaned up, he headed back to the sofa. “Mom, I need to find out where Harmony is heading. She's going to see her birth mother. That isn't something she should face alone.”
“I'll call Olivia Cross, but you need to realize she might not want anyone there.”
“I'll take that into consideration,” he agreed.
“Good, because I know you, and you're thinking you need to charge to the rescue.” She shot a pointed look in the direction of Cash and Callie, who were playing on the floor.
She had a good point. He did have a tendency to take over. To rescue. And Harmony obviously didn't want or need to be rescued.
“This isn't about rescuing,” he finally said, his mom's brows arched in disbelief. “I want to be with this woman. I want to help her get through this.”
This situation wasn't the same as Katrina, or Cash and Callie. He might have started out rescuing Harmony Cross, but now he realized she'd become the person he wanted to spend time with. A lot of time.
He also knew that if he showed up in Missouri, she would think he was charging to the rescue.
Common sense told him to stay home and let her face this on her own. It wouldn't be the first time he'd ignored common sense.
“You're going, aren't you?” his mom asked.