Lauren sat back on the picnic bench, huffing out another breath. The desserts laid out before her were making her mouth water, but if she ate one more mouthful, the top button of her pants was going to have to go. She grinned. As much as Matt would likely be all for that, his reaction probably wouldn’t be fit for polite company. She had no idea why the two of them were acting like horny teens all over again, but she wasn’t going to question it. An evil man had taken away much of her and Matt’s future. She wasn’t going to let him steal a second more, and if the universe wanted to make it up to her by blessing her with the libido of a twenty-year-old all over again, she was not going to complain.

She eyed the lemon meringue pie almost mournfully. The meringue stood what looked to be ten inches high, soft and fluffy with a just-browned outer crust. “I can give you the recipe,” Meg said. “I can’t fit any more in, either.” She patted her stomach. “It’s not fair. I’ve got my appetite back a little after all the throwing up, and Junior here is starting to take up too much room to completely stuff myself.” She gestured to a group of guys playing touch football over on the lawn, pointing to one of the taller ones, a muscular man with sandy brown hair. “If the baby takes after his father, he’s going to be a big one.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not looking forward to that part so much.”

Lauren laughed. “It’s not exactly the most fun way to spend a day,” she looked over at Brayden, running back and forth along the sidelines of the game, the puppy chasing his every move. “But the reward is definitely worth it.” She looked back at Meg and nearly snorted her drink at the look of horror on her face.

“A day? Labor lasted a full twenty-four hours?!”

Lauren chuckled. “It wasn’t all active, but yeah, from the first niggles to when I was holding a baby with a scrunched-up face in my arms, it was about a day and a half.” She leaned over, patting a shell-shocked Meg on the arm. “I’m sure it’ll be much faster for you, though.”

Meg frowned. “It better be, or I’m blaming Bigfoot over there. Why’d I have to go fall for a giant?”

Lauren grinned. “Hey! What does that say about me, then?”

Meg looked at her out of the corner of her eye, failing to hide her grin. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll forget all about it once I’m holding the baby in my arms. I’ve heard it all before.”

Lauren waved her hand in the air. “Bullshit. You don’t ever forget.” She looked over at Meg, her eyes softening. “But it’s worth every last second. You’ll see.”

She looked up and started when she saw tears streaming down Meg’s face. “Crap! I shouldn’t have said that.”

Meg grinned. “No, no, it’s fine.” She swatted at her cheeks, pulling a tissue out of her pocket when that proved ineffective. “It’s just hormones. I’m driving Liam crazy, crying at toilet paper commercials.” She reached over and patted Lauren’s arm. “But you two do bring a smile to my face. It’s just so good to see Matt happy again. That man needs you in his life.”

Lauren looked out on the scene in the afternoon sun, tears forming in her own eyes. “I need him, too, more than you could know.” She looked over at Meg. She’d been there for Lauren since the moment they’d met after losing everything in the hotel fire. Meg hadn’t asked her for a single thing but had given her everything she needed without question or condition. Matt had told everyone about his past, and they hugged him, shook his hand, and got on with life. Nothing had changed except the fact that Matt now knew he had a true family.

She took in a deep breath. If Matt could do it, so could she. He had his firehouse family, and now she could give him the rest. She owed him that. “Brayden is Matt’s son.” She looked Meg in the eye. “His biological child.”

Meg’s eyes widened and her face split into a grin. “No shit!”

The look on her face was so comical, Lauren broke into laughter. “We haven’t told Brayden yet, but as soon as everything with Victor Mancini is under control, Matt and I will tell him together.”

Meg reached over, lifting herself out of her chair with one arm to reach Lauren’s hand, and squeezed it. “I should have seen it.” She looked over at the two of them, Matt and Mason having been sucked into the football game. “He’s a chip off the old block if I’ve ever seen it.” She turned back to Lauren. “You three are going to be amazing together. Now, about that pie . . .”

Lauren grinned. Matt had finally found his family, and it looked like she had, too. And they were amazing.

* * *

Another half hour of swapping recipes and gossiping later, Lauren had finally waited long enough after lunch that she felt like she could move again without exploding. She moved between the tables with Meg, Sloane, and Amy, picking up the plastic plates and cutlery the small crowd had worked their way through. Touch footy had moved on to almost-ram-your-face-in-the-grass-tackle footy somewhere in the previous ten minutes, but Charlie—the squad’s EMT—was in the thick of it, using her small frame to dance around the boys to a touchdown. She looked over at the girls and grinned, punching a fist in the air seconds before Shane tackled her to the ground. He switched them around in the air so that he landed under her against the turf, and she rewarded him with a kiss after they hit the grass. Connor’s response was to throw the ball at them. “Gross!” He yelled out, grinning. “Shane! There are children present.”

The paramedic held up his hands in surrender. “It was all her!” Charlie responded by standing and kicking him in the shins, then running up to Brayden, grabbing his hand. “What do you say, Squirt? Stacks on Shane?”

Lauren grinned at the nickname. Charlie had to be barely five foot two and at ten years old, Brayden already towered over her. “He looks like he’s having a great time,” Meg said, coming up beside her carrying a garbage bag.

“The best time,” Lauren said. “You guys have all been amazing. I can’t thank you enough.”

“You can thank me by coming to the store with me,” Meg replied. “I’ve got a hankering for Cheez-Its like you wouldn’t believe, oh with blue cheese dressing and a chocolate milkshake with pickles.” Lauren’s eyes widened at Meg’s snack suggestions. She’d had some weird pregnancy cravings, but that took the cake. Meg carried on like she hadn’t noticed. “And that lot is going to need feeding again soon, believe it or not. We can grab pizza on the way.”

Lauren looked over at Brayden. He and Charlie had moved to sitting on the sidelines. They were chatting away, a smile firmly fixed on his face. “He’ll be just fine with the gang,” Meg said. “But you can bring him along if you want. He can help carry the pizza. I usually need to order enough to feed a small army.”

Lauren hesitated. Brayden was clearly having a good time hanging out with the firefighters, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to leave him entirely out of her sight after everything they’d been through recently. Even if she wouldn’t tell Matt, the guy at the fair had spooked her more than she wanted to admit. Besides, Meg was right. If the guys could put away as much food for dinner as they had for lunch, then they’d need help carrying the haul. She didn’t know how they could manage it, but then again, they’d been up and running with the football game within a few minutes of eating, while she’d lounged about for nearly a full hour before she had the stamina to move again. She dropped the last napkin into her trash bag. “Give me five minutes to grab Brayden and wash up. We’ll meet you at the car.”

* * *

The drive to the store from Meg’s was quick, taking around ten minutes. She parked in the grocery store parking lot. It was a small-town area, with the grocery store the main feature among several small shops on a strip. Meg pointed at the pizza place across the square. “You go into the supermarket and grab anything you need. I’ll go order the pizza and catch up with you in five. By the time we’re done, they should be ready.”

Lauren nodded. She’d noticed that morning that Matt’s pantry was running low of a few staples. When she’d told him where she and Meg were heading, after making her promise to be careful, he’d handed her his credit card for whatever she needed to buy. He’d suggested that maybe he should go with them, but Lauren had insisted he stay with the guys. He needed that after the emotion of the day. Besides, all she was doing was going to the supermarket in the middle of town in broad daylight.

They walked into the store, and Lauren grabbed a cart, figuring out the store setup. It wasn’t a huge center like the one where she’d lived in Philadelphia, but it would likely have everything she needed. She was hovering in the pasta aisle when she asked Brayden to go find the sauce he liked the best.

Brayden didn’t reply.

She looked up the aisle. It was empty. So was the next one. And the next. Her jog turned into a run as she abandoned her grocery cart, checking every aisle once, then twice. By the second time around, she was calling out his name, but apart from a few older ladies looking at her like she’d lost her mind, there was no response. It was the middle of a weekday afternoon, and the store was quiet.

So quiet, in fact, that she didn’t hear the man come up behind her. Not until she felt cold steel pressing into her back. “Move it, lady. And don’t think about screaming or running. I’ve already got the boy.”

He pushed her out a door and onto a landing bay, where a white van idled. The gun jabbed into her back and she took a step forward, muffling her shout when she fell forward, grazing her knees on the concrete.

Her voice was lost entirely when the van’s cargo door slid open and she saw inside. Brayden lay there, slumped inside, lying still. She took a step forward, reaching out to check on him. “You bastard!”

There was a hard thump on the back of her head, and the world dissolved into black.