Patricia Johns – The Deputy's Unexpected Family (страница 7)

“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.”