Lawman's Redemption (28 page)

“Hey, Brady,” she murmured after a while. “You know all those labels my family hangs on me? The ditzy one, the flighty one, the one who could never do anything right?”

“Stupid labels.”

“And wrong. You know which sister I really am?”

He gave her another of those tender smiles that warmed her all the way to her toes. “Besides the beautiful one? The one Lexy and I love? The one who gives my life life?”

“Besides all those.” She grinned with delight. “I'm the
lucky
one. I have you.”

And that made her the luckiest woman in the world.

O
n a sunny September afternoon, Lexy walked out of the courthouse with Brady and Hallie, just as she'd done a dozen times before, but this time was different. Oh, not on the outside—nothing obvious—but inside…inside she felt like a whole new person.

Brady had always been her legal father—whether he really was or not, having his name on her birth certificate made it so. But as of fifteen minutes ago, Sandra was no longer her mother. Now she was the legal child of Hallie Madison Marshall. Now she had two parents who loved her and worried about her, when only three months ago she hadn't had any. That was too cool for words.

She wasn't supposed to know that Hallie had paid Sandra a bunch of money so Lexy could live with Brady. She guessed they thought it would hurt her feelings to know her mother had basically sold her, but she'd been so happy to be with her dad and Hallie she hadn't cared
how
they managed it. Then when Hallie had said she wanted to adopt her…. Too cool.

She loved living in Buffalo Plains. She liked the school, and she'd made some good friends, and she even got along with her
teachers. And she liked watching her dad and Hallie together. They were really sappy sometimes—grown adults laughing and making out all the time like kids. Her friends giggled and said stuff like, How embarrassing, but Lexy knew better. Someday some guy was going to fall in love with her, and they were going to laugh and neck all the time, too. They were going to be happy, and she was living with the happiest people she'd ever seen, so she would know a lot about it by the time she got married.

“You're falling behind, Lex,” her dad called, and she hurried to catch up with them. They had asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate the adoption, and she'd had one answer—get a family portrait. She had pictures of her and Brady when she was a baby, and Hallie took tons of pictures of both of them, but since she was taking them, she wasn't
in
them. Lexy wanted a portrait of the three of them on the day they officially, legally became an honest-to-God family.

The photographer's studio was across the street from the SteakOut, where they were going for dinner tonight. Lots of people were coming—Neely and Reese, Lucy, Deputy Mitch, Deputy Sandoval, her friends from school. Even Hallie's sister, Bailey, was flying in from Memphis. She'd wanted to be there for the granting of the petition, but work had made her change her flight. Lexy was really looking forward to seeing her, because Bailey was in the business of finding lost people, and now that Lexy had all these aunts by adoption, there was this uncle by birth that she wanted to find.

When they reached the studio, her dad held the door, then followed them inside. The lady at the desk told them to sit down, so they did, with Hallie in the middle. Digging in her purse, Lexy pulled out a not-too-neatly wrapped box, then twisted sideways on her chair to face Hallie. “I, uh…I wanted to get you…Here.”

“Oh, Lexy.” Hallie hugged her, then tore off the paper, opened the box and laughed.

Lexy's face turned pink and a lump rose in her throat. “You—you don't have to wear it.”

“Oh, no, babe, I love it. It's just—” Holding up one finger
for her to wait, Hallie pulled the same size box wrapped in beautiful blue paper from her purse and handed it to her.

Inside Lexy found the same pendant—an outline in sterling silver of a mother and daughter that formed a heart where they joined. Sniffling, she ducked her head, swiped at her eyes, then asked, “Can we wear them for the pictures?”

“I think that would be great. Thank you so much, sweetie.”

Hallie put Lexy's on while Brady put Hallie's on. They'd just finished when the photographer came to take them back. He moved them around, tugged at their clothes, told them where to look and when to smile. Keeping her smile pasted in place, Lexy said through clenched teeth, “Hallie, can I call you Mom?”

The flash went off, then Hallie tearfully said, “I would like that very much.”

Still smiling, Lexy asked, “Hey, Dad, if I ran away, would you come after me?”

“With handcuffs and leg irons, darlin',” he replied as the flash went off again.

“Good. I just wanted to be sure.”

The next question came from Hallie. “Do you think this might be a good time to tell you guys I'm pregnant?”

The flash blinded Lexy, but she managed to hug both her parents before the photographer moved them around again. That was so cool—she had her dad, who loved her even if maybe he wasn't really her dad; a new mom who loved her like her old mom never had; and sometime next year she would have a new brother or sister.

She was the luckiest kid in the whole world.

But these pictures were going to suck.