“Okay, I did.” He lifted his eyes to Cici again, watching her approach. “I couldn’t let you go again.” He glanced down at his phone, still in his hand, silent now. “You were calling me?”
Cici nodded with damp eyes. Tegan’s gaze ran between the two of them, and Cooper’s brain finally kicked into gear. He knew he needed to properly introduce himself to Tegan, but all he saw was the woman he loved and the little girl he hoped like hell was his.
“Cici, is she…?”
Cici nodded, and a lone tear slipped down her cheek. Without thinking, he stepped inside the house to take Cici in his arms, and Tegan moved between them like a brick wall.
With his eyes still on the little girl, who he realized had not his eyes, not Cici’s eyes, but his father’s big, expressive eyes, he said, “Tegan, please. Whatever you want to say, say it quick. I’ll answer anything and everything. I have nothing to hide, and I’m sure I deserve whatever it is you want to say to me. But for a very long time, my life has been off-kilter, and now…Now I see why. How could I function as a whole when two of the most important pieces of me were missing?”
He sensed Tegan smiling before he actually looked at her. She was smiling, but there was still the hint of a threat lingering in her eyes.
“Just don’t do the wrong thing,” she said for only the two of them to hear. “I’m adept at crutch-karate.”
His mind was still reeling, but he somehow managed a response. “Never again. That I can promise you.”
She ran an assessing gaze over his face, and then she stepped out of the way, allowing him to close the distance between himself and the woman—and child—who owned his heart.
Chapter Ten
Two weeks later…
THE MORNING SUN shone brightly on the white wedding canopy in Mary Lou Wild’s backyard. Jackson stood beneath it, wearing a dark suit and a nervous smile. Behind him, Logan and Heath stood shoulder to shoulder. The tall, handsome men were looking past Jackson, at their gorgeous fiancées, Stormy and Ally, who were smiling so happily that Cici could feel the joy resonating from them. She could hardly believe she was here, in the backyard of the house the man she loved had grown up in, with the people he loved most in the world.
The wedding march began playing, bringing Jackson and Erica’s wedding to life. Cici turned to watch Melody walk down the aisle in her new frilly white dress, lacy socks, and white Mary Janes. Tears filled her eyes at the sight of her daughter holding Cooper’s hand—her father’s hand. Cooper was so big beside their petite little girl. The pride in his eyes was palpable as Melody reached into the basket he carried and tossed rose petals onto the grass. Her smile matched his as he shifted his gaze to Cici.
He mouthed, I love you both so much.
We love you, too, she mouthed in return.
Mary Lou, seated beside Cici, patted Cici’s lap, searching for her hand, which Cici took and squeezed. She whispered in the ear of the woman she’d already come to care deeply for, “Melody is tossing the roses, smiling just like her daddy.” Her heart squeezed at the freedom to say those words, just like her daddy. “And all those boys of yours look so handsome. I wish you could see them.”
“I can, sweetheart,” Mary Lou said. “I feel their beauty, can sense their pride and their love. Just like I feel yours, and you get to give me the rest. Thank you.”
After Cooper had showed up at the house two weeks earlier, he’d taken off a week from work and stayed in the guest room at Cici’s house, so as not to confuse Melody while they figured out the best way to tell her that Cooper was her father. They still hadn’t figured out how, but they assumed they’d know how when the time was right. They didn’t want to rush it. Melody was completely in love with Cooper, and Cooper was crazy in love with them both.
Last week, when Cooper had returned to New York to work, he’d called every morning and every night to talk to both Melody and Cici, and every night before Melody went to sleep she whispered, “Good night, Cooper,” up to the stars, insisting that Cooper could hear her. The funny thing was, Cici was pretty sure she was right.
The wedding ceremony was lovely, and after exchanging rings, Jackson and Erica kissed with reckless abandon, despite their friends and family gathered around them. The Wilds’ close friends the Bads were there—four single, handsome men, who were probably bummed that the wedding wasn’t full of single women, save for Ally’s sister, Mandy, a few of Erica’s staff members, and Tegan, cast and all. Mick Bad, the eldest of the Bad brothers, had been eyeing Mandy all morning, and now, as Erica’s assistant, George, elbowed him, he tore his eyes from the pretty brunette and denied he’d been ogling her.