When I woke to the sound of Sammy babbling over the monitor, but Luke was still out cold, I got up and pulled on my pants.

Things had been tense between us over the past several days since our blowup over Internet security, but we were doing our best to not let the one fight affect our relationship.

At least, that’s what I think had been happening. Who knew, I’m not all that skilled in the relationship department being that this was my first one in—ever.

Sammy was standing at the side of her crib bouncing up and down on her knees. Her sunny smile never failed to make my day.

“Good morning, beautiful. How is Papa’s girl today? I bet you’re looking for a clean diaper and some breakfast right about now, huh?”

Ever the conversationalist, Sammy chattered back with a stream of Da Da Da’s. Over a month of practice had given me a new level of efficiency, and I had her changed and dressed lickety-split.

“Sit tight for a second, baby girl. Papa will be right back, and then we’ll go see about breakfast.”

After I had her settled back in her crib with a few toys, I slipped back to our bedroom to throw some clothes on. Luke was still down for the count, and judging by his snores—he’d likely be sleeping for a while.

After a moment’s thought, I decided to take Sammy out of the apartment for a few hours and let her daddy get some decent sleep.

I paused long enough to jot down a note on the whiteboard he had hanging on his office door for us to pass messages. “Taking Sammy, enjoy the peace and quiet of your alone time.”

Satisfied that I’d done everything I needed to do, I went back in the nursery and plucked Sammy out of her crib.

“Today you and Papa are going out for breakfast. What do you think of that, pretty girl?”

I carried her on my hip while I made my way to the kitchen and grabbed a pouch of her rice cereal and a container of the organic, puréed fruit from the fridge that Luke kept on hand to mix with it. Once I’d tucked all of it into her diaper bag, I retrieved the stroller from the hall closet and we were on our way.

We got out of the building and I was paused on the sidewalk outside in front of the main entrance, trying to decide whether to walk or drive, when Scott came walking up.

“Hey, Grazer. Where’s Luke? I usually don’t see the princess here out and about without her daddy present.” He bent over the stroller to waggle his fingers playfully at Sammy.

As much as I wanted to be offended by him questioning my right to have her out without Luke, I decided to take the high road. After all, he was Luke’s best friend. Maybe he’d just meant that it was out of character for Luke not to be along. Which, to be fair, wasn’t wrong. Luke was always with Sammy. I’d noticed right off that he was very good dad.

“Luke is still asleep, and I decided to get noisy girl here out of the apartment so that he can maybe stay that way for a while.”

Scott straightened and gave me an almost wistful half-smile. “I’m glad that Luke has someone to think of him now. And you’re right, he deserves to sleep in at least once in a blue moon.”

“Would you care to join us? I was trying to decide whether to walk or drive, given the beautiful weather today. But, The Glazed Bun is just a few blocks from here. And after that, I was thinking maybe a trip to the park was in order.”

“Oh, man! You sold me. You reeled me in with The Glazed Bun, but you sealed the deal when you mentioned the park. Have you seen the princess here on a swing? You’ll never hear her laugh so hard. Baby girl is a daredevil in the making.”

Since Scott was an outdoorsy guy, we ended up walking. I’d underestimated the appeal of an adorable toddler at a restaurant, and was barely able to enjoy our breakfast with all the people stopping to coo and fuss over Sammy.

Scott didn’t seem to mind the added attention, though. I couldn’t help but laugh as he collected a minimum of three phone numbers over the course of our meal, and then capped it off with the waiter’s on our way out the door.

“Thank you for breakfast, man. You didn’t have to pay for me though,” Scott said as we slowly made our way down the block to the small park at the end of Main Street.

I lifted a single shoulder in a half shrug. “Hey, I invited you. Next time, you can do the inviting and I’ll sit back and let you pick up the tab, deal?”

“That sounds like a plan, my friend. Especially if you bring the love magnet with you. I’m always amazed by the reaction we get when we take her in public. Although, between you and me? That was always wasted on Luke. He never gave a shit about any of that; he’s always only had eyes on Sammy.”

We were only at the park for about ten minutes when Sammy saw the swings and starting pointing and bouncing in my arms. I took her over to the baby swings, and noticed right off that only one had a complete seatbelt in it, while the other was missing a strap.

Unfortunately, the one with the complete belt was also covered with what looked like vomit. So that was a no. I start to turn away, but Sammy was all but climbing over my shoulder in an attempt to get at that swing.

“Da! Da!” she chirped insistently.

“Do you think it’s okay?” I turned to Scott.

He shrugged. “Hey, I don’t see why it matters. That bucket seat ought to contain her well enough, I don’t see why the belt is even there.”

Despite my misgivings, I went ahead and put her in, giving her a gentle push at first. Her chubby legs kicked at the air as she bounced and shrieked with the most fantastic giggles I’d ever heard from her.

“Didn’t I tell you she’d lose her shit in the swing? This girl loves her some swinging time.” Scott smiled indulgently at my little cherub.

“Here, Scott. Give her a push, I want to get a picture of this with my phone.” I turned and dug around my pocket when I heard Scott yell out in alarm.

“Sammy! No, baby! Hold on, I’ve got you.”

I turned just in time to see that the swing was moving back but Sammy was now hanging out of it by one leg.

Scott tried to grab the swing while I lunged for Sammey, but as he caught the swing to stop it trajectory, Sammy flipped right out of the swing in an awful somersaulting motion and landed flat on the ground.

“I’m calling 911, that couldn’t have been good for her.”

I ignored Scott, but nodded gratefully as I bent down to examine her where she lay in the dirt, staring up at me in shock.

At first glance, she appeared to just be winded, but I wasn’t sure whether or not to pick her up. Once she’d caught her breath, her expression twisted into a frown as she began to wail.

Her face went bright red, with full-blown tears streaming down her face. All in the world I wanted to do was to pick her up and cuddle her to my chest, but what if she’d injured herself? I had zero idea what to do.

“I see you struggling with wanting to pick her up, but I don’t advise it. Even though babies bones haven’t quite set yet, and they pretty much seem to be made of rubber if you ask me—the first rule of first aid is to leave her there until we know she’s okay to be moved.”

I nodded in reluctant agreement as Scott advised me quietly from behind my right shoulder.

The only thing I could think to do was stretch out on my side next to Sammy, and try to soothe her that way. I brushed her soft curls back from her flushed face and made nonsensical shushing noises as I tried to reassure us both that she was okay.

“Da, Da, Da,” she whimpered.

“I know, precious. Papa’s here though. Papa’s here.”

Thankfully the ambulance arrived quickly, and the first thing they did was to strap her down onto an infant sized backboard, taking great care to hold her neck straight.

“Da! Da!” Sammy shrieked, her big gray eyes imploring me to free her.

The sight of her like that was just about my undoing, but I forced myself to remain calm for her sake.

“You have to lay there, honey. The doctor needs to make sure you’re okay. Papa is here, don’t worry. Papa is here.”

Since we didn’t have a vehicle, and Sammy was a toddler, they broke their rules and let both of us ride along with her to the hospital. When we arrived, Sammy was rushed off somewhere while Scott and I were all but shoved out into the large, generic lobby by a barracuda of a nurse.

“I’m sorry, sir. She’s having an x-ray, and you cannot be in there for that anyway. Do you have the child’s insurance information?”

I looked into her narrow face and bleached blonde hair, and focused on counting her crow’s feet while I calmed down instead of pulling her over the counter and telling her to go to hell before pushing my way back to where Sammy was being held.

“It’s on file, Kathleen, just look for Samantha Branford, father is Luke Branford.” I was relieved to see a familiar face, when Dr. Colin Samuels turned out to be the doctor on call for pediatrics this morning. He got the barracuda busy looking up Sammy’s information before turning back to me.

My relief was short-lived, when Colin looked at me sympathetically. “You and I both know that you’re Sammy’s father, but unfortunately, you don’t have the legal right to consent to treatment.”

That was a hard blow to hear, I hadn’t even considered that problem before now. The situation grew instantly worse when Scott spoke up with a wince.

“Until Luke can get here, I can give you whatever consent you need. If you check your records, you’ll see that Luke has me, your husband Tom, or Greg and Braden Callahan, all down as legal guardians in his absence.”

Colin reached out a hand and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t worry about it, Grazer. We both know that this is just an oversight that hadn’t come up yet. It’s not your fault you’re late to the game, right? Luke will get this fixed, but in the meantime—let me get back to Sammy. I’m positive that she’s just fine, but I still need to run a few tests to confirm. Scott, you’re welcome to come back with me since you’re on her file. A familiar face will help. And Grazer? Now would be an excellent time to call Luke.”

I nodded distractedly, strangely relieved to have something to do, and pulled my phone out to call him. As soon as I touched the screen to unlock it, I realized that it had been powered off in my pocket all this time.

Shit, I could only hope that Luke hadn’t been sitting there worried. Almost as soon as that thought hit my mind, my phone started buzzing with several texts I’d missed from Luke this morning as it powered on.

I was stunned when I saw the escalating tone of his texts, wondering what the hell would prompt him to think that I’d done anything other than take our daughter out for the morning to let him sleep. And now I had to ruin his day even more, and tell him where we were.

Luke answered the phone on the first ring. His voice was thick with tears as he said my name. “Grazer. Finally!”

“Luke, take a breath, sweetness. I didn’t leave you, and even if I had—I would never take Sammy away. I promised you that, remember? But that doesn’t matter, because I’m not going anywhere. I was just letting you sleep in today, because you were sleeping so well when I woke up. I took her to breakfast and then the park, but I forgot to turn my phone on. We would’ve been home by now but—oh, fuck! I got so turned around by your messages that I completely forgot where I am and why I needed to call you.”

“What do you mean where you are and why you needed to call me?” Luke’s voice turned shrill. “Is something wrong? Where are you? Grazer, has something happened to Sammy?”

“Scott and I were at the park with her, and she fell out of the swing. I thought she’d be safe in it, despite the broken safety belt. Please don’t freak out, because I don’t know if anything is even wrong with her yet. But, we are up the hospital. Scott called 911, and Colin is running tests on her right now. Scott’s back there with her now.”

Luke’s voice grew almost eerily calm. “If the swing doesn’t have a safety belt, we don’t use it. Ever. But you wouldn’t have known that. Nevermind, I’ll be right there.” And with that, the phone went dead my hand.

I was pacing the lobby when Luke arrived a short while later. He rushed right past me, and went straight to the barracuda manning the desk to demand information. I followed and walked up behind him.

“Hello to you too, sweetness. You know, you could have just stopped and asked me if there were any updates before charging the desk.”

Luke spun around and glared at me, while the barracuda picked up her desk phone to call into the back.

“Seriously? Do you really think this is a good time to give me any shit right now? I realize that you could give me information, but I want to be taken back there. It’s bullshit that Scott is with her, instead of her parent.”

A dull, lead weight settled in my stomach at his words. “Exactly. It is bullshit that Scott is with her instead of her parent. But strangely enough, I didn’t have the right to be back there legally. Apparently, Scott has more rights to my daughter that I do.”

Luke paled and began to ramble. “Oh, fuck. I wasn’t even thinking—you must hate me right now. I can’t believe I didn’t think to put you on her legal paperwork, I’m sorry for that. And, once this is over, I’ll go straight to the courthouse and start the paperwork to add you to her birth certificate too.”

One of the nurses came back out right then. “Mr. Branford? Come with me, I can take you to your daughter.”

Luke spun around and rushed off after her, leaving me standing there alone with my jaw hanging open. I turned and stormed out of the lobby, I needed to find some fresh air before I punched something.

First I didn’t have a right to seek medical attention for my own kid, then the fucking neighbor is the one who has more rights than me, and now Luke had just taken off without a thought to invite me? Fuck this bullshit, maybe I should talk to Ian and get some legal advice after all.

I walked outside and kicked a few rocks around the bushes, trying to calm down before Luke came back out and I said something I wouldn’t be able to take back. I couldn’t believe he had just stood there and told me he wanted to include me, and then turned right around a moment later and rushed off without me.

The only explanation was that he was freaking out about Sammy and forgot me in the moment. But still... it wasn’t right. Obviously we both had issues we needed to address. Me with not having any parental rights, and his guilt about having kept me out of her life… and how that was making him think I’d do the same to him if I could.

Fucking Luke. I needed to find a way to let him know that I’d meant it when I said I was all in. He hadn’t kept Sammy from me on purpose, and I would not do the same to him in some lame-ass revenge scenario.

Which meant that I couldn’t seek legal advice from Ian. No, the obvious solution here was communication.

But first, Sammy. What the hell was wrong with me that I was making this shit about me when my daughter could have a broken neck or a concussion?

Fuck. I really am a dickhead.

Now that I’d started calming down, I heard something rustling in the bushes. I looked over and saw that damn brown and white bunny burst through the greenery, then stop and look at me before rushing off.

“Okay, Peter Cottontail,” I said under my breath. “Let’s go see if you shat out another egg for me.”

I was only half joking, but at this point I almost would have been more surprised if I didn’t find one of those unique eggs after a bunny sighting.

And as expected, there was an egg lying near the bush where the bunny had run from. I bent to pick it up, and turned it over in my palm.

This time, the painting showed the same picnic tableau as the previous one I’d found, except the shadowed couple were embracing, while the little girl looked back over her shoulder in their direction. The expression that had been painted on her face was one of hope.

I pulled out my Swiss Army knife to remove the scroll that I already knew was waiting inside. My hands shook as I unrolled it, not knowing what to even expect at this point.

My shoulders sagged as I dropped my head and stared blankly at the ground. The fucking fortune cookie egg was right. I’d gotten angry over this unfortunate experience, but that very well could have led to consequences that I didn’t want.

If I wanted to be with Luke, really be with Luke, I needed to have an open mind and a willing heart. I tucked the egg and scroll into my jacket pocket to put on the living room shelf we’d recently cleared for the eggs when I got home later.

“Grazer?”

I turned to see Luke standing hesitantly behind me as he shifted his weight from foot to foot and chewed his lip nervously.

“I looked for you when I got back there, but I couldn’t find you. And then I realized, that I hadn’t invited you. But see, the thing is? It never occurred to me that I needed to ask. I just automatically assumed that you would be at my side. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings by not inviting you.”

And just like that, the weight in my stomach disappeared. I held out my arms, and Luke rushed right in to my embrace.

“Thank you for coming to find me. Is Sammy all right? She must be, or you wouldn’t be out here right now.”

Luke nodded against my shoulder. “She’s absolutely fine. In fact, she’s helping Scott score phone numbers from nurses and orderlies. And, I stopped at the desk on my way out and added you to her file. This shit will never happen again, you have my word.”

“That’s good enough for me. Now tell me, how soon can we take our daughter home? I don’t know about you, but I hate hospitals.”

Luke turned and tenderly kissed my cheek before pulling away. As he reached for my hand, he winked.

“I’d be genuinely concerned if you did like hospitals. Seriously, the only place I hate worse is probably the dentist’s office.”

I chuckled as we walked back inside hand in hand—the way we were meant to be. I needed to memorize and remember the words of the fortune cookie egg for the next time I got pissed off.