the right idea. He watched as Terry held his daughter’s hand and they walked to their suite. The door shut behind them, and he closed his eyes briefly. Then he entered his room, stripped off his clothes, and got into the shower. Wonderfully hot and steamy, the water pounded on him. It also revealed the soreness of the bumps and bruises he incurred when he fell into the creek. He’d been on autopilot, ignoring all his aches, but seeing the marks littering his body made Jake realize how dangerous a situation he’d put himself in and how much he owed Shea and the other two men who’d pulled him out.
Dried off and dressed in jeans, dry sneakers, and a button-down shirt, he called Terry’s room. “I’m finished showering and I’m dressed. Whenever you want, you and Stacey can come on over.”
“I was going to dry my hair, so we’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Sounds good.”
In the meantime, Jake opened his laptop, checked his email, and seeing nothing urgent, sent a message to Maria: Lost my phone. Will have a new one sent, but in the meantime you can reach me at the ranch phone if anything’s important.
It took less than five minutes for an answering email: There’s nothing so important that I’d have to disturb you and that sexy cowboy. Giddyap and ride ’em.
He scowled. Remind me to demote you when I get back.
Her answer came swiftly: You love me. You wouldn’t dare.
Grinning to himself, he shut his laptop. When he heard the tap on his door, he jumped to answer it and found Stacey wearing a yellow dress, with a flowered headband. Kiss panted by her side and gave him a doggie smile.
“Don’t you look pretty. Like a fresh flower. Come on inside.”
They all sat around the table, and Jake gave Stacey a glass of orange juice. “How are you feeling, honey? Okay?”
Stacey nodded, and Kiss rested her muzzle in Stacey’s lap with a contented sigh. Her eyes closed as Stacey petted her head and ears.
“Do you want to talk about what happened today?”
She shook her head, and his heart sank.
Terry brushed Stacey’s curls off her face. “Stacey, honey, do you want to show your daddy what you drew when I was in the shower?”
Stacey bit her lip and nodded. Jake knew part of her therapy was drawing and writing stories of her feelings. She’d started in a dark place, where all she could draw was a stick figure crying or hiding under a blanket, but recently the pictures had become brighter, sunnier, depicting her and Kiss in the park, the two of them surrounded by hearts and flowers.
Terry unfolded the paper and gave it to him. It showed him and Stacey with a brown dog. They were sitting by the lake in the grass with dots of flowers all around them. The most important thing to Jake were the words. She’d written Stacey and Daddy inside a heart.
“I love you too, baby. More than anything.”
She gazed up at him, and her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry I scared you.”
Her gaze dropped to the floor, and she lifted one thin shoulder.
“No, this is important. I fell in because I saw some pretty deer and wanted to take a picture to show you. So I wasn’t thinking and put myself in a dangerous place I shouldn’t have. I didn’t think it was so deep, but it was, and the current swept me downstream. Then I saw this big tree branch in the water and grabbed hold of it and waited. Luckily, Shea and the cowboys found me.”
“You were very lucky they found you. We saw deer today too. Two babies and the mommy. Remember, Stacey?”
She nodded.
“I love you so much, and I’m so sorry you got scared. It was wrong of Daddy, and I promise not to ever put myself in danger again.” He held out his arms. “Can I get another hug?”
Her little body shaking in his arms almost destroyed Jake. He’d helped bring this life into the world, promised to care for it, and would die before he’d let someone hurt her. But he had. Something had shocked her into silence, and not knowing what happened was driving him mad. The fact that he’d scared her so badly today made him physically ill.
“Sometimes parents make boo-boos, and we need to make sure we learn from them. I won’t ever put myself in a position to hurt or scare you again. I promise I’ll always be