Page 74 of Before You Can Blink
I gave the girl a warm smile. “Hey there, Bex. Whatcha drawing?”
Bex held up the piece of paper proudly. “A horse! Mrs. Sullivan took us out to the barn earlier.”
I inspected the drawing and gave an appraising nod. Tripp hadn’t bothered to acknowledge me, so I ruffled his dark hair as I moved toward the kitchen. “Keep up the good work, guys. I’m gonna go check and see how dinner’s coming along.”
Stepping into the kitchen, I found Daisy seated at the table, hands clasped, head bowed.
“A sleepover on a school night?” I announced my presence with the question.
Shoulders sagging, my wife let out a heavy exhale. “Yeah.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Something wasn’t right.
“What’s goin’ on, Daze?” I dropped onto the seat beside her.
She lifted her head, giving me a view of red-rimmed eyes.
Without conscious thought, I gripped her hand. “Hey, what is it?”
Chest rattling with the force of her shaky inhale, she said, “Rose was a mess at pickup today. I guess Nathan’s been sick for a while and they finally figured out what’s wrong.”
“And?” I prompted.
A tear crested her lashes. “He’s got cancer.”
Shit. It wasn’t great, but there were all kinds of medical advances these days, and more and more people were surviving that kind of diagnosis.
Suddenly, their daughter’s presence in our home made more sense. “They need help watching Bex while he gets treatment?”
Daisy shook her head. “No treatment.”
I reared back. “What? Why not?”
“Even if it hadn’t spread, the survival rates for pancreatic cancer are already low. Rose said he wants to spend the time he has left with his family instead of being stuck in a hospital, knowing he’ll lose the fight anyway.”
Gripping the back of my neck, I swallowed thickly. “He can’t be more than thirty.”
“He’s not. Only twenty-eight.”
I peeked over my shoulder toward the open threshold to the living room. “You’re telling me that little girl in there is gonna lose her daddy?”
A sob broke free from my wife’s chest. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Heartbreaking didn’t even begin to cover it. This situation was downright tragic.
Having lost my own father, I knew what kind of void that left in your life, and I’d gotten almost a decade more with mine than Bex was being given with hers.
Instantly, my mind was made up to step up and make sure she had a stable male presence in her life. I’d look out for her the same way I hoped Wade would look out for Aspen and Tripp if something ever happened to me. She might not have Sullivan blood coursing through her veins, but she would become an extension of this family, and the same went for her mama.
Voice gruff, I said, “Tell Rose we’re here for anything she needs.”
“Already did.”
“Good.” I nodded. “Then it’s settled.”
Daisy raised an eyebrow. “What is?”
“Buck Livingston told me when they were building our barn that, one day when I was able, it would fall to me to repay those who had helped us by paying it forward to someone else in need. This might not be exactlywhat he meant by that, but the sentiment holds true. The Crawfords will have our support for however long Nathan has left, and when he’s gone, we’ll look out for his wife and daughter, bring ’em into our fold so they’re not alone.”
