Page 31 of Healing Hope

Tears filled her eyes again, and she leaned over from Jess’s lap to wrap her arms around his neck.

Paul’s gut was churning with so many emotions, but right then, love for this child took the forefront. He would break his only hand, hell, he would die for her if it meant keeping her safe. Tears filled his eyes as her little arms squeezed his neck as hard as she could. “I love you, sprite.”

“I love you, too, Daddy.”

That was the first time she’d ever told him that, and his throat refused to work as he held her close.

13

Jess loved seeing the emotion on Paul’s face, but she felt a little like a voyeur. This wasn’t her family, and she needed to remember that. Yes, she was embroiled in their drama, but it would be short term.

Her heart, though. This kid was wringing everything out of her, and she had a feeling it would hurt like hell when she walked away.

Paul was working on her, too, though. Just seeing the emotion in his face right now made her wish she was the one evoking it. In a different way, of course. If he could love his daughter this completely, it made her wonder how he would be in a committed relationship. Not that she would be into that kind of thing, but she couldn’t help but dream a little.

Jess had never really been in love. She’d loved, yes, many times, but never felt like she couldn’t move on. Men were great distractions. They scratched an occasional itch. But she’d never been so consumed with a man that she didn’t think about what was over the next horizon.

Her mom and dad loved each other, she knew that. And maybe she’d gotten too much of her mom’s personality in her. While Dad was deployed, Mom could pack up seven kids plus pets, sell a house, buy a house, and get them all resettled in another state, or even country, within a few months. Jess had always admired her mother for having the gumption to literally tackle anything, and kick ass doing it. Her mother had never needed a man for anything.

The love between her mother and father was something to see, though. When Dad was home, he catered to her mother, making up for all the time he couldn’t be with her. And they both put in effort to keep the relationship going. When Jess had been growing up, she’d hated being the oldest because it meant she had to watch the littles all the time. Looking back, though, she could see that it had allowed her parents to date and take trips, and cultivate their relationship.

In a way, it was why she did this job now. She didn’t need the money. But she loved seeing emotional interactions like this and facilitating them.

Paul caught her gaze, and he gave her a look that she couldn’t decipher. He opened his mouth to tell her something, and the doorbell rang.

They stared at each other for a long moment, until Jess blinked. She shifted Hope and Sophie completely to Paul’s lap and left the kitchen to answer the door.

Staying safe, she peered through the window beside the door before she opened it. No scarecrow in a mask and black clothes. Actually, it was a muscular blond guy in a tight blue t-shirt and a matching ball cap. He grinned at her charmingly when she opened the door, and Jess blinked. It’d been a while since she’d been hit with that much wattage.

“Hello, ma’am. We have a delivery from Imagination Station. One of our deluxe play sets. Are you Jess?”

Oh, hell. Jess winced as she glanced out to the street and saw the giant truck. With everything going on, she’d forgotten what day it was. “I am, yes. Start unloading, and I’ll meet you in the back. There’s a path around the side of the house.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The guy actually tipped his hat at her before turning away and jogging back to the truck, where he started directing a group of men.

“Who was that?”

Jess turned, not surprised to find Paul behind her. “So, I know I should have checked with you, but things kind of got away from us…”

Paul’s blue eyes darkened. “Yes?”

“I kind of bought Hope a swing set for her birthday.”

He blinked and leaned around her to look out the window. When he saw the men and the huge boxes and bundles of lumber they were unloading, his eyes widened. “That seems like more than a swing set.”

She gave him a broad smile. “Yeah, it’s kind of a big play set. You were so firm on the no pool thing, though, that I thought you wouldn’t mind going bigger with the fort.”

Paul’s dark brows lowered, and he pinned her with a look. “This thing keeps growing. It started as a swing set, now you’re calling it a fort.”

She shrugged and made a face, smiling up at him with as much charm as she could manage. “I got a deal on it from a buddy.” When he still seemed a little put out, she leaned in and gave him a bump on the prosthetic. “Come on, Paul. This is actually serendipitous. Hope has had a rough day. Her birthday is day after tomorrow. What better way to lighten the mood than with a nice gift?”

That seemed to sway him, because he heaved a great sigh. “Fine. But send me the bill and I’ll reimburse you.”

Jess waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. It’s my gift to Hope. Can you go with me and decide where you want it positioned?”

He gave her a nod, and they turned to go back through the house. Hope came running down the hall to meet them. “I put Sophie in her bed in my room. What are the men doing in the backyard?”