Kentucky's Best

Chapter 8

Harry couldn't believe he has been living here in Kentucky for over a month already, he thought as he buckles Steph into her booster seat. When he first moved here he thought he would hate it, being so far from home and family, but he loves it here. Everyone is friendly and quick with a wave and smile. Things like that didn't happen at home in England, there people kept to themselves, they didn't speak to you unless they knew you or they had to.
Today was Sunday, he was taking Stephanie to the Louisville zoo, but first he was going to pick up Rose. That is another thing he likes about living here, Rose. Harry has never met anyone like her, the way she can handle not only the animals they work with, but people too. It's almost like anyone who looks into those amazing purple eyes of hers are put into a trace and she can get them to do whatever she wants them to, and Harry likes her way to much, but he's not sure how she feel about him. Not that it matters, he willing to take things as slow as he needs to. Rose is worth the effort.

"Daddy?" Steph speaks up from the back seat.

"Yes baby." Harry says looking at her through the rear view mirror.

"Are we going to get Miss Rose? Is she going with us?" Steph asks.

"Yes she is." Harry says. "I'm headed that way now. That's what you wanted isn't it?" He asks his daughter.

"Yep, I like her. She's always nice, and she smells good." Steph says.

Harry chuckles as he pulls into Rose's driveway. "You're right, baby, she does smell good." Harry says as he parks in front of her house, he gets out and get Steph out so she can knock on the door.

Rose hears a light knock on her door and knows Harry and Steph is there, she is falling in love with that child, well the man too, but she doesn't know how he feel about her. After everything he went through with his wife she doesn't want to rush him into something to fast, but this heart racing, head spinning feeling she's gets when he's around is getting worse and driving her nuts and she doesn't know what to do about it.
Opening the door Rose looks down to see the adorable Stephanie looking back up at her, her blonde, curly hair was hanging to her shoulders in a messy fly away look.

"Daddy had the windows down didn't he?" Rose laughs as she picks Steph up and motions for Harry to follow her in the house.

"Yep, good thing I don't drive." Steph chirped amusing the adults. "I'd be lost, I had to close me eyes cause me hair was flying around." She grins.

Harry and Rose laugh. "Well I can fix that." Rose says. "How about I put your hair up like mine?" She says.

"Ohhh, can you, daddy don't know how to do that." Steph says in awe.

"Hey, I'm a man me fingers don't work like that." Harry laughs.

"Well mine do, come on sweety." Rose says as she carries Steph to her bathroom and sits her on the counter. She then brushes the tangles out of the the child's beautiful hair and braids it just like hers is. When she's done Rose sets Steph on the floor, takes her hand and they walk back into the livingroom where Harry is. "Okay we're ready." Rose says causing Harry to turn and look at the pair.

When Harry turns and looks at Rose and Steph standing side by side instant tears spring to his eyes. In the past month he's known this tiny, beautiful woman she has acted and done more motherly things for his daughter than her own mother did for the first 6 months of her life. Blinking Harry smiles.
"Okay, you both look amazing. Let's go." He says holding the door open so they could walk through it. "Thank you for loving my child." Harry whispers as Rose walks by.

Rose looks up at Harry and smiles. "She's so easy to love, Harry. You both are." Rose let slip out, thinking he didn't hear that last part.

Harry grins when he heard Rose say that last bit. Well at least he now knew she felt the same as he did, and today he was going to show her how he felt about her.
It only took 30 minutes to get to the zoo from where they lived, but Harry had planned on buying breakfast so it turned into an hour which was fine with Rose, she loves spending time with this small family.
Once at the zoo the first place they went to was the the petting area. Watching Rose and Stephanie together as they pet or feed the animals warmed Harry's heart. When they were done there they did what every other person there did and just walk around. When they were about half way through the zoo, there was an announcement for everyone to make their way cautiously to the closest building to them, and to remain in it until further notice. One of the timber wolves got loose and was roaming the park.

Picking Steph up Harry takes Rose's hand. "Come on, we passed the ice cream shop back there. We can go there." He says.

Rose nods and treads her fingers with Harry's. Just as they were about 3 yards from their target Rose hears a growl and freezes then from one side the wolf walks out of the bushes and stands between them and the ice cream shop. "Don't move." Rose whispers. "Stephanie, baby, try not to make a sound, please."

"Rose, what are you going to do?" Harry asks her.

"My job." She says as she let's go of Harry's hand and takes a step toward the wild animal. Rose has never done this before, yeah she's worked with wild and untamed horses, feral dogs, cats, and pig, but this is different. Taking a deep breath Rose let's it out slowly and clears her mind, and slowly approaches the wolf, as she gets closer she starts humming softly, seeing the wolf tilt it's head, Rose hums louder. She then slowly drops to her knees, getting to his level and crawls closer to him. When she's within touching distance she sits down, but continues to hum and waits.

Harry was watching Rose closely, shocked at what she was attempting to do, he knew she was doing it to keep his daughter safe. And that just made him fall in love with her even more, but whatever she was doing seemed to be working, damn this woman was amazing.

After sitting in front of the wolf for a few second he took a step forward, he lowered his head and sniffed Rose's neck, she sat there perfectly still letting him do it. Then the most amazing thing happened, the wolf literally crawls into Rose's lap, curls up, and lays down. Rose smiles as she raises her hand to run her fingers through his wirey fur.

"Son of a bitch." Harry whispers. That is how the zoo staff finds them minutes later, and instead of putting the wolf to sleep to put him back in his enclosure Rose just stands up, snaps her fingers and he follows her like a trained dog would.