From stubborn bachelor to family man...

The Comfort Creek Lawmen have a new member

Returning home has stirred painful memories for officer Gabe Banks. But responding to a robbery at Harper Kemp’s bridal shop has upended his world. Harper’s adopted four-year-old is the daughter he never knew existed. Gabe’s no longer the bad boy Harper remembers, but he’s still terrified of commitment. Despite their fierce attraction, Harper must protect her little girl’s heart...and her own.

PATRICIA JOHNS writes from Alberta, Canada. She has her Hon. BA in English literature and currently writes for Harlequin’s Love Inspired, Western Romance and Heartwarming lines. You can find her at patriciajohnsromance.com.

Also By Patricia Johns

Love Inspired

Comfort Creek Lawmen

Deputy Daddy

The Lawman’s Runaway Bride

The Deputy’s Unexpected Family

His Unexpected Family

The Rancher’s City Girl

A Firefighter’s Promise

The Lawman’s Surprise Family

A Baxter’s Redemption

The Runaway Bride

A Boy’s Christmas Wish

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

The Deputy’s Unexpected Family

Patricia Johns

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08555-7

THE DEPUTY’S UNEXPECTED FAMILY

© 2018 Patricia Johns

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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“I think I need to apologize.”

“Sure. But there are no apologies necessary.”

“No?” Gabe eyed her uncertainly. “Look, that was... I’m not hitting on you.”

“Great.” She wasn’t sure if that was an improvement.

“That doesn’t clear it up. I mean, yes, I find you attractive. More than attractive—gorgeous. I always have. That’s no excuse.”

“But it wasn’t only you.”

“It wasn’t?” He raised his eyebrows. “You sure about that?”

“I felt it, too. But obviously, we can’t go there.”

“Obviously. You’re my daughter’s mother. And you and I have to maintain a good relationship for her sake. We can’t just try this on for size and change our minds later without it affecting Zoey.”

“We’re blessed, in a way. We don’t have some failed romance between us. We’re better for it.”

“And we need to keep it that way. I know that, and I won’t...let things get complicated. If that makes you feel any better.”

So they were on the same page. But it didn’t exactly fix whatever attraction was stewing between them.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

—James 1:17

Dear Reader,

It’s hard to wait for blessings, isn’t it? We get impatient, and when we see others enjoying the blessings we pray for, it can be hard. In this book, Harper has to make her peace with the love and romance she wishes she had in her life in the face of her younger sister’s wedding.

When my husband and I got engaged, we told our church family. There was a woman who was a few years older than me—a single mom. She threw her arms around me with a genuine hug, and she said, “I’m so happy for you! May God bless me, too!” That stuck with me, because she was so gracious, so lovely, so genuinely happy for the joy of others, and I thought, I want to be like her.

It might not be easy, but I’ve made it a habit now that when others reach my goals before I do to say, “I’m happy for her! May God remember me, too.” Because I’ve learned that just because God has blessed one person, doesn’t mean His plans for anyone else have diminished.

If you’d like to connect with me, you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or on my blog, PatriciaJohnsRomance.com. I’d love to see you!

Patricia Johns

To my husband,

my very own Happily Ever After. And to our son, who is old enough now that he really hates being left out of book dedications!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Bible Verse

Dear Reader

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Harper Kemp stood in the center of her disheveled shop, Blessings Bridal, gaping at the mess. She had arrived two hours before any of the other shops on Sycamore Avenue opened for the day, hoping to get a little paperwork done, but had walked into this.

The front display window was edged in the sharp lace of broken glass and a chill autumn wind whisked into the shop. The cash register hung open, empty, and several voluminous gowns clung to the mannequins in tatters. Whoever had done this had slashed through the delicate material, leaving the floor littered with beads. The front display case had been smashed, and the velvet nests that once held tiaras, clasps, bejeweled belts and the like now lay vacant, peppered with glittering glass.

Her heart slammed in her chest, and she pulled her ginger curls away from her face as she took it all in. Why hadn’t the alarm gone off when this happened?

Comfort Creek was a small town with an inordinate number of cops roaming the streets due to a county-run sensitivity training course based in the town. It was supposed to be the safest community in Colorado due to their overabundance of officers patrolling the town while they completed their sensitivity training. Tell that to whomever had robbed her.

“Oh, Lord...” It was a prayer, but she was still too stunned to know what to even ask for. She pulled her tortoiseshell glasses off her face and glanced down at her phone. She’d just called the police and given the pertinent information. They’d be here soon, she was assured. She ran a hand through her fiery curls. A few months ago, Harper got custody of her four-year-old goddaughter, Zoey, when her best friend, Andrea, died in a car accident, and she felt like she’d just found her footing again with a daughter to raise...now this.

Harper stepped over the broken glass, already mentally tallying up the loss. Insurance would cover most of it...except Heidi’s dress! The thought struck and her stomach dropped. Her younger sister’s wedding dress was a family heirloom, and no amount of insurance money would cover the sentimental value of that dress.

Harper dashed into the back room and spotted the untouched box high on a shelf. She breathed a prayer of thanks. God must have put His hand over that dress...and she was grateful. Everything else could be replaced. How was that for some perspective?

The bell from the front door jingled, and she heard the tramping of heavy feet.

“Miss Kemp?” a deep male voice reverberated through the store, and Harper turned back toward the retail space. The police had arrived.

“I’m here,” she said, stepping back out. “Thanks for—”

The words evaporated on her tongue. The officer standing in the middle of the mess was tall, muscled and had the same direct gray gaze she remembered from years ago when they were teenagers dreaming of their futures in this town... It was Gabe Banks.

“Hey—” His tone softened. “Long time.”

“Very long time,” she agreed, then smiled feebly. “What are you doing here?”

“You reported a robbery.” He raised one eyebrow.

“I mean in Comfort Creek. I thought you were in Fort Collins.” One possibility bloomed in her mind—that he had somehow found out about four-year-old Zoey. There were enough people in this town who would have pieced it together...

Gabe’s expression grew more guarded, then he shrugged. “Sensitivity training. What else? Comfort Creek has me for two weeks.”

“Oh.” That was reasonable. Comfort Creek saw a constant influx of officers doing sensitivity training. What had Gabe done to garner this honor?

“So...” Gabe pulled out a pad of paper. “What happened here?”

“I have no idea,” she said. “I just arrived, found it like this and called 911.”

“Any idea how much was taken?” he asked.

“Not yet. I’m still kind of in shock.”

He took a few notes, poked his head back outside the door and appeared to be doing his job for a few minutes while Harper stood where he’d left her, feeling in the way in her own shop.

“I heard about Andrea’s passing,” he said as he came back inside. “I’m sorry. She was...special. And I know how close you two were.”

Special. That’s how Gabe referred to a woman he’d dated for a year? Maybe he didn’t feel like he had a right to sympathy for the passing of his ex-girlfriend he hadn’t seen or spoken to in the last five years. And maybe he was right about that.

“We really were,” she said. “I miss her. So does Zoey.”

“That’s her daughter?” Gabe clarified.

Harper nodded. “Zoey’s four. I’m her guardian now.”

Gabe shot her a sympathetic smile, then glanced away. Andrea had never told Gabe the truth about Zoey.

“Did anyone tell you about the father?” she asked cautiously.

“My grandmother said that she was on the rebound after me,” he replied. “Grandma was a little more judgmental than that, but that was the gist of it.”

A flat-out lie, but it was the story Andrea had put around.

“Well, Zoey is a sweetheart,” Harper said. “We’re doing all right, but it’s hard with Andrea gone.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” A couple of beats passed between them—an awkward pause.

“Anyway,” Harper said, clearing her throat. “Back to the robbery.”

“When did you find this?” he asked, professional reserve back in place.

“This morning when I came in. Ten minutes ago,” she replied. “With all the patrol on these streets, I’m surprised no one noticed it earlier.” She paused, a thought suddenly occurring to her. Gabe was here on disciplinary action—how much authority did he really have? She was tired, had a lot to deal with today, obviously, and didn’t have time to waste.

“Are you supposed to be taking cases?” she asked with a slight frown. “I mean, will I have to repeat this all over again with another officer?”

Gabe shot her a flat look. “Yes, I can take cases. Dispatch assigned me. You want to take that up with the chief? Get a less ornery officer, or something? I’m not here because I’m bad at my job. I’m here for being mouthy with my boss.”

She smiled wanly. “I was just checking.”

“So, we’re okay here, then?” he said, tucking a thumb in his belt. “Because if you’d rather have some other cop take over, I’m sure I can go patrol the school zones or something.”

She heard the sarcasm in that gravelly tone, and she felt heat in her cheeks. He’d always been like this—brash, opinionated and stubborn as all get-out.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” she said. It might be time to let some old resentments go. “It’s been a rough day so far, so maybe cut me some slack.”

He eyed her for a moment, then scanned the scene. “We’ll take fingerprints. I’m not expecting to get too much, though. I noticed both the phone and alarm lines were cut outside.”

“That would explain why my alarm didn’t go off.”

“This was no smash and grab,” Gabe confirmed. “This was planned.”

“In the best-patrolled town in Colorado,” she said.

Gabe didn’t answer. His boots crunched over broken glass as he headed toward the display case. “We’ll need a complete list of anything missing. Descriptions would be good, pictures if you have them. We’ll be watching pawn shops and online sale sites. Whatever they took, they’ll be selling.”

Harper felt her eyes mist. The immensity of the damage and the work ahead of her to clean up was just starting to sink in. She’d have to call her dad—the owner of the store—and tell him what happened, too...

“How much cash was in the register?” Gabe asked.

“Just change—I made the deposit last night,” she replied. “There was about a hundred and sixty dollars in the drawer.”

“Approximately how much was the merchandise worth in the case?” he asked.

“Five or six thousand. Those were all Swarovski crystals.”

“Was there anything under this case?” Gabe asked from across the room, and Harper looked up with a start. The veil—her grandmother’s wedding veil that Heidi was going to use for her wedding...that Harper hoped to wear one day for her own wedding...

“Yes,” she said. “A pink box...shoebox size. It’s not there?”

She crossed the room to where Gabe squatted next to the display case. The space beneath it was empty, and a lump rose in her throat.

“What was in the box?” he asked.

“My grandmother’s veil,” she said woodenly. “It’s not replaceable.”

Harper wiped a tear that escaped her lid and pushed herself back to her feet. She had no intention of crying in front of Gabe Banks. This was all a pretty big shock, and adding a missing family heirloom to the mix was more than she could handle with grace and dignity at the moment.

Gabe rose to his feet, too, and she was struck by the sheer size of him. He’d always been tall, but the past decade had solidified him into steely manhood. This was no longer the lanky, cocky teenager.

“Hey.” His tone softened. “I don’t have a lot to do around here for the next two weeks. I’ll pour all my bad attitude into your case.”

She blinked back her tears. “Would you do that?”

“What else am I supposed to do with my time? I think that’s the idea—give us some peace and quiet to sort out our personal issues.”

“And you want some distraction from that?” she asked with a small smile.

“What can I say—I’m comfortable with my skeletons. That’s why you never liked me much.”

“I liked you fine,” she said with a shake of her head. He raised one eyebrow, and she felt the heat come back to her face. “I just didn’t think you were good for Andrea,” she conceded.

She hadn’t been blind to his charm and good looks back then—she’d just known better than to let herself fall for him, too. All the girls swooned over Gabe Banks. He’d been filled with flirtation and laughter in some moments, and then brooding and distanced in others. What teenage girl could resist such a “complicated” guy? Harper, that’s who.

“Well, you were right about that,” he said. “I wasn’t any good for her. So, no hard feelings.”

At least he recognized that much. Still, she found herself searching his features for Zoey—his eyes, the shape of his ears. Zoey looked a lot like Andrea, but she wasn’t an exact replica of her mother, either. She had dark hair like her dad, and the tiny cleft in her chin was Gabe’s, too. This was Zoey’s father, and she’d have to figure out her next move in that department. So far, she’d been focused on finding her balance as Zoey’s new mother, but she’d never been entirely comfortable with Andrea’s decision to keep Zoey a secret. Zoey would be asking about her father eventually, but Harper was now faced with a dilemma of her own: Should she tell Gabe about his daughter, or should she let it lie?

* * *

Gabe walked around Blessings Bridal collecting evidence and taking notes for the next hour. He’d never been inside this shop in all the years he lived in Comfort Creek, but he’d passed it often enough. Everyone knew the Kemps, and Blessings Bridal serviced all the brides in the surrounding small towns.

Eight other cops arrived to help—far more than needed, obviously, but there wasn’t anything else happening around Comfort Creek, and the temptation to lend a hand was too great for both the other officers and the locals. It took two officers at the outside door to keep curious locals moving along.

From where Gabe stood brushing for prints, he glanced over at Harper. She lingered in the doorway to the back room. Her red curls hung around her shoulders, and her gaze moved from officer to officer, watching them work. Her glasses were off again, and she had the end in her mouth. She was gorgeous, and Gabe pulled his gaze away from her, pushing back the thought.

“Gabe.” Officer Bryce Camden approached, and he rose to his feet, dropping the brush back into a protective plastic bag. He and Bryce knew each other from their days on the Fort Collins force. Gabe met Bryce beside a rack of wedding dresses that appeared to be untouched.

“Any of this look familiar?” Bryce asked.

Gabe glanced around. “It’s definitely not a smash and grab. The phone and security system lines were cut outside. Besides a few display dresses being trashed, these ones are untouched. They knew what they were aiming for. I’m guessing professionals.”

“I had three cases back in Fort Collins that match this MO,” Bryce said. “The cut lines, the small amount of trashing, as if for appearances, and a select amount of highly salable merchandise taken.”

“Anyone caught?” Gabe asked.

Bryce shook his head. “Still at large. But there were other sites hit across Fort Collins—always spread out, and a couple of months between each. They were careful.”

“Yeah, I remember that,” Gabe agreed, the details coming back to him. “I had one of those cases—a jewelry store.”

“They may be spreading to smaller communities where people aren’t quite as security conscious,” Bryce suggested.

It was a definite possibility, and Gabe’s mind clicked through what he could remember of those cases. None had been solved, and the first hit on every store hadn’t been too bad. In and out. Quick. A few things taken. The perps were scoping things out more than anything.

“They always came back for a second hit on every location,” Gabe said. “Within days or weeks. And that’s when they cleaned the place out. There was an old man who was shot, trying to defend his store that second time around.”

“I remember that.” Bryce nodded. “So if we’re looking at the same people, they’ll be back. I’m sure the chief will agree that we’ll need to keep a pretty close eye on the place for the next couple of weeks.”

Gabe signed the bottom of a form he was filling out as first on the scene, and glanced over toward Harper.

“I knew her—as kids. Teenagers. I dated her best friend,” Gabe said.

“Yeah?” Bryce nodded. “That might be useful. Why not offer to help out in the cleanup? Just...be here for a bit.”

Back in the day, Gabe would have jumped at the chance. He’d had a thing for Harper Kemp, but she’d been steps above him. She was smart, cute, had a plan for her future... And he’d been a messed-up teenager whose grandmother ran him down on a nightly basis. He’d asked her out once, and she’d turned him down flat. He hadn’t tried again.

Looking at Harper now with those sad green eyes and her arms crossed protectively over her chest, all those old feelings from years ago came flooding back. Harper never acted like she needed him—or any guy—but she still sparked that protective instinct inside of him. He wanted to offer something, and with this uniform—at least for the next two weeks—he could.

“I could go plainclothes and keep an eye out,” Gabe said. “We want to catch these guys, not just scare them off.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Bryce confirmed. “If we can be ready for their next hit, we might be able to take these guys in. Let me check in with the chief, and I’ll confirm if we’ve got a plan.”

Bryce pulled out his cell phone and walked a few feet away to make his call. Gabe shoved the form into his back pocket. He was here to do his time and then head back to Fort Collins. Period. It was humiliating enough to be back under these circumstances. However, catching a robbery gang might make his stay here less agonizing. He’d go back to Fort Collins as a success, instead of chastised.

“What’s going on?” Harper asked, coming up beside Gabe.

“We’re thinking that this looks similar to a few cases in Fort Collins,” Gabe replied.

“That’s good, right?” Harper brightened.

“Well...” He shrugged. “Not really. They have an MO of returning to the scene and hitting it again a little while later, after they’ve scoped the place out and have a better idea of what they’re aiming at.”

Harper paled. “I have a security system. It didn’t do much good.”

“Like I said, they’re pros,” Gabe said, and when he saw the nervousness flicker across her features, he realized that she needed reassurance, not more reason to be afraid.

“So what should I do?” Harper asked.

At that moment, Bryce headed across the store in their direction and gave Gabe a decisive nod. When he reached them, he said, “It’s a go.”

“What’s a ‘go’?” Harper asked, her attention swinging between them.

“We need a police presence around here for a little while to protect you, but it can’t be too obvious, ma’am,” Bryce replied. “Officer Banks will be here today, and he’ll keep an eye out for your safety and for any...unusual activity in the area.”

Harper froze for a moment, then shot Gabe a quizzical look, one eyebrow raised.

“It’s for your safety,” Gabe said with a small smile. “Besides, this is now about the chief’s orders.”

She’d probably prefer a different officer, maybe even Bryce—safely married and constantly gushing about his toddler daughter. Gabe had already heard more about that baby than he knew about any other kid at the moment, and he’d only been back in town for a day.

“We thought that since you know each other already, it might make things less awkward. Officer Banks has offered to help clean the place up once the paperwork is done.” Bryce’s lips turned up in a small, ironic smile.

“You did?” Harper’s expression softened.

“Yeah.”

“That’s really kind.” Harper sighed. “It would definitely help. Dad’s health hasn’t been great lately, and I’ve been dreading telling him about this. But if I can tell him that we’ve got a plainclothes officer at the store—”

“We’re just about done gathering evidence,” Bryce broke in. “So we’ll be out of your hair in a few minutes. Officer Banks can take it from there.”

Bryce headed toward the front door, and Gabe glanced down at Harper. She was rigid, her spine ramrod straight and her lips pressed together in a thin line. Harper looked slowly up at him. “How much danger are we in, Gabe? Be honest.”

Her green eyes locked on to him, and he felt a surge of longing. It had been more than ten years since he’d had an unrequited crush on this woman, and one look from her still made him wish he could be some sort of superhero for her.

“Significantly less if I’m around.” He shot her a grin. “I’m trained to deal with this stuff. Trust me on that.”

Harper sighed. Did she recognize the difference between a messed-up teen and a fully trained police officer? He was particularly adept in hand-to-hand combat, and he was the best shot in Fort Collins. She was safe in his hands, and he was no longer that kid she couldn’t take seriously. He was every inch a man now.

“Let me keep an eye on the place, and you can focus on the stuff you need to take care of,” Gabe said, adding, “like Andrea’s little girl.”

She nodded, then said softly, “Her name is Zoey.”

“Zoey,” he repeated. It seemed to matter to her that he recognize Andrea’s daughter a little more directly. But he’d never been very good with kids, and it wasn’t going to start now. She could take care of her business, and he’d take care of her. Intimidating bad guys and protecting the vulnerable—that part he was good at. Kids and family were his weaknesses, and yet he was back in Fort Collins where he had his own family history to face.

He could endure anything for two weeks.

Chapter Two

The next morning, Harper unlocked the front door for Blessings Bridal and let Zoey go in first. She paused and looked along the street. It was the same familiar road—sun dappled with intermittent trees spreading long branches over the asphalt. All was quiet, as it normally was this time of day, the only sound that of a chattering squirrel. A police cruiser eased slowly down the street. The officer—a woman—gave her a quick wave.

Harper had slept terribly the night before. Her father was worried now—which was to be expected even after she’d assured him that she had it all under control. And now Harper was faced with the paperwork from the insurance company.

“Let me help you, sweetheart,” her father had said. “I’m retired, not dead!”

But Harper didn’t want his help; she needed to take care of the robbery paperwork on her own. If she was going to be opening a second store in Comfort Creek—a maternity shop—she’d better prove to more than just herself that she could handle the stress and the demands. There had been more than one well-meaning person who had questioned if she could raise a young child while running this shop... So while it was all well and good to say she had nothing to prove to anyone, she did.

Running Blessings Bridal was satisfying in its own right, but she wanted more—a store with her own name on the bottom line, not her father’s. Besides, this store was all that her father had to will to Harper and Heidi, and since it would be the bulk of their inheritance, that was going to be complicated. Eventually, at least. The second shop, Blessings Maternity, was going to be Harper’s first personal foray into the business world, and she wanted it so badly that she could taste it.

“It’s all messed up!” Zoey said, looking around the store. Harper pulled the door shut and locked it after them. She and Gabe had boarded over the broken window yesterday, and the glass and mess was mostly cleaned up. The display case still sat vacant.

“I know, sweetie. Someone broke in. I told you about that, right? So now we have to clean it up.” Harper put the boxed wedding dress on the counter. She’d brought it home with her last night—not taking any chances on a family heirloom—but the sewing machine and all the tools she’d need for the fitting were here in the shop.

Zoey went to the display case and sighed. “The crowns are gone.”

Zoey loved the tiaras, and when the shop was closed, Harper would let her try them on in front of the full-length mirror. It had started when Andrea would visit after hours, and Zoey would sit on her mother’s lap and stare at her reflection with a crystal tiara on her little head.

“I know. The insurance company will give us money so we can get more. You can help me choose them.”

“Today?” Zoey asked hopefully.

“Not today. We’re going to do a fitting for Aunt Heidi’s wedding dress,” Harper said. “And you get to help.”

Since the store was temporarily closed, Harper had pulled Zoey out of preschool for a few days. Preschool had been a constant for Zoey from before her mother passed away, but a few days of girl time would be good for them, too, Harper decided. Besides, it was broad daylight, and she highly doubted that anyone would come back to rob the place at this time of day.

“It’s our wedding dress, right?” Zoey was still working out how all of this worked.

“Yes, it’s our dress. My grandmother wore that dress when she got married a very long time ago. And now Aunt Heidi is going to wear it for her wedding. And maybe you’ll even wear it for yours.”

If there was enough of it left. If Heidi didn’t demand so many alterations that there was nothing salvageable for another bride...

“Grandma Jane...” Zoey said softly.

“No, Great-Grandma Kemp.” Harper sighed. Six months wasn’t really long enough for Zoey to embrace all the extra family, let alone fully understand what ancestors were. She was four. She knew about the family she saw on a regular basis, which included Andrea’s mom, Grandma Jane, and Harper’s mom, Grandma Georgia. Having two grandmas was as much as Zoey seemed able to wrap her mind around right now. And having a new mother...

Harper opened the box on the counter and looked down at the familiar material. It was a gown from 1950—A-line taffeta covered in lace with sheer lace sleeves and décolletage. The dress had fit their grandmother at ankle length, but Grandma Kemp had been a petite woman, and Heidi was significantly taller, so Harper was guessing it would fit her sister at a tea length—perfect for today’s fashion.

There was a tap at the front door, and Harper looked up to see Heidi through the unbroken window. She wore a leather jacket and a pair of jeans, a floppy leather bag tossed over one shoulder. A pair of sunglasses was perched on top of her short-cropped auburn hair.

“Auntie Heidi!” Zoey announced, and Harper crossed the store and unlocked the door. As Heidi came inside, she glanced around. She’d dropped by yesterday and seen the state of things—as had a quarter of the town—so it wasn’t a shock.

“So where’s Gabe?” Heidi asked.

“I don’t know. He’s not going to be here every second,” Harper replied. “The police are doing a lot of drive-bys, though.”

“Hmm.” Heidi ruffled Zoey’s hair. “And how’s my favorite flower girl?”

“I’m good!” Zoey sang out. She was excited to be in Heidi’s wedding, and Harper was grateful to her sister for including her new daughter. Anything that made Zoey feel more accepted and at home was a plus.

While Heidi deposited her bag and sunglasses on a nearby chair, Harper pulled the antique dress out of the box. It had been stored impeccably over the years, and while the lace had darkened over time, it was still a stunning dress by any standard.

“Is he still as good-looking as he used to be?” Heidi asked.

“Good looks only go so far,” Harper replied. But yes, he was—more so. He’d matured into a ruggedly handsome man with a steely gaze that could make a woman’s stomach flip. But what use was that when a man’s character didn’t match up?

“Does he...know?” Heidi murmured as Zoey took the sunglasses to the mirror to try them on.

“No.” Harper knew what her sister was asking, and she didn’t want to say too much within Zoey’s hearing distance. “He seems completely oblivious.”

“Are you going to tell him?” Heidi glanced toward Zoey, too, but the girl seemed rapt in her game of dress up.

“I don’t know,” Harper admitted quietly. “I feel like I should. He deserves to know at least, doesn’t he?”

“Andrea didn’t think so.” Heidi met Harper’s gaze and held it.

“That was a personal grudge, though,” Harper said. Andrea had been deeply hurt by Gabe’s inability to commit to her, and she’d never been able to forgive him. She said he hadn’t wanted to be a husband or a father, and she was protecting her daughter from the ultimate rejection. But Zoey was his daughter, and meeting her in person might change that.

“Something can be both personal and the right choice,” Heidi replied softly.

“One day, Zoey’s going to ask about her dad, and what then?” Harper asked. She couldn’t lie to her daughter, and without a really good reason otherwise, Harper couldn’t lie to Gabe, either. “I’d hoped to be able to put off thinking about Gabe until another time. But with him in town, I’m going to have to face this sooner than I thought.”

Zoey tired of her game and came back to where they were standing. She wore the sunglasses perched on the top of her little head the way she’d seen Heidi wear them, and they slipped and dropped to the floor. Heidi bent to pick them up.

Harper gently shook the dress out of its folds and held it aloft for her sister to see in full length. Heidi slowly rose from her crouch to collect the glasses, her gaze moving over the dress in wonder.

“This is it...” Heidi breathed.

“Grandma’s dress.”

No one had worn the dress since Grandma Kemp, and while Harper had done a few repairs where the lining had fallen apart, nothing else was changed.

“I’m thinking it will fit you at about a tea length.” Harper went on. “We’ll have to let out the waist a little bit...since I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be squeezing yourself into a 1950s girdle. And Grandma was tiny.”

Heidi chuckled. “No girdle. And I want to shorten it to above the knee.”

“Above the knee?” Harper gathered the dress back up and put it on top of the box. “That’s not even funny.”

“I’m not joking,” Heidi retorted. “I don’t see myself as a traditional bride anyway.”

“Not traditional?” Harper retorted. “Heidi, you quit your job to marry this man! If that isn’t traditional, I don’t know what is!”

“Planning a society wedding is going to be a full-time job in itself,” Heidi said. “Besides, I obviously won’t need the income anymore. It’s not like the job was my dream career. I was a receptionist.”

“That job was yours,” Harper countered. “That matters. Keeping something that belongs to you...” Harper sighed. In her humble opinion, her sister was fighting the wrong battle over keeping some independence. Heidi was waging war for a dress, but she’d given up her job. “I’m just saying, Chris’s family is very traditional. You’re marrying into one of the wealthiest families in the county. If you leave the dress as is, it’ll be tea length. So midcalf.”

“That’s long, Harper.”

Harper rolled her eyes. “Do you have to be so different all the time?”

“I’ll still be me,” Heidi quipped. “Difficult as always. Thankfully, Chris thinks I’m pretty.”

“You’ll want nice pictures. And so will he, for that matter.”

“I’ll want pictures that show me as me,” Heidi countered. “I have never in my life worn a long dress anywhere. I’m a jeans girl. So I think a short, flirty dress is a nice compromise.”

“And hack apart Grandma’s dress?” Harper gaped at her sister.

“We could use the leftover material in a flower girl dress for Zoey.” Heidi shrugged, a smile coming to her face. “It would be perfect!”

It would be perfect for Heidi, but what about any chance of Harper wearing her grandmother’s dress for her own wedding one day? What about Zoey’s wedding?

“I want to wear it, too,” Harper confessed.

“We always said that the first sister to get married would wear it,” Heidi interjected.

“We were teenagers at the time,” Harper replied. “And quite frankly, being the older sister, I’d assumed that would fall to me.”

“Well, sorry to beat you to it!” Tears sparkled in Heidi’s eyes. “So what are you saying—you won’t alter the dress for me?”

Harper didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure what she was saying.

“Why don’t you use the veil,” Heidi said. “I never wanted a veil anyway. I want a little fascinator like people do in London weddings.”

“The veil is gone,” Harper said woodenly. “It was taken in the robbery.”

She met her sister’s gaze and they were both silent for a moment. Heidi sighed.

“I didn’t know...”

“It would have been fair, though,” Harper said after a moment. “I might have agreed to that.”

Tears misted Harper’s gaze and she looked down at Zoey, who was staring up at them, her gray eyes wide.

“It’s okay, Zoey,” Harper said. “Auntie and I are just like little girls sometimes, and bicker. It’s nothing to worry about.”

“No biting,” Zoey whispered, and Harper and Heidi burst out laughing.

Harper scooped her daughter up into her arms and gave her a squeeze. “That’s solid advice, Zoey.”

They’d figure out something, and Harper sent up a silent and slightly selfish prayer that their solution would leave her a piece of her grandmother’s legacy for her own wedding day...and that she might be as blessed as her sister in the romance department. Heidi’s fiancé, Chris, was a great guy—smart, loyal, sweet...

But even if she didn’t find her own Mr. Right anytime soon, Harper had her daughter, whom she loved with all her heart. She’d never worn maternity clothes or given birth, but she knew that she was every bit a mom. Some blessings came along unexpected paths.

* * *

Gabe drove past Blessings Bridal on his way to the police station that morning. Everything looked as quiet as he expected. Passing the shop was out of his way, considering that he was staying at Lily and Bryce Camden’s bed and breakfast. The department wouldn’t pay for the entire cost of the B and B, but they subsidized it, which helped. And it was a whole lot more comfortable than the dive of a hotel he was going to be staying at originally. The breakfast that his hostess had prepared for him—apricot oatmeal, yogurt and a bowl of fresh fruit—made his stay feel more like a vacation than the reprimand that it was supposed to be. But this morning’s meeting with Chief Morgan should take care of that.

He parked in the lot next to the precinct and glanced at his watch. Gabe had been dreading this part—the discipline. It would come in the form of training, but everyone knew what this was. Granted, Gabe should have kept his mouth shut when his boss irritated him, but he didn’t think he’d been altogether wrong, either. Unfortunately, when it came to the chain of command, being right wasn’t everything.

Gabe remembered Chance Morgan from the local force when he’d been a troubled teen in Comfort Creek. Chief Morgan had been a sergeant back then, and Gabe hadn’t known him personally, but he still cared what the man thought of him. Gabe headed through the front doors and nodded to the receptionist, Cheryl. She was on the phone, but put the receiver against her shoulder to shield the mouthpiece and pointed toward the bull pen.

“The chief says to go straight to his office. He’s waiting for you,” she said with a smile.

Easy enough for her to smile. She wasn’t the one facing binders full of sensitivity training. He’d heard horror stories of those questionnaires and required reading...all about how to “constructively approach disagreements and negotiate a win-win solution.” Yeah, he’d had a buddy who did some sensitivity training in Fort Collins—apparently, not quite as in-depth as he was about to experience out here in Comfort Creek. If they had to physically send him away for the experience, he could only imagine what was in store.

He gave the receptionist a nod of thanks and headed around the bull pen toward the chief’s office. He could dread it all he wanted. There was no way out of Comfort Creek but through the program.

“Come in,” Chief Morgan called when Gabe knocked, and he opened the door.

Chief Morgan sat behind a desk. He looked to be about forty with sandy-blond hair that was just starting to gray. He appeared to be finishing some paperwork, and when Gabe came in, he flipped shut the folder and gave him a cordial nod.

“Have a seat, officer.”

“Thank you, sir.” Gabe shut the door behind him and eased into a chair.

“So, why are you here?”

Gabe sighed. “Insubordination, sir.”

Chief Morgan nodded, pulled another file out of a pile and opened it. “You’re a good officer. You work hard, take extra shifts, volunteer delivering food for the elderly during the holidays...” He pulled his finger down a page and flipped to the next, then the next. “So what happened?”

“I was out of line, sir,” Gabe said quickly. If he could speed this along, he would. There was no need to convince Gabe of the error of his ways. He’d accepted that he should have handled this differently if he wanted to avoid this lovely autumnal two-week stay in the dullest town in Colorado. The changing leaves were beautiful this time of year, but he’d trade them for some Fort Collins city streets in a heartbeat.

“I want to know what actually happened,” the chief said, meeting his gaze evenly. “I want your version.”

Gabe cleared his throat. “Well, sir, my supervising officer ordered me to make an arrest, and I chose to let the perp go.”

“And why would you defy an order?”

Why indeed? His supervising officer was a bully and had a personal vendetta against a twenty-year-old kid. The perp had bullied his supervisor’s son in high school, and while Gabe could appreciate the seriousness of bullying, his supervisor’s son wasn’t exactly innocent, either. He was a twit who figured he could get away with anything because his dad was a cop.

“The perp was caught stealing baby clothes and diapers, sir,” Gabe said. “I talked to him, and he said that his girlfriend needed some extra help in providing for their baby daughter. The perp and the girlfriend are no longer in a relationship, but he was trying to contribute—misguided as it might have been.”

“So you felt sorry for him,” the chief concluded.

“I recognized a spark of self-respect in the guy,” Gabe replied. “And I didn’t want to snuff it out.”

“But it says here that when your supervising officer reprimanded you, that you...had words.”

Gabe smiled grimly. That was putting it mildly. “That’s the part I regret, sir. I should have kept my opinions about my supervising officer to myself.”

“So what made you vent?”

Gabe paused, wondering how much he should say. The chief was regarding him with a look of sincere curiosity on his face.

“Between you and me, sir?” Gabe said. “The perp wasn’t a complete unknown to my supervisor. He had gone to high school with my supervisor’s son. The perp was a troublemaker from way back, but my supervisor’s son wasn’t exactly an innocent lamb, either. He’s been let off with a warning for numerous infractions over the years because of his father’s position. This one seemed...personal, I guess. And that wasn’t fair. My supervisor’s son is already off to college and he’ll have a bright future despite his youthful mistakes because he got special treatment. The perp? At least he was trying to provide for his child. And by the way, I paid for the merchandise and recommended a warehouse that was hiring.”

“Do you think he’ll take you up on the sound advice?” Chief Morgan asked.

Gabe shrugged. “No idea. I wanted him to have the chance.”

Chief Morgan nodded and made a few notes on his pad. “You were a bit of an underdog here in Comfort Creek when you were a kid, too, weren’t you?”

“A bit,” Gabe admitted.

“And do you think your issues with authority stem from that?”

Issues with authority... Okay, maybe he had a few. “No.”

Chief Morgan laughed softly. “Tell me about your teenage years here in Comfort Creek.”

“Not much to tell, sir.”

Frankly, Gabe wasn’t interested in talking about his personal history. He wasn’t a problem to be fixed, and as the chief had pointed out, he had a pretty solid service record.

“I knew your grandmother,” the chief added. “She was a good woman. I’m sorry for your loss.”

His grandmother... She’d been the one to raise Gabe, and while he’d loved her, he’d hated her in equal measure. She’d been a bully, too, but she’d hidden it better. No one would believe that Imogen Banks, pillar of the church and knitter of baby booties, could have been a mean and spiteful woman in private. But she was, and her constant flow of cutting words had torn Gabe to shreds. Her passing didn’t leave the hole in his heart that most people assumed.

“Thanks.” It was the expected response, and he always provided it.

“So getting down to business, then,” the chief went on. “I’m going to let you choose between two options. The first option is book work. In the basement, we have all sorts of binders with step-by-step lessons about dealing with our feelings in constructive manners. Or, we could do this another way.”

Was there really a way to avoid the humiliating book work? He leaned forward and immediately regretted it. He didn’t want to show weakness—an old habit that died hard.

“Is there another way, sir?” he asked hesitantly.

“Well...you could carry on doing patrol, keeping an eye on the bridal shop, and during the course of your stay here, you would record fifteen locations around town and your associations with them.”

“My associations...” Gabe frowned.

“Memories.” Chief Morgan leaned forward. “I want you to write down fifteen individual memories connected to fifteen individual locations in this community.”

“That’s rather personal, sir,” Gabe replied.

“It is.” The chief confirmed. “The thing is, Gabe, you’re one of ours. You were raised in Comfort Creek, and I know that you’re doing your very best to distance yourself from that fact. I have a feeling if you can make your peace with this town, and whatever it is that you hold against us, that your career will benefit.”

“With all due respect, sir—” Gabe began, but the chief held up his hand and started reading from a page in front of him.

“‘A bully. A twit. An overcompensating father making up for his pathetic son’s inadequacies. A coward hiding behind a badge’...and a few more turns of phrase that you probably don’t want to hear repeated.” The chief looked up.

“Yeah...” Those had been his words, pretty much exactly.

“Are you sure all of that was referring to your supervisor?” the chief asked.

“I stand by them, sir,” Gabe replied with a sigh.

The chief met his gaze for a moment and they regarded each other in silence. Then the chief shrugged. “Okay. So you prefer book work. I’m fine with that. I have your first binder set out downstairs.”

Gabe scrubbed a hand through his mahogany curls. It was in his nature to balk at authority, and if the chief wanted him to take a different path, his first instinct was to put up a fight. But quite honestly, if he had to look down the barrel of two weeks in the precinct basement doing book work, or two weeks trying to track down Harper Kemp’s robbers, he’d vastly prefer the latter.

“Sir, if it’s all the same, I’d rather take your second option.”

“Oh?” Chief Morgan raised his eyebrows. “All right then.” He pulled out a small notebook and slid it across the desk. “In that case, this is for you.”

Gabe picked it up and fanned the pages. It was empty.

“Thank you, sir.”

“I’ll leave you assigned to the bridal shop. We’re all going to be keeping an eye on it, and the other local businesses if we’re being targeted. I want you in plainclothes. We don’t want to be too obvious.”

“Will do.” Gabe rose to his feet and tucked the notebook into his pocket.

“Welcome back,” Chief Morgan said with a smile. “Wish it could have been more voluntary on your part, but we’re glad to see you all the same.”

“Thanks, sir.” Gabe headed for the door. It was going to be a long two weeks.

Chapter Three

Harper bent over a dustpan and swept up the last of the glittering glass particles. At least she hoped this was the last of it. Every time she swept, she seemed to come up with more glass. At the counter, Zoey was drawing a picture and chattering to herself. Heidi had already left a few minutes earlier, leaving Harper and Zoey alone in the store.

The dress, newly pinned up and marked for Heidi’s desired alterations, hung in the back room. Harper couldn’t bring herself to touch it yet. The thought of shears slicing through the lace...it was almost physically painful. She’d talked Heidi down to knee length, which was something. Heidi had always liked being different—the girl with short hair when everyone else wore theirs long, a tattoo on her calf she liked to show off in summer, and very likely the reason she insisted upon a short dress for the wedding.

Couldn’t Heidi, just once, blend in? Even if only for Chris!

A navy blue SUV rumbled to a stop outside. Harper paused and looked closer. Gabe got out, but he wasn’t in uniform this time. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a gray T-shirt that tugged around his well-muscled biceps. Obviously, the police force kept him in shape, and she had to admit that Gabe had matured into a good-looking guy. A little less ruggedness would go a long way in making this more comfortable for her.

Harper met him at the door so she could unlock the deadbolt.

“Hi,” Gabe said as she opened the door. She stepped back and he came inside.

“What happened to the uniform?” she asked.

“I’m supposed to blend in.”

He didn’t really succeed. Gabe was tall, muscled, and even in plainclothes, he looked like a brick wall. And maybe she liked that. If those thieves were going to return, she’d rather have Gabe as their distraction. Maybe they’d think twice and just move on.

Harper felt a tug on her hand and she glanced down to see Zoey looking up at Gabe, wide-eyed. Harper glanced between them, noting the similarities in their faces—the chin, the slate gray eyes... Did Gabe see it?

“This is Zoey,” Harper said.

“Hi, Zoey.” Gabe gave her a nod. “I’m Officer Banks.”

That was formal, but what did Harper really expect? As far as he knew, this was his ex’s daughter. Not his business.

“I drew a picture,” Zoey said. She lifted it up for Gabe to see, and he took it from her fingers, regarded it for a moment.

“Very nice.” He handed it back.

“It’s for you,” Zoey said.

“Oh—” Gabe’s expression softened and he took the picture back. It wasn’t much more than a few scribbles. She was only four, after all. But he folded the paper in quarters and then tucked it into his back pocket. He cleared his throat. “Thank you, Zoey. I appreciate that.”

Zoey seemed to like that, because she danced back to the counter to draw another one. Gabe would likely leave this shop with a whole ream of paper filled with Zoey’s artwork, and right now he didn’t even know how precious that was.

“You aren’t used to kids, are you?” Harper asked as she leaned the broom into a corner.

“Not really,” Gabe admitted. “But I am used to dealing with criminals and general run-of-the-mill bad guys, which you’ll probably find more useful right about now.”

Harper smiled ruefully.

“But you seem to have risen to the challenge,” Gabe said.

“She was my goddaughter,” Harper replied. “I’ve been in her life since birth.”

“Seems like you’ve got it under control,” he said with a nod. “So how’ve you been...otherwise, I mean?”

“I’m good.” She glanced around. “I manage the store now. Dad had a hard time stepping down. This place was his heart and soul, you know? Anyway, he had a small stroke and that meant he had to slow down and recover.”

“And you have your chance to run the place.”

“Yeah. I’ve been waiting for this.”

Gabe strolled across the store, his gaze moving over the window, the racks of dresses... He reached out, looking like he might finger the fabric of a gown, but instead he pushed it back and knocked on the wall behind.

“What are you looking for?” she asked.

“Don’t know. Just looking.” He shot her a wry smile. “So your dad’s doing okay, though?”

“Yes, he’s almost completely recovered, and he’s settling into retirement with Mom. My sister’s getting married.”

“Yeah?” His gaze moved up to the ceiling, scanning from one side to the other. “Who’d she land?”

“Chris Holmes, of the Holmes Homes legacy.”

“Ah—so she’s marrying money.”

“She’s marrying a very decent man.” Harper corrected him. “You’ll probably see him around.”

“Hmm.” His gaze came back to Harper’s face and he raised his eyebrows. “So...you still dislike me as much as you used to?”

“That’s—” She felt the heat hit her face. “That was a long time ago, Gabe. I just thought that Andrea was expecting too much from you.”

“So it was never personal,” he said with an arched eyebrow. “Is that what you’re saying?”

She sighed. “Maybe it was personal. If someone’s against your relationship, it’s hard not to be, right? So I’ll take responsibility for that. I thought you would use my friend, and I didn’t hide my opinion.”

“I didn’t use her.”

“But you weren’t good for her.”

“Yeah, well, we might agree there,” he said with a shrug. He turned away from her again and started scanning the store’s floorboards. He was being thorough if nothing else. She couldn’t help but follow his gaze, wondering what he was expecting to find.

“How does it feel to be home for a little while?” she asked after a few beats of silence.

“Awful.”

She started to laugh, thinking he was joking, then she sobered. “What? Oh, you must mean with your grandmother’s passing—”

Gabe walked away again, heading toward the counter. He peered into the back room, his head swiveling around to get a good look. When he remerged, his expression was different...gentler.

“Now that she’s gone, I guess there’s no harm in telling the truth,” Gabe said. He turned his arm over and tapped a scar. “That was from her.”

“What?” Harper looked closer—it was long and pale. He’d been cut deeply.

“She came at me when I’d been caught with a cigarette. I fell into some rocks.”

Harper’s mind reeled. “Wait... Came at you?”

“She wasn’t the woman everyone thought she was,” he said bitterly. “And I was a constant disappointment.”

“Gabe, I had no idea...” Harper ran a hand over her brow. “Did you tell anyone?”

“Nope.” Gabe shrugged. “We all have baggage. Mine is a little harder to set down, I guess.”

“So being back here in Comfort Creek...it’s not ideal,” she clarified.

“You could say that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.” He shot her a small smile. “It’s just life.”

It wouldn’t be Zoey’s life; that was for sure. Zoey would be loved and supported. She’d be appreciated, and when she was disciplined, it would be with gentle firmness. No child should have to live like that. It wasn’t “just life.” Harper sighed.

“Andrea told me that you didn’t want kids. Was your grandmother part of that?”

He shot her a quirky smile. “Don’t try to psychoanalyze me now, Harper.”

“I’m not. I’m just curious. Like...if you’d somehow stumbled into parenthood, would that have been so bad?”

“Oh, like you did, you mean? Let’s put it this way—I’m not anyone’s first pick for godfather,” he said with a chuckle. “I know better than to agree to those roles.”

“No, I meant—” How could she even say this? It was delicate, and he wasn’t making this any easier. How was it that Gabe hadn’t pieced any of this together yet? Gabe raised an eyebrow and gave her a sardonic look.

“What if you’d gotten Andrea pregnant?” Harper asked, lowering her voice.

“I didn’t.”

“Just for argument’s sake.” Harper pressed, glancing over to where Zoey sat at the counter with her crayons, just to make sure they weren’t overheard. “What if you had? Would you have just walked away?”

Gabe shook his head. “Look, Andrea and I weren’t going to get married. I know she wanted all of that, and I really didn’t. But it was more than that. She was a good woman, but she wasn’t entirely right for me. So if you’re thinking that we split up because of that alone—”

“No, no...” Harper heaved a sigh. “Let’s put Andrea aside. What if you did have a child out there somewhere?”

“I don’t know how to answer that,” he said. “I don’t tend to live my life by what-ifs. I’m a more pragmatic kind of guy. I’m not interested in the family life, and I take the necessary precautions. Or I did. I’m a Christian now, so I don’t cross those lines anymore, and I don’t play games. I don’t toy with women’s expectations. I put it out there pretty straight.”

“Would you want to know about that child, though?” she pressed.

“Hypothetically, yeah. Sure.” He eyed her curiously.

Zoey traipsed back across the room, a page fluttering in her grasp. It was just some swirls and dashes, but Harper knew the dedication her little girl put into those expressions of her feelings.

“It’s for you,” Zoey said, handing the picture up to Gabe with a proud smile. “It’s a house. And a dog. And a sun. And another dog.”

“Oh, very nice. Yes, I can see that clearly.” Gabe looked at the page for a moment, then folded it and put into his back pocket with the other picture. “Thank you.”

“Zoey, why don’t you draw a picture for me?” Harper asked with a smile. “I love your pictures.”

“Okay.”

Zoey headed off again, leaving Harper and Gabe in relative privacy once more. She knew what she had to do here. The longer she put this off, the harder this conversation would be. But more than that—this was for Zoey. Her daughter would ask questions, and if Harper stood between Zoey and her biological father now, she knew who the bad guy would be—her. Gabe was in Comfort Creek, and deep in Harper’s heart she sensed that there were more reasons to his arrival than just sensitivity training. God worked in weird ways, but it was always effective.

“Look, Andrea and I were over a long time ago,” Gabe said. “I’m sorry that I was a disappointment to her, but that’s all in the past.”

“Yes, of course.” Harper nodded. “I’m not trying to guilt you over the past. You two didn’t work out, and that’s not the end of the world. I’m asking because Andrea never told Zoey’s father about her, and now that I’m her mom, I’m left in a bit of an ethical dilemma.”

Gabe nodded. “So why didn’t she tell him?”

“I think it was a complicated situation,” Harper said delicately. “The relationship obviously didn’t last, and she had...her own worries, I suppose. But she decided not to. And now that the adoption is underway, I don’t want to do wrong by Zoey. I want to make sure that she has everything she needs, emotionally and physically, and I truly believe a little girl needs her daddy. I don’t want to raise her so that my own heart is full, but hers has a hole in the size and shape of her father. When kids grow up with a hole in their hearts, they spend a lifetime trying it fill it, and it seldom works out well.”

“Don’t I know it,” Gabe said softly.

His grandmother...she was still rolling that over in her mind. She’d never once suspected that Imogen Banks was anything less than the solid Christian woman she appeared to be.

“So do I tell him?” Harper asked. “That’s my question. Do I tell the father that he has a child, even if that news wouldn’t be welcome?”

Gabe was silent for a moment. “And you know this guy?”

“A little.”

“I could do a background check on him, if you want. Just to make sure he’s not...creepy, or something.”

Harper laughed softly. “No, I don’t think that’s necessary. He’s a guy from town. So...not exactly a stranger.”

“Oh. Well—” Gabe shrugged “—I’d tell him. At least he’d know, and you could tell Zoey that you did your best.”

Tell him. She knew in her heart that she had to. Zoey’s needs had to come first, and while Andrea had done her best by her daughter, Harper wasn’t going to face God with Andrea, public opinion or her own excuses to back her up. She had to do the right thing.

“Besides,” Gabe said with a slow smile, “you can rest easy that most guys aren’t as messed up as I am.”

“That doesn’t really help.” Harper licked her lips, closed her eyes for a moment in a fleeting prayer for guidance over her words, then blurted out, “Because Zoey’s yours.”

* * *

The smile slipped from Gabe’s lips. What? He stared at Harper for a moment, processing her words. Or trying to. His mind wasn’t reacting fast enough, and he found himself searching her expression for answers, instead of his own head. Her lips were parted as if she wanted to say more, then she pressed them shut. But those big green eyes stayed focused on him, her glasses seeming to magnify that clear gaze.

“No, she’s not,” he said at last. It seemed like a feeble thing to say, but everyone knew that Andrea had hooked up with another guy after she left him.

Harper glanced toward Zoey, and Gabe followed her gaze. The little girl was perched on a stool, her feet kicking in rhythmic thumps against the legs. She seemed totally preoccupied, hunched over a new picture at the counter.

“She is,” Harper replied, her voice low. “If you look at Zoey’s eyes—they’re yours. And her chin—”

“A slight resemblance doesn’t mean anything,” he said with a short laugh. “A cleft in the chin isn’t that rare, Harper.”

“Andrea told me,” Harper went on. “She lied to everyone about who the father was because she didn’t want you to find out. The other guy was a cover story. You’re Zoey’s father, Gabe. I wouldn’t have said anything if I wasn’t sure.”

Gabe sucked in a stabilizing breath. As a police officer, he was a critical judge of people’s stories. How many times had a perp pleaded his innocence, only to have all the evidence on him? How many men in prison claimed to be innocent? Almost all of them. He knew what a lie sounded like, and he heard the truth in her voice.

“So I’m the guy that Andrea thought was no good for Zoey?” he said after a moment.

Harper’s silence was all the answer he needed, and that confirmation was like a punch to the gut. They’d made a baby... When he’d been promising himself that he’d stop crossing that line with her, that he’d get his head straight and stop fooling around... When he’d been wondering if it wasn’t just better to break up considering that they wanted such different things... While he hadn’t been man enough to just do what he knew he had to do, they’d made a baby.

He’d never guessed.

Andrea had been the one to break it off with him, and he’d known she was right. But when she’d walked away, she’d been pregnant, and that changed the way he saw himself. He was no longer a guy who knew better than to shackle a woman down to the likes of him. He was now the guy that his pregnant girlfriend had run away from.

Gabe had never claimed to be father material—or even husband material, for that matter—but to have a woman actively hide his child from him...

A father. That’s what this kept coming back to. He was a father?

His gaze moved back toward Zoey, who was climbing down from her stool again, a piece of paper clutched in one hand. He was looking at her differently this time, scanning her small, round face for signs of his own. His hand moved up to his own chin, rubbing against that familiar cleft under the sandpaper of stubble, and his mind was spinning in a fog of shock.

“Look!” Zoey said, holding up the paper to Harper. “I drew all of us. That’s Mommy, and Mommy, and me and Grandma and Grandpa...and that’s a cricket.”

Harper’s eyes misted and she nodded, then kissed Zoey’s head. “I love it,” she said. “Your snack is in my bag. It’s on the desk in the back room. Why don’t you go get it?”

Zoey skipped off, and Harper looked down at the faint scribbles on the page.

“Mommy and Mommy,” Harper said. “That’s what she calls me and Andrea. I’ve been upgraded to Mommy, recently, but when she tells stories, you have to know which Mommy she’s talking about.”

Gabe watched Zoey go—sturdy little legs and tangled brown waves. His emotions hadn’t caught up to this yet, and so far, she just looked like a kid—not his kid, not someone any closer to him than any other kid was... But when Harper looked at Zoey, he could see love burning deep in those green eyes. She saw something more when she looked at that child...

Gabe scrubbed a hand through his brown curls. “So Andrea knew she was pregnant when she left.”

“Yes.” Harper turned back toward him. “She said that she knew you didn’t want to get married or have kids, and once she realized she was pregnant, she knew that she had to make her choices with a child in mind, too. And she couldn’t keep doing...whatever it was you two were doing. The back and forth. The constant trying. So she came home.”

Home. That was Comfort Creek for Andrea, but this town wasn’t home for him. He’d been determined never to return to this hypocritical town. It had an attractive enough veneer, but he knew what was burbling underneath...and suddenly a thought struck him for the very first time.

“And no one told me.”

“Andrea made me promise to keep the secret,” Harper said.

“And you’re the only one who knew? I’m sure her parents knew I was the father. And her brother would have known, too, I imagine. If they knew, there would have been others—aunts and uncles, close friends, promising to keep that secret.”

Pink rose in Harper’s cheeks. “I told you.”

“She’s four.” He couldn’t mask the edge in his tone. “It’s been five years.”

“She wasn’t my daughter then,” Harper retorted. “And it wasn’t my business.”

Yeah, that’s what everyone in this town said about his grandmother, too. The way she raised her grandson was none of their business. What she did behind closed doors was her personal business, and far be it from them to push into someone else’s privacy. She was old, and he was a handful—they could sympathize with poor Imogen. But never once did they question whether Gabe’s behavioral issues might have arisen because of his crotchety old grandmother.

Gabe had been a little boy who was told how terrible he was on a daily basis. He’d been an adolescent hiding the emotional bruises from his grandmother’s caustic comments. And now most recently, he was the father of a daughter he didn’t even know existed. Not deemed good enough by Andrea and those closest to her. Ironically, that wasn’t very different from his grandmother.

This town had clean streets and cordial smiles, like the one from Chief Morgan, and under it all was the cesspool of secrets. He had a little girl, and Comfort Creek had kept its collective mouth shut. This stupid town hadn’t changed a bit.

“Not your business.” He nodded slowly. “I should have known about her, and long before this.”

Harper nodded and tugged her ginger curls away from her face. “I agree. But I’m telling you now.”

“And if it hadn’t been for that car accident?” he prodded. If Andrea hadn’t died, leaving her daughter...their daughter...in Harper’s care, what then?

Harper shrugged faintly. “What would you have had me do, Gabe? Go behind my best friend’s back and inform you about Zoey? I couldn’t do that. But I was the voice of reason and balance. I encouraged her to tell you, and eventually...I think she would have.”

“When Zoey was a teenager?” he asked.

“I thought you didn’t work with what-ifs?” She looked away.

So, he’d hit a nerve, had he? Good—she deserved to squirm a little bit. This whole town did! His emotions were kicking in now, and it wasn’t the appropriate emotional response...not what people expected to see when a man discovered he had a child. He wasn’t overflowing with love. He wasn’t feeling tender and paternal.

“This town.” His voice trembled with barely restrained anger. “Everyone keeps their secrets, don’t they? They close the circle and claim to be so innocent. But what happens when they close the circle and you’re the one on the outside? Huh? I was raised in Comfort Creek since my mother dumped me with my grandmother shortly after my birth. Chief Morgan just gave me a very touching speech saying that I’m one of your own. But this town didn’t take care of me. And one day, it might not take care of you, either.”

“So you wanted to know.” Harper shook her head. “Andrea didn’t think you would! If you had any kind of flexibility, maybe you should have let Andrea know that, because I’m not taking responsibility for—”

Zoey appeared in the doorway, and as Gabe’s gaze landed on the girl, the words died in Harper’s mouth.

“We shouldn’t discuss any of this in front of her,” Harper said, her voice tight.

“Yeah. Agreed.” Even he could see that their old, festering issues would be poison for that little girl.

Zoey stared at them, gray eyes wide. Did Zoey have any sense of who he was? When he was a boy, he used to imagine that his dad would come back for him. His mom was a lost cause, but he’d held out hope for a dad. He’d figured that he’d know his dad right away—some sort of innate feeling, or something. But that had only been a childhood fantasy. In reality, it was possible to look your own child in the face and have no idea who she was.

“Zoey, it’s okay, sweetheart,” Harper said, her tone softening. “Come here. We’re done talking about that anyway.”

“Are you fighting like with Aunt Heidi?” Zoey asked doubtfully.

“Yes.” Shame clouded her expression. “Something like that. But we won’t anymore.”

Gabe had to get out of here. He needed space to process all of this, and he didn’t trust himself to do it in front of Zoey.

“I’m going to head out.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll be in touch.”

It was too casual of a statement to encompass it all, but he didn’t know how to deal with this—and his anger wasn’t going to be of use right now. He needed space.

Before Harper could say anything, he marched to the door and pulled it open. Outside that door was freedom, but something tugged his gaze back over his shoulder once more to the curly redhead who stared at him with regret swimming in her eyes and the dark-haired child next to her, an apple slice held aloft.

He’d promised himself that he’d never come back to this town for good reason, but that was before he’d known he had a child here, and all of his issues aside, life had just gotten a hundred percent more complicated.

“I’ll be back,” he said, moderating his tone. He wasn’t sure why he said it. Maybe it was because of their stricken expressions, or because he knew that he owed that child something more than DNA, whether he liked it or not.

Then he pushed out onto the sidewalk and pulled the door solidly shut behind him.

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