Page 37 of Cooper

“The last place you’ll ever see,” said Gaspar. He nodded at the boa, then Alvin and the dragons. The screams of Pablo Garcia were drowned out by the call of the animals, ensuring that his voice, as well as his body, would be buried in the bayou.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“Where is she?” asked Cooper in a pleading voice, staring at the drag marks near the bayou waterfront.

“The animals are watching over her,” said Luke. “Come on.”

The men raced toward the back of the island, slowing as they saw the small cove created by the animals. Semu frowned at Cooper but stood, allowing him to kneel beside Bianca. Her body was bruised, bloodied, and looked broken.

“God, no,” he choked. “Bianca, please, please wake up, honey.”

“Get her to the medical center,” said Ham. Cooper didn’t want to move, but it was Morgan, Manx and Rush who lifted him from the ground and pushed him aside. He was their brother, but they were all pissed at him for allowing this to happen.

“She was coming back,” said Ham staring at the younger man as he watched the others speed away with Bianca. “After everything, she was still ready to come back here and forgive your sorry fucking ass.”

“I know! Don’t you think I know that?” he cried. His father and grandfather stood with the others staring at him. “I needed her to understand how much danger she was in. Giving away the land only pissed him off more.”

“And did you think we’d let him get to her?” asked Gator. “We’re family, Coop. Your wife, my wife, his sister, it doesn’t matter. We’re family. We protect what’s ours. We would have never allowed Pablo to get close to her. We were ready to set a trap for him but you were so certain that chewing her ass out would make her obey, you drove her right into danger.”

“She’ll never forgive me,” he cried, dropping to his knees. “Never.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” said Gaspar. “We’ve done something right in our lives to be blessed with women like these, Coop. They love hard, they fight hard, and they forgive fasterthan they should. We’re all such assholes, we’ve come to expect it.

“I wonder every day when I have to ask forgiveness of Alexandra, when it might be my last. When will she get tired of my alpha male, stupid ass, fucking crazy attitude and behavior? And yet every day she forgives me. She tucks it away as another chink in my armor but doesn’t care. She loves me anyway. In fact, I think she loves me more when I apologize and admit that I was wrong.”

“I drove her away,” sniffed Coop. “She is the only woman I have ever loved, ever allowed to get close to me. The only one and I drove her away by accusing her of doing something stupid because I thought I knew better. I should have trusted her. I should have trusted her intelligence.”

“You should have,” nodded Diego, “but love makes us stupid. For women, it just makes them more of everything that’s good in them. For us, it makes us stupid. We say and do stupid shit. And then we have the audacity to beg for forgiveness by the woman we’ve just nearly crushed.”

“It’s your first love, Coop,” said Ham. “Your first and hopefully last. You’re as new to this as she is. Talk to her. Slowly. Protect her, with her permission. Show her that you love her, all of her. Her intelligence, her bravery, her humor. There should not be one thing that you don’t love.”

“Animals are a great judge of character, Coop,” said Luke. “Before we ever arrived they were already forming a plan to protect her and risk getting shot in the process. They knew she was worth saving.”

A glowing golden light appeared behind them and they all knew who it was. Matthew.

Matthew drew Cooper into his arms before the younger man could finish condemning himself. He held him with the patient strength of an old oak, one palm at the back of Cooper’s head, and kissed his forehead.

“Son, foolish actions do not make you beyond redemption,” he murmured. “But sorrow is only the doorway. If you mean to love Bianca, you must walk through it and let repentance change the way you live.”

He eased back only far enough to look Cooper in the eyes, then pulled him close again when shame made the young man glance away.

“Love is not the thunder in your chest when she enters a room. Thunder passes. Devotion is the lamp you tend after midnight, when no one applauds and the oil costs you something. Scripture teaches that love is patient and kind. That means your first proof will be patience with the hurt you caused and kindness toward the woman who has every right to guard her heart.”

Matthew’s thumb brushed the tension from Cooper’s brow.

“Do not ask Bianca to hurry because waiting is painful for you. You made the wound; you do not get to set the length of its healing. Give her room to be angry, room to doubt, and room to say no. If your love is true, it will honor her freedom instead of pressing her for a verdict.

“And when you apologize,” he continued, “bring no basket of excuses. Name what you did. Name how it wounded her. Ask what repair would look like, then listen without defending yourself. A confession that begs to be comforted is still asking the injured person to carry the offender. Lay down that burden yourself, Cooper. Humility is not thinking less ofyour worth; it is refusing to make your pride more precious than her peace.”

Matthew kissed his forehead once more, tender as a blessing.

“You have spoken grand words before. Now let the small deeds speak. Keep your promises when they are inconvenient. Tell the truth before it is dragged from you. Arrive when you say you will. Protect what she tells you in confidence. The apostle wrote that we must not love merely in word or speech, but in action and truth. Bianca will believe your love when your days begin agreeing with your mouth.

“There is a strange power in a woman’s love,” Matthew said softly, his gaze turning toward the image of his wife, Irene. “Not because it excuses a man’s folly, and not because it exists to rescue him from himself. Its power is that, when freely given, it can call forth the truest thing in him. A woman who loves with wisdom may see both the man you are and the man you could become—but never mistake her vision for your permission to remain unfinished.”

Cooper’s shoulders shook, and Matthew gathered him in again, rocking him as if grief had made him a child.

“Bianca’s love may be merciful, but mercy is not amnesia. Do not demand that she forget in order to forgive. Some wounds close and still leave witness. If she offers you another chance, receive it as grace, not as a debt she owed you.