“First there’s someone I’d like you to meet. Mandy, this is Darci, the lady I told you about.”

Mandy sobered, watching Darci come closer.

“Hi. I’ll bet you’re eager to get outside again, aren’t you?” Darci perched on the edge of the bed, achingly aware of Cole’s lean strength mere inches away.

Mandy nodded her head, then gifted Darci with a shy little smile. “Are you coming home with us, too?”

Home. Darci had to bite her lip to keep from giving her true feelings completely away. Home was such a small word. And it didn’t take much to make one—just people you truly loved and cared about, no matter what. That freely given love was something Darci had never experienced, something she’d always wanted, badly.

“You’ll be staying with me for a while. Is that okay?”

Mandy nodded, then held out her arms to Cole. “I want to leave. Now.”

Cole grinned and lifted Mandy into his arms.

While Cole dealt with the endless paperwork, Darci combed Mandy’s hair into a ponytail, then helped her get dressed. The little girl insisted on wearing jeans, boots and a fringed western shirt. Darci’s heart melted with each moment that passed, her hopes and dreams for a family of her own becoming tangled with Mandy’s chatter about everything she wanted to do now that she was with her daddy again.

“Ah, my little cowgirl is back.” Cole stood in the doorway, his hat tilted slightly to shade his eyes. But Darci could hear the wistfulness in his voice, could understand his anguish over his daughter’s pain.

When the nurse wheeled Mandy to the hospital entrance in the wheelchair, the girl pretended to be riding a pony.

“She’s going to grow up to be just like her daddy.”

Cole’s mouth tightened. “That’s what she wants. I just hope I can give it to her.”

Darci wanted to help him raise Mandy, but knew she was dreaming the impossible. Cole had made it clear from the beginning that he didn’t love her. There was no reason left for him to remain married to her.

Fresh depression settled over Darci as she realized she’d lost so much more than her life’s work. Cole possessed her heart, and she wasn’t certain she had the strength to take it back again.

She was silent when they drove away, letting Mandy’s chatter wash over her.

“Daddy, look, a Ferris wheel.” Mandy pointed to a small parking-lot carnival, her nose pressed against the car window.

“Snugglebug, I don’t think you’re ready for that just yet.”

“Please, Daddy. Just one ride. Then I’ll take a nap. I promise.”