“Thank you.” She glanced down at Livie to see she was still soundly asleep.
Cooper had returned to his end of the couch, and his gaze was on Livie. “Our daughter’s beautiful, Kendall.”
She liked that he hadn’t hesitated claiming Livie as his. “What did you tell Amy?”
“I wasn’t sure how much you wanted her to know, so I only told her that I’m Livie’s father, and that it was your story to share. What did you tell her about Livie’s father?”
“Only that he wasn’t in the picture. She’ll have questions, for sure.”
“I wish…” He shook his head.
“What? You wish what?”
Chapter 8
Cooper wished… Well, he wished a lot of things. Mostly, that his little girl wasn’t afraid of him. He got why. He was a man, and right now, men were scary monsters to her. Just because he understood didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt.
She’d fallen asleep with her head on her mother’s lap, and it was his first chance to really look at her. He hadn’t before because scary man here, so he’d kept his distance. Now, he was able to take her in, to search for characteristics she’d gotten from him. Her hair was dark like her mother’s, but Kendall was right. Livie had his mouth and eyes.
A little progress had been made when she’d let him eat ice cream with them as long as he stayed at the end of the couch.
“You wish what, Cooper?”
That he could have a do-over the night they were together and tell her his name and how to find him. “That I could take away the last twenty-four hours for her.”
“Yeah, me, too.” She gently combed her fingers through Livie’s hair. “What did the note say?”
When her phone chimed, he said, “Let’s save that for later, after Livie sees the doctor.” He didn’t want to tell her what the note said. It was going to upset her, even scare her, but he was going to have to. He picked her phone up from the coffee table and handed it to her.
“Dr. Townsend, thanks for calling me back.” She explained the situation, then said, “Thank you. See you soon.” She set the phone on the couch next to her. “She said to come in now.”
“I’ll drive.” Livie woke up long enough to refuse to sit in her car seat. When she started sobbing, he said, “Sit in the back with her and hold her. I’ll drive carefully.”
Following Kendall’s instructions, twenty minutes later, they were at the doctor’s office. Livie was taken right in. He went in the room with them for a few minutes because he wanted to meet his daughter’s doctor. A crying Livie clung to Kendall, begging to go home. He wished she wasn’t afraid of him so he could wrap his arms around her and Kendall, who also had tears in her eyes.
Once he’d spent a few minutes with Dr. Townsend and liked her and her gentleness with Livie, he left the room. While he waited, he walked outside and called Detective Rossi. The detective wasn’t happy that Cooper refused to bring Livie to the police station immediately.
“We’re not bringing her to the station at all. You can come by tomorrow and talk to her, but she’s traumatized and afraid of men now, so I don’t know what you’ll be able to get out of her. Not to mention that she’s a four-year-old and won’t even know some of the answers you want.”
He disconnected with the unhappy detective, but he wasn’t going to back down on his refusal to bring Livie to the police station. Tomorrow, before Rossi showed up, he’d guide Kendall on questions to ask Livie. Doing it that way would more likely give them some information over an interrogation by the police.
Kendall and Livie still weren’t out when he returned to the waiting room, and unable to sit, he paced until he realized his tension was getting the attention of those in the room. He went outside again and called Grayson.
“Talk to me,” Grayson said on answering.
“We have Livie back.”
“Great news. Is she okay?”
“No. She’s afraid the bad man’s going to come back for her.” He brought his friend and teammate up to date, including what the note said. “The man’s playing games with Kendall, and I’m taking him seriously.”
“Agreed. Why don’t you bring them here where you have backup, and we can make a plan to find the bastard.”
“I was thinking the same. It will be a few days before I can do that. We have to deal with the police here. Also, Livie needs a few days at home where she feels safe.” Although, she wasn’t safe there, especially if he returned home, leaving them unprotected. That was not going to happen. He’d just have to convince Kendall that it was a good idea to go to Myrtle Beach for a while.
“Send me a copy of the note. I’ll have Sean give it to one of his profilers. Maybe they can get a read on the man.”
“Good idea. I’ll do that when we get back to Kendall’s house.” Sean had helped them on several of their cases, most recently when Liam’s fiancée had been kidnapped.