“Whatever,” he said, clearly unconcerned with the distinction. “Tell me everything. I want to know her name. How long you were in labor. What time she was born. I want to know what she likes to eat, whether she can talk, how many steps she’s taken, if she has allergies, what her favorite toy is. I want to know every last detail.”

The yearning behind his words struck her. He almost sounded as if he regretted missing out on so much. His eagerness was impossible to resist. Suddenly she couldn’t wait to see him with his daughter. It was something she’d dreamed about since the first moment the doctor had confirmed her pregnancy.

“Wouldn’t you rather just go and meet her?” Melissa inquired softly.

He nodded, apparently speechless again.

“I’ll speak to Eli and be right with you,” she promised.

“Don’t try ducking out the back,” he warned, but he was grinning when he said it.

“I’m not the one who runs,” she reminded him.

His comment might have been half-teasing, but hers was not. She wanted him to know that she was stronger now than she had been when he’d abandoned her. She wanted him to know that she was tough enough and secure enough to fight him for her daughter, if she had to.

But she also wanted him to see that she was brave enough to allow him into his child’s life, if he wanted a place there. This wasn’t about her any longer. It wasn’t about her feelings for Cody, though those clearly hadn’t died. This was about her daughter and what was best for her. It was about giving her child a chance to know her father.

Even so, as they walked down Main Street toward the tree-lined street where her family had lived her whole life, Melissa couldn’t help the vague stirring of hope deep inside her. The past year and a half of loneliness and regret had been wiped out of her heart in the blink of an eye. Left in its wake was anticipation, the eager-to-start-the-day anticipation of a woman in love. As dangerous an emotion as that was, she could no more have prevented it than she could have held back the wildness of a tornado’s winds.

Cody was back and she might as well admit to herself one more truth. Time and distance hadn’t dulled her feelings for him a bit. She wanted him every bit as fiercely as she ever had.

Cody was in a daze. He was only marginally aware of the woman walking beside him. Instead he kept seeing images of the child that he now knew without any doubt whatsoever was his. Melissa’s confirmation kept echoing over and over in his head. He was a father.