that she didn’t have answers to give you about your father, so you had to go searching for them on your own.”
Outside the temporary ramp into the house, Caitlin held tight to the railing while a sea breeze rippled her hair. “I have to say one more thing to you before we go in.”
“Sure.”
“I’m sorry I was rude earlier, asking things that were none of my business. But I would like to know. Are you and my dad dating? It would be weird to have my aunt as my stepmom but...I’d be okay with it. Just so you know.”
She could only think it was a very good thing she wasn’t taking a drink of water at that because she would have spewed it all over her niece. Stepmom. Good grief. She and Cooper had only kissed a few times. Stepmom was jumping about a hundred steps ahead.
For one wild moment, she imagined it. A future with him, here in Cape Sanctuary. Building a life together by the sea, surrounded by friends and family.
Her heart pinched again at the sheer impossibility of dreams that were destined to remain only that.
“We’re...friends. That’s all.”
She wanted more. She wanted that future. When she was a girl, she had a terrible crush on him. Cooper had epitomized what she thought she wanted in a man when she was younger. He was cute, smart, kind to a gawky girl who didn’t know how to talk to guys but somehow never had a problem confiding in him.
Now that she was a woman and had connected with the grown-up version of Cooper, everything she had come to know only reinforced that he was exactly right for her.
“But he’s a nice guy, right? I would hate for my dad to be a jerk.”
That would be tough, to spend all this time looking for her father and have him turn into someone she didn’t want to know. Lucky for Caitlin, Cooper would be an amazing dad. She had seen him with his nephews and had no doubt.
“Your father is a man of character and strength. He’s loyal.He’s courageous. He’s protective. He’s kind. Also, he’s a lousy liar, but don’t tell him I told you that.”
Caitlin gave a nervous little laugh.
“You won the dad lottery, Cait. Any young woman would be lucky to have Cooper as her father.”
Some of her niece’s anxiousness seemed to ease and she smiled. “Thanks,” she said, just as he pulled up in front of the house.
After all these years apart, Cooper would always be in her life now, she realized somewhat grimly. She could go back to Seattle but she would never be able to escape him completely. They were bound by her niece. Through all of the important events of Caitlin’s life, she would have to see him. Graduations, weddings, baby blessings.
Somehow she was going to have to figure out a way to handle that without making a complete fool of herself.
JULIET
Rarely in her life had she ever found herself completely speechless. Usually she could manage something, even if it was only a long, drawn-out okay.
Right now as she gazed at her daughter, granddaughter and Cooper Vance, Juliet couldn’t come up with a thing.
Otis seemed to sense her shock. He wriggled a little and nuzzled her hand. She petted him while she tried to process the stunning news.
Cooper Vance was Caitlin’s father.
How on earth had she not realized?
“Are you...sure?” It wasn’t much of a sentence but at least she had found a few words to string together.
Caitlin nodded. “Yes. That’s why I ran to my room when we first got home. I wanted to show you the results I printed out earlier.”
She thrust out a piece of paper. “See, right there. It says I share a significant portion of DNA with Melody Vance Baker, which indicates we’re close relatives. And there’s her picture in my connections. If Chief Vance had taken a DNA test, it would be even more conclusive.”
Cooper shifted, looking uncomfortable. “I believe her, Juliet. It was...always a possibility in my head, I suppose, but I believed Nat when she told me Caitlin wasn’t mine.”
How could she not have known the two of them had been together? They had never seemed romantically inclined toward each other.
Was this one more way she had been a completely oblivious mother?
He had said it had only been once, before he left town. Maybe that was why she had never picked up a shift in their relationship.
“No matter what she told me, I should have known,” Cooper said.