Michelle Major - Suddenly a Father

“I can’t wait.” He unstuck a strand of hair from her cheek. “I’m going to get cleaned up for my appointment. Wash your face and hands and we’ll pick out an outfit for today.”

She shook her head. “Millie will help me get dressed.” She grinned. “She’s a girl, Daddy, so she’s better at clothes than you.”

He’d wager Millie was better with everything relating to kids than he, but he didn’t point out that fact.

“Sounds like a plan, Stan.”

“Daddy.” She giggled. “You know my name’s not Stan.”

He thumped the heel of his palm against his forehead. “I keep forgetting. It’s a plan, Brooke .”

“Silly Daddy. That’s better.”

One tiny thing was better. He only wished he could fix the rest of their problems so easily.

* * *

By the time she got the dishwasher loaded, the table wiped down and Brooke cleaned and dressed for the day, Millie had almost gotten her emotions under control.

Almost.

There was no doubt that Millie had gone through hell as a child, never able to claim her father publicly or even tell anyone she knew the man who’d helped create her. Her visits with Robert Palmer had been behind closed doors or incognito. She’d hated all the pretending she’d had to do. Hated that when her father was around, her mother insisted that Millie not trouble him. There had been no help with homework, no demands for more of his time or requests to attend a school performance. But she’d known him. He’d been a presence—albeit an occasional one—in her life.

Brooke had lost her mother, and at four, Millie knew the girl couldn’t truly understand the permanence of the situation or what it meant for someone to be dead. It was trauma at a level Millie could hardly comprehend. Yet Brooke seemed to be handling it with a mix of cheerfulness and poignant honesty that touched Millie to her core.

She smiled as Brooke played with her hair while Millie strapped the girl into her car seat. It was a tight fit in the back of her VW Beetle, not a car she’d planned on using to haul around a child and her very tall father. She focused on the task at hand and tried to ignore the fact that her back end was on full display as she adjusted the child safety straps to make Brooke more comfortable.

Readjusting her headband, she turned then narrowed her eyes at the smug smile playing at the corner of Jake’s mouth.

“I’m not thinking what you think I am,” he said softly, his blue eyes appearing several shades darker than she remembered. “Promise.”

“Toss me Bunny.” She held out her hands, willing her body to stop responding to the wicked gleam in his eye.

Instead he took the few steps toward her until they stood toe to toe. He placed the stuffed animal in her arms then traced his finger from the corner of her jaw down her neck, straightening the collar of her flannel shirt in the process. “You’re blushing.”

“I’m just hot.”

“You’re just hot,” he repeated.

“Not like that. You know what I mean. It was a lot of work maneuvering that car seat into the back of the Beetle.”

He gave a small laugh. “Right now I’m wondering how I’m going to maneuver myself into your car.”

“It’s not that small. You’ll fit fine.” When he flashed a wide grin, she groaned but couldn’t stop herself from smiling in response. Something about Jake put her at ease enough to enjoy the playful banter. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Dr. Travers.” She turned and handed Brooke the stuffed animal then went around the car to slip in behind the wheel.

She tried not to watch as Jake attempted to fold himself into the passenger seat. “How tall are you, Millie?”

“Five feet, two and a half inches.”

He gave her a look out of the corner of his eye.

“In half-inch heels,” she amended. “You’re what, six-three?”

“And a quarter.” He adjusted the seat back then lifted his booted leg into the car and shut the door. “If an extra quarter inch matters to you.”

“Daddy, you’re smushing me,” Brooke said, and Millie saw the girl kick her foot into the back of Jake’s seat.

He moved the seat up again, his knees grazing the dash. “Is that better?”

“Uh-huh. Bunny needs room to spread out.”

“Lucky Bunny,” Jake mumbled.

Millie looked over, ready to continue their verbal sparring until she noticed the tight set of his mouth. Jake’s head was resting back against the seat, his eyes closed.

She placed her hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”

He gave a small nod but didn’t open his eyes. “Just not used to this much moving around so early in the day. Sad but true.”

“It will get better.” She realized she’d said a version of that phrase almost a dozen times in the past twenty-four hours. Speaking the words out loud, unfortunately, didn’t make them reality.

She backed the car out of the driveway and followed Jake’s directions to the hospital. When she’d visited Olivia before in Crimson, there had still been snow on the ground. Now the whole valley had come to life and the mountains rising up from the outskirts of town were a mix of the dark green of pine trees and the lighter shades of aspens. Even Brooke seemed awed by their surroundings, as she was quiet for most of the drive.

She pulled into the hospital’s parking lot fifteen minutes later.

“You can drop me off at the main entrance,” Jake said before she could ask the question.

“No!” Brooke suddenly shouted from the backseat. “Daddy, don’t go. Don’t go to the hospital.”

Jake turned as best he could toward the back of the car. “We talked about this, Brooke. I have an appointment and then I’ll be with you again. Millie’s going to take care of you until then.”

“No,” Brooke said again. This time Millie could hear the tears in the young girl’s voice. “You can’t leave me.”

Millie’s heart ached at those words. Jake met her gaze. “What do I do?”

“Brookie-Cookie,” Millie said over the girl’s sniffling, “we’ll walk your daddy into the hospital.” She parked the car in a space as close to the front of the hospital as she could find. “You can see where they’re going to do the physical therapy and the office where his doctor works. If you want, we can stay and wait for him.”

“Okay.” Brooke’s voice was a tiny whimper.

Millie could see a muscle tick in Jake’s jaw but ignored him as she unstrapped Brooke from her car seat and helped her out of the car. Brooke took her father’s hand as they walked toward the sliding doors at the front of the building. She sang a song to Bunny as she skipped along, once again content since she wasn’t being separated from her father.

Millie came to Jake’s other side. “She’s afraid of losing you if you’re out of her sight for too long,” she whispered.

“I could be here for a couple of hours.” He glanced at her. “Do you really want to hang out here all morning?”

“I’m hoping that if she sees the office and maybe meets some people, that will make her feel better and we can leave.” She shrugged. “If not, we’ll stay.” She made her smile bright. “You’re paying me a lot of money to take care of your daughter. I’ll make it work, Jake.”

He led them to the elevators and, once they reached the third floor, down the hall to the rehabilitation and physical-therapy offices. He walked forward, Brooke still glued to his side, to check in at the reception desk.

“I have a nine-thirty appointment,” he told the woman behind the counter.

Millie watched as the woman glanced up then did a double take. She could imagine Jake got that reaction quite a bit, although he didn’t seem to notice. “Oh, my goodness,” the woman gushed, “it’s really you.”