Brenda Minton - The Cowboy's Reunited Family

He wanted nothing from her but the daughter she’d left the country with all those years ago. He glanced past Jana, at the car she’d driven up in. He didn’t see any sign of Lindsey. If he focused on his daughter, maybe he wouldn’t get tangled up in Jana.

At that moment, Jana’s gaze connected with his, pushing him off balance like an emotional avalanche.

“I’m here because I made a mistake, and it’s time to right that wrong.” Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

“Where’s my daughter? Where’s Lindsey?”

Jana bit down on her bottom lip, and the tears started to fall.

“Jana, tell me where she is.” The longer Jana stood there, the more worry settled in his gut. None of this felt right.

“Blake, take a step back.” Jackson edged close to him. “Give her a minute.”

“I’ve given her ten and a half years of my daughter’s life. Years I didn’t have.”

“Lindsey’s sick.” The words tumbled out quickly as she took another step toward him. “We need you.”

The words hit him hard. He didn’t know what to say, but he knew he needed a minute to process. He looked down at the hand that rested on his arm, the look in her eyes pleading for his mercy. He’d loved her. He remembered back to the woman he’d thought he’d spend his life with. She’d been a college student from England spending a year in America. He’d fallen in love with her soft gestures, her sweet innocence and the accent.

He took off his hat and brushed a hand through his hair. She was watching him, waiting. Jackson stood nearby. Blake returned to what she’d just said. They needed him.

“Blake, please.” Her words were soft. His daughter was sick.

“Where is she?”

“Don’t take her from me.”

“Of all the...” He had to walk away. When he turned, she was still standing where he left her, tears rolling down her cheeks. Real tears. He knew that. He knew she was hurting. That didn’t undo the way his insides were tied up in knots. “You took her from me.”

“I know,” she whispered, her gaze lifting to meet his.

Every emotion he’d felt in the past ten years rushed through his mind. The woman he’d promised to love “until death do us part” was standing in front of him. It was hard to look at her and not think about the past. She’d gotten tired of country life. She’d left him and taken their two-year-old daughter away from him, hiding her in Europe and then in Africa. He knew this because he’d been on her trail for several years. Yet she’d always managed to disappear just before he caught up with her.

The only thing she’d left him was a note telling him she couldn’t be a Cooper anymore, and she didn’t think he’d understand. Almost four years into their marriage, she should have known him better than that. He would have understood.

“Does any of this matter right now?” Jackson asked, jumping into the conversation, the voice of reason. “Jana, where’s Lindsey?”

“Tulsa.” Jana brushed the hair back from her face as she stood facing him, a lot braver than he would have been, Blake thought. “I brought her to Tulsa. She’s in a hospital there. Blake, she needs a kidney transplant.”

Blake was already pulling his keys from his pocket. He nodded toward the rental car. “You can park here. You’ll ride with me.”

“I can drive myself.”

Blake laughed a little. “I don’t think so, Jana.”

“I’m not going to leave.”

“I’m afraid I can’t take your word on that. I seem to remember telling you that I had to make that meeting in Oklahoma City but we’d work things out when I got back. Problem was, I got back and you were gone.”

Jackson interfered again. Blake needed to tell his younger brother that he could do without the kid gloves and worried looks. “Let me call Madeline and tell her what’s going on. I’ll drive the two of you to Tulsa.”

“I can drive.” Blake reached for Jana. She walked next to him, looking down, not up. He relaxed his hold on her arm.

“Let me go with you.” Jackson stayed close.

“We’ll take this.” Blake opened the passenger door of the rental car for Jana. “Get in.”

Jana got in. She looked up at him, her big blue eyes swimming in tears. “Blake, I’m sorry.”

“I know.” He closed the car door and turned to face Jackson. “Let the family know what’s going on. I’ll call you when I know more.”

Jackson’s mouth stayed in a firm line, unsmiling. “Blake, let me go with you.”

“Not this time, little brother.”

“Don’t hurt her,” Jackson warned.

“Hurt her? You mean like the way she ripped my heart out? Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt her. I’m going to get my daughter back and then I’ll be done with Jana Parker.”

“Blake, remember that the real issue at hand is your daughter. You’re not thinking straight, and you’ve got a daughter who obviously needs you both.”

Blake leaned back against the compact car Jana had rented. The reality of the moment hit him head-on, taking the air from his lungs as he tried to process that his daughter was back, but she was sick.

All of the years he’d dreamed about getting her back, he’d never imagined this scenario. He’d had it in his mind that they would reunite. She was always healthy, and Jana was never in the picture.

“Thanks.” He managed a smile for his brother, then he walked around to get behind the wheel of the car. Next to Jana. He gave her a quick look and then jammed the key in the ignition, because looking at Jana did crazy things to him. After all these years he’d thought he’d only feel a serious dose of anger. But he was wrong.

* * *

Jana didn’t know what to say to Blake. He got in the car, sliding the seat back to make room for his longer legs. She blinked away the tears that continued to fall. Tears that had been falling for weeks now. He had no idea how much it hurt, to watch her daughter suffer and to know there was nothing she could do.

That wasn’t fair, though. He’d had his own share of suffering. And she was the reason why. Her actions had cost them all. It was time for making amends, for seeking his forgiveness.

She’d finally gotten it, this faith thing that was so important to the Coopers. She hadn’t understood it when she’d been married to Blake. She hadn’t seen the need for the Sundays spent at church and then together at Cooper Creek.

Now she knew what faith meant. She knew what it meant to face the past and seek forgiveness. But she couldn’t tell Blake, because no doubt he would accuse her of using faith to manipulate him, to get what she wanted. She couldn’t blame him for thinking the worst of her.

“What happened?” Blake’s deep, husky voice broke the silence.

She glanced at him, at the strong profile she’d fallen in love with all those years ago. The first time she’d laid eyes on him, he’d looked like a model for a Western wear catalog. He’d been about to get in his truck, all cowboy from his hat to his boots. She’d been trying to start her car and couldn’t. He’d come to her rescue. She’d never known a man like him, a man who wore masculinity the way some men wore cologne. It had been natural to him, to be strong.

“Jana?” He glanced her way, his mouth in a tight line.

“I’m sorry. I was thinking.”

“Maybe you could tell me about Lindsey?”

“Her kidneys started to fail. The doctors call it Chronic Kidney Disease caused by a birth defect in her kidneys. She was weak, tired all of the time.”

“Why wouldn’t we have known that years ago?”

“Because she was young. Her kidneys managed while she was small. As she got older, her kidneys had to work harder and they couldn’t keep up.”

“What’s the prognosis?”