I held the tiny baby in my arms.

It spun my heart into intricate knots.

Because I could almost remember Evan this way.

The way he’d felt when I’d held him.

Tiny and soft.

But he had been so fragile.

Broken.

While I did my best to breathe belief.

To fill his little soul with it so he’d know he was loved. Cherished and adored. Even though he spent months in and out of the hospital attached to wires and monitors. Even though he’d endured so much pain.

He was loved.

In my periphery, I could see Rynna’s smile. “You should see your face right now.”

Confused, I looked up at her, blinking.

“With that baby,” she sang as if I was ridiculous. It was a soft tease. A gentle coaxing. “Seems you need another one of your own in your arms.”

The reality of life squeezed down on that faith. On that hope. I forced a smile that I knew wobbled, my voice more hoarse than I meant for it to be. “No. No more babies for me.”

The deepest frown pulled across Rynna’s brow, and I could sense Lillith and Nikki shifting forward, as if that minor movement was them standing and taking guard. There for me when they’d barely just met me.

These women were all so different from each other, but each so incredibly kind.

Welcoming Evan and I into their mix as if we’d always belonged.

No wonder Kale talked about them the way he did. The camaraderie and intimacy and devotion they shared.

Ryland cooed and pursed his little lips. He twisted his tiny fingers in front of his face, eyes bulging at the magic of his trick.

I attempted to clear the heaviness from my heart, to shuck the weight from my chest. “Evan’s hearing and heart defects were genetic. I can’t risk passing that on to another child.”

I felt like a hypocrite saying it. Because my son was perfect in my eyes. Yet, I couldn’t fathom being so selfish to curse another child to this life.

A muted, whimpered sound wheezed from Lillith.

As if she’d tried to hold it back and it’d bled free anyway.

She inched closer to me. “Oh God, Hope.” She splayed her hands out over her heart as if my confession caused her a sharp, sudden pain. She looked over to where Evan played on the lawn. “I can’t imagine. He’s such an incredible little boy. One smile, and I was in love.”

Tenderness had me chewing at the inside of my cheek, fighting the emotion that threatened to moisten my eyes. “He’s the greatest gift I’ve ever been given,” I murmured softly.

“But you hate what he’s been through,” she continued in complete understanding.

No judgment.

Kale was right.

These were amazing, incredible people.

“I completely understand that.” She hesitated for a moment before she asked, “You’re the carrier?”

Rynna shifted forward, winding her arms around her knees, listening intently.

I hefted a resigned shoulder. “They deemed my testing inconclusive.”

Nikki jolted forward. “Wait . . . you don’t know for sure?”

I shook my head. “No.”

Her blue eyes widened, and I could tell she was holding it back, fighting a question she figured was out of line. But it didn’t matter. I could already see it all over her face, written in big, red, blinking letters.

I went ahead and answered, more comfortable with the three of them than I could have imagined. “His biological father couldn’t possibly be a carrier, now could he? Not with his dignified Southern bloodline. Testing would be nothing less than an insult to his masculinity and his heritage.”

It rolled out in a tirade of sarcastic bitterness and disdain.

So unlike me.

But it’d finally all caught up to me.

The festering mess of anger and disappointment and grief.

It was all doused with the hatred that burned for the fact he could possibly think Evan wasn’t worth the fight.

Gasoline to my battling soul.

Finally, I felt ready to face it. Head on.

I didn’t know if it was Kale who’d given me the last measure of courage.

Either way, I was so thankful for his promise. That he would be there at my side. That I didn’t have to go this alone.

Nikki bit down on her lip, butt shimmying in her seat, before she burst out with, “Oh my God, I can’t stand it. Someone please tell me this is where we get to call the wanker names and talk about how horrible he is in bed and how his breath always stinks. Oh, oh, oh, and how he got piss-ass drunk and stepped out in front of a speeding car and now poof. Gone. Problem solved.”

Her hands made an exploding motion out in front of her.

Lillith smacked at her. “Nikki! I swear. You are always trying to scare the good ones away with that mouth of yours.”

She turned an apologetic smile on me. “You’ll have to excuse her. This one was never taught that sometimes it’s better to hold your tongue. You have to get used to her. She’s kind of an acquired taste,” she needled a little more, playful admonishment in her words.

Laughter rumbled, and I let my eyes widen conspiratorially when I looked at Nikki. “Oh, there’s nothin’ wrong with speaking truth where it’s due. Unfortunately, all except for that whole speeding car thing was on point.”

Nikki squealed in glee. “Oh . . . I like her. I think I just found my new best friend since Lily Pad over here thinks I’m too much to handle.” The last came with a feigned pout.

Lillith rolled her eyes. “I can handle you just fine. It’s the people around us who I’m worried about. You remember I’m an attorney. I deal with crazies all the time.”

“Pssh. Crazy? Who me?” Nikki waved her off, leaning my direction, clear scheming in her tease. “This one just can’t stand it that I’m the ultimate matchmaker—that I’m responsible for all the orgasms Brody gives her and she doesn’t want to give me any of the credit. They’d still be each other’s worst enemies and sending hate emails if it wasn’t for me.”

A light giggle floated from Rynna. “Watch out, Hope. If you aren’t careful, Nikki here will be taking credit for getting you and Kale together. She definitely thinks she set things in motion for Rex and me.”

Nikki waved her hands at herself. “Um . . . hello . . . I did set you up with Rex. If I hadn’t invited you to Ollie’s bar, you never would have hooked up. And I was there that night when Kale first saw Hope at Olive’s, remember? Of course, I’m responsible. I’m head matchmaker. I just walk through a crowd and all those love-connecting darts start flying out of me, striking whoever I walk by.”

“You do remember I first met Brody at Olive’s?” Lillith pointed out, trying not to laugh. “It has nothing to do with you. The bar is definitely the tie.”

Nikki gasped. “Shut your face, Lily Pad. Stop looking for solutions when the answer is right in front of you. Head matchmaker.” She circled a halo around her head. “Orgasm fairy.”

She slanted a knowing grin my direction. “Tell me the last rings true.”

Oh.

Redness bloomed on my cheeks.

I was pretty sure I needed to introduce Nikki and Jenna. They had to have been separated at birth.

Lillith smacked her again. “I swear, Nikki.”

“What?” she defended, totally innocently before she turned back to me.

Laughing under my breath, I ducked down when I admitted, “It definitely rings true.”

Her mouth popped open, and she leaned in closer to me, eyes wide with excitement. “Lovestruck?”

I let my attention slide to where Kale sat on the deck. Evan had scrambled behind Frankie Leigh up to the porch, and my son was now in front of Kale, communicating something to him that I couldn’t make out, but he was red and flushed and happy.

So content and free.

My spirit thrashed.

That feeling settled over me.

Because it was true.

I was totally and completely . . . lovestruck.

The day played on in a blur of laughter and joy and easiness. Kale and I sat on the grass with his friends as the sun began to sink in the sky, his arm slung around my shoulders while we watched Evan run through the grass, my son’s head tipped back in his silent laughter that I swore I could hear ring through the air.

It was late evening when we said our goodbyes. I accepted all the hugs that were offered and agreed with the girls that we all would hang out together soon.

Joy pressed at my ribs. It was a kind of wholeness that seemed almost foreign where it throbbed within the depths of me.

Kale helped Evan into the backseat of the car and ensured he was buckled before he slid into the driver’s seat.

Immediately, he leaned in and kissed me over the console.

In front of Evan.

It felt like a gentle claiming.

A statement.

A promise.

From the backseat, Evan made that scraping, laughing sound, and Kale and I both peered back at him. He was grinning that earth-shattering smile, his cheeks red with a certain kind of embarrassment that manifested the greatest joy.

“Is it okay if I kiss your mom, little man?”

Evan was quick to write on his pad he had on his lap.

I flushed, and Kale leaned his forehead against mine, his voice a murmur. “Then I guess I’m your boyfriend. The kid says it’s the rule.”

He looked back at Evan. “I’m her boyfriend, and she’s my girlfriend. Right?”

Evan nodded vigorously, then his little hand went flying across the paper.

Kale stilled, contemplating, before he said, “You’re my favorite.”

Evan beamed. His entire being lit with a profound joy.

Every inch of me warmed.

Kale glanced at me as he turned back, a small, adoring smile gracing his striking face. “All right, then. I think that’s settled.”

He started his car, backed out, and hit the road.

He held my hand as he drove back through our small, quaint city.

A quiet peace filtered through like a murky haze as twilight gathered fast, the moon climbing to the sky from behind the mountain in the distance.

Kale made the last turn onto our street.

We parked at the curb and everyone climbed out.

Rounding the front of his car, Kale swept my son from his feet. “Come here, little man, you look tired.”

Evan nodded.

Lines of worry pulled across Kale’s brow, and he ran a hand over Evan’s forehead. “Are you feeling okay, buddy?”

I watched the two of them, my chest so full as Evan signed.

“He says he’s just tired because he had so much fun today.”

“Oh, yeah? What did you think about Frankie Leigh?”

A giggle slipped from between my lips when I saw my son’s response, my expression so soft when I turned my attention on the man who’d changed everything.

“He said he’s gonna marry her.”

A grin split Kale’s face. “Is that so? You like her that much, huh?”

Evan gave a flourishing nod.

“She’s awfully pretty. Seems it’s always the ones who are a handful that snag our hearts, isn’t it?”

Somehow, I knew he was no longer talking to my son, that smirk washing me over like a slow promise, raking my flesh, making me blush.

Complicated.

Never would I regret letting this man complicate me even more.

I headed up the walk, carrying the empty plastic cupcake container, continually peeking over my shoulder at Kale who trailed close behind, holding my son in the security of his arms.

I balanced the container on my hip, worked the key into the lock, and pushed open the door. I looked back at my son when I did. “We’d better get you a bath and into bed.”

Evan pursed his little lips in a pout, and Kale chuckled, ruffled his hair. “Get your bath, little man, and then we can read that Spiderman story you’ve been telling me about.”

Promise? Evan mouthed.

“Promise,” Kale returned, setting him on his feet. Evan took off for the bathroom.

Kale took the container from my hands. “Let me take care of that while you give him his bath.”

“You better be careful, Cowboy, or I could get used to this,” I teased, though the words were fluttery, my heart and my spirit tied to his.

No longer afraid to hope.

Wanting him a permanent part of our world.

I started to follow Evan when Kale snatched me by the wrist.

Heat sped up my arm, and shock rasped from my lungs when he pressed me against the wall. And the man kissed me.

Softly.

Tenderly.

Stealing my breath.

That energy rose up at our feet, climbing higher.

On a rumbly groan, he dropped his forehead to mine. “I’m such a goner, Shortcake. Don’t think you understand the way you’ve gotten to me.”

My eyes dropped closed, the words screaming from the depths of me.

Love. Love. Love.

I didn’t say it. I just relished it. Let it surge and dance and swell.

Penetrate those places where it’d last forever.

I heard the faucet turning on in the bathroom. “I better go check on him.”

Kale nodded and pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be right here.”