Page 30 of Snowed in with the Rancher

“No, no, of course you didn't ruin anything,” she rushed to reassure him. “We're okay, I promise.” She hoped they were more than okay—that they were actually on their way to building something between the two of them, something that went beyond co-parenting. But she didn't want to jump the gun or scare him off. “We can worry about that later. Right now let's talk to the girls. One step at a time.”

He nodded, the worry-line fading. “Okay. One step at a time.”

THIRTEEN

It only took five minutes and a silent pep talk for Tate to gear himself up to knock on the door of Olivia's suite. He'd figured it would take him more like ten, so he was a little early when she opened up.

“Hey there,” she said, a soft smile on her lips that made it incredibly hard not to kiss her. But he didn't know if that was allowed.

“Hey,” he answered. “Everyone having a good morning?”

“Well, I let the girls watch an episode ofPeppa Pigon my tablet, so for them, it's an excellent morning.”

“I…have no idea what that is. I guess I need to bone up on kids TV,” he said, stepping into the room at her gesture.

She laughed. “You'll get used to it.” She turned to face the girls who were seated at the kitchenette's counter, coloring with ferocious concentration. He couldn't tell exactly what the pictures were supposed to be, but he couldn't help being amused at Melissa's careful, methodical coloring contrasted with Jackie's wild abandon.

“Girls, look who's here!” she announced, and they both looked up. Those smiles hit him like a punch to the chest.His girls.Grinning just at the sight of him.

“Mr. Tate!” Jackie called out. “Come see my picture of a panda!”

“It's beautiful,” he assured her. “I've never seen a purple and green panda before.”

“Purple's my first favorite,” she informed him. “Green is my second favorite. Blue is my third favorite. Pink used to be my fourth favorite, but I think I might like yellow better. Do you like yellow better, Mr. Tate?”

“I do like yellow a lot,” he agreed.

“Girls, I'm going to need you to stop coloring for a minute,” Olivia interjected before the conversation could go any further off the rails. “Mr. Tate and I have something we need to tell you.”

Melissa frowned. “You're all scrunched up. Are you gonna say we have to move again?”

Olivia's eyebrows flew up. “No, sweetheart, of course not. I told you, we're to stay. But…remember how when we talked about moving, I told you that your daddy was from here?”

The girls nodded.

“And do you remember how you asked if we'd see him here, and I told you that I didn't know, but that maybe it would happen? That maybe we'd look up one day, and there he would be?”

The girls nodded again.

“Well, the other day when Jackie twisted her ankle and we were waiting for rescue…I looked up,” Olivia said, slanting a look over at him. “And there he was.”

“But it was Mr. Tate who was there,” Melissa said with a frown. Tate's stomach twisted into a knot. Did that mean she was unhappy with the news?

“That's right,” Olivia agreed. “Mr. Tate is your daddy.”

Still frowning, Melissa climbed off her stool and walked over to Tate. He knelt down to put himself at eye level with her. “You're my daddy?” she asked.

Tate cleared his throat. “Y-yeah. I am.”

She tilted her head a little considering the idea—a gesture so familiar, it nearly made him gasp. But then she hurled herself into his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck, and it was all he could do not to sob. “Hi, Daddy,” she whispered in his ear, squeezing him tight.

“Hi, darling,” he said, hugging her back.

A second set of arms wrapped around him a beat later and he shifted to hug Jackie close, as well. He heard a click and looked up to see Olivia, crying unabashedly, with her phone in her hand, snapping a picture. He'd never been one to put up a lot of photographs around his house, but he wanted this one. This was a moment he never wanted to forget.

* * *

Tate would have happily stayed in that moment forever, but it turned out there were other things that Olivia and the girls needed to do with their day. Specifically, they were going to pack up their stuff and drive to town to take a look at their new house.

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