“Didn’t matter to them.”
“Well, I’m sorry for my part in it. I hope you can forgive me.”
She studied him for a moment, a slow smile breaking across her features. “Yeah, Cole. I forgive you.”
Like a puck-drop at the start of a game, energy raced through him. If he didn’t have the girls on either side of him, he’d haul her onto his lap and let her know with his mouth how much that meant to him. “Okay. Time for bed.” He started to get up, but the girls clung to him like monkeys.
“Not yet,” Paisley said.
Evvie gazed up at him with her puppy dog eyes and held up a finger. “One more. Pease?”
He looked at Hailey for help, but she just laughed. “Fine. One more episode, and that’s it.”
He’d gotten carried away, as he always did around her, so he was glad for the interruption. What was the point? After Christmas, he’d be gone until June.
He’d never have the kind of relationship he wanted with her.
Tell that to my heart.
Because the gate that had been locked for ten years had suddenly swung open.
Most mornings, Cole woke up raring to go. He liked his life. Whether it was hockey or a vacation or plans with friends, he always had something to look forward to. But this morning, pain pinned him to the mattress. The extra weight of carrying the girls up and down the stairs last night had done some damage. It felt like a gremlin was repeatedly stabbing his knee with a burning hot pitchfork.
But he had to get Paisley off to school, so he got dressed and brushed his teeth, then headed down the hallway to the girls’ bedroom. He found her in a deep sleep. “It’s time to get up.” When she didn’t rouse, he patted her shoulder. “Pais? Got to get moving. You’ve got school today.” Still nothing.Huh. That’s weird.He gave her a shake.Out cold.
With his hands on his hips, he stood at the side of her bed. Had they kept her up too late?
Hailey came into the room. “Morning.” She stopped when she saw Paisley still sleeping. “What’s going on?”
“She’s not budging.” He sat on the edge of the mattress and put his hand on the girl’s back. “Paisley, let’s go. You’ve got school today. Come on.”
Hailey stared at the sleeping child. “What do we do?”
“Let her skip it. Who cares? It’s kindergarten.”
“No, Chase said to stick to the schedule.”
“Chase isn’t here.”
Evvie turned onto her belly and dropped out of her bed. With a sleepy expression, she padded over and raised her arms for him to pick her up. He lifted her onto his lap. She was light as a hockey stick and smelled like baby shampoo and laundry detergent.
How did they trust him so easily? It was…sweet. And weird. “Your sister’s not a morning person, huh?” Mostly weird.
“Pay-wee sweepy.”
“I see that. How do we get her up?”
The little girl launched herself onto the mattress, curled up next to her sister, and stroked her hair. “Time to get up, sweepy-head.”
These two. Damn, they’re close. He remembered something Chase had told him. “Something like sixty-five percent of siblings gets separated in foster care.” He whispered it so the girls wouldn’t hear.
“I know. I heard that, too.” Underneath the fear in Hailey’s eyes, he saw determination. “We won’t let that happen.”
“No. The PI’s bound to find someone.”
“Not justsomeone. It has to be a good, loving home. People who treat them like their own flesh and blood.”
If Darren and Lindsay had family or friends like that, he and Hailey wouldn’t be here. But there was no point in saying it again. They’d just have to wait and see what the PI came up with.