Stella drove while I stared at the cracked screen on my phone.

“Sophie?” She reached over and placed her hand on mine for the briefest second.

“Yeah. I’ve been trying to call her all day, but it just goes to voice mail.”

“Give her some time. She’ll call back.”

I didn’t believe her, so I kept silent. “Kayson said that she isn’t answering for anyone, and that I’m to leave her be until she’s ready to talk. How am I supposed to leave her alone, Stella, tell me? I just got her back.”

“I don’t know. But we’ll figure something out, okay?”

“She’s done, she won’t give me a chance to explain.”

“How would you feel if you were in her shoes? She feels as if every time something good happens in her life it is doused ten times over by something bad. I’m not trying to be mean but the first man a girl ever loves is her daddy and Sophie’s died when she was little. Then she fell in love with you and was forced to leave.”

“Do you know why she left?” I asked, not really knowing how much Sophie had shared with the girls if any.

“No.”

“She had breast cancer.”

“Oh God, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for Sophie, she’s so young, fu . . .fudge, we are all so young. But, ten years ago. . .”

I had kept my eyes on the girls in the backseat. Holding my hand out to Harlow and she held tight. Gianna had fallen asleep almost instantly, lulled by the hypnotic sound of tires on pavement. But Harlow was just now giving in, her eyes drooping, her grip loosened, and her hand fell to her side.

“And all this time, she’s been tied up in knots, still pining away for you. Now she returns only to open her heart, fall in love, and discover that you’re married with a child.” Stella flipped the turn signal and then cut right into my complex. “I wasn’t exactly feeling sorry for you before, but now I’m really having a hard time. I know that you’re stressed, you have a lot on your plate, and you have some big decisions to make but you haven’t lost hope.” She pulled into my reserved spot and turned off the engine. “I think that you should stay with Harlow and Gianna. What if I get Leo, Ariel, and anyone else that can go with me and we head over to the address listed and gather some things and bring them to your place?”

“You don’t mind? It’s getting late.” I let out a yawn as the exhaustion and worry from today took its toll on me.

“Of course not. Do you have a garage opener to Sophie’s so we can get your Jeep? Leo only has her bike and not much will fit in here.”

“Crap.”

“What now?” Stella let out a long sigh.

“The garage opener is on my bike at Harley.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Stella opened her door and got out.

Peeling myself out of the front seat, I was moving slower than normal, every muscle in me ached. I turned around and pulled my seat forward to reach for Harlow while Stella unbuckled Gianna, both of whom were sound asleep. 

“Hope is the only thing that keeps us going in this world. Sophie doesn’t think she has any hope left. You were her second chance, and she probably thinks she just lost you again. You need to figure out how to reach her.”

Balancing Harlow in my arms, I fumbled for my keys and then fumbled some more to open the door. There had to be a trick to juggling a sleeping kid and opening doors. Moms did it all the time without dropping anything. I managed, but just barely, and we tucked the girls into my bed before backing out of the room slowly. 

Stella and I were just sitting down in the living room when there was a light knock at my door. Opening it, I saw Leo, Vivian, Ariel, and Kayson standing there. “Come on in, just keep it down.”

“Can we start from the beginning?” Leo asked, her eyes bouncing between Stella and me. 

I was too tired, so I let Stella handle it. I even kept quiet during her disparaging remarks when she told them about Ivey and me and how I neglected to tell Sophie about the marriage.”

“What happens now?” Leo looked as if she was going to be sick. I understood that feeling, she loved Sophie and she knew that Sophie had to be hurting.

“What about the baby? Who’s listed as the parents for the birth certificate?” 

“Her name is Avril, and yes, Ivey told the hospital that he was the father, so they put his name on the paperwork. From the insurance card that we found, I’m assuming that she must have done the same for Gianna, but I want to see what we can find out. When you see the girls, you’ll understand my confusion.”

“Why is that?” Leo asked.

“I’d bet a million bucks on Harlow being my niece. She looks just like Carter, well like me.” Stella dropped her head to rest in her hands.

“But the other two, where are their dads?” Ariel asked as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Not sure, which is where all of you come in. While Carter stays with the girls tomorrow, I want to go over to the address listed on Ivey’s license and see what’s there. Let’s see what we can use and pack it up, and then we can search to see if we find anything that will give us any clues. We’ll also need to get clothes, furniture, and all the kid stuff.”

“What if the place is bigger or has a yard, why not have Carter just move there?” Vivian offered.

“Ummm, it’s on Americana Boulevard.”

Everyone let out an, “Oooooh.” 

Hell, Orlando PD only had two murders and a handful of drug busts in the last week there, so truthfully it was getting better.

“I’m off, why don’t I see if one of my brothers can go with us. The girls can pack up while we keep watch, and then we can load up and get the hell out.”

“Daddy?” We all turned at the sound of a tiny voice. Harlow was standing in my bedroom doorway peering out. The women let out low gasps as soon as they saw Harlow, whose resemblance to Stella was uncanny. 

I held out my arm and waved for her. “You can come out here.” She ran to me and buried her head in my lap. Tilting her head, she peeked out and smiled at each person. Her eyes illuminated with excitement.

She only knew of her father from stories but tonight it all became a reality. Her little mind must be doing somersaults. I wasn’t a small man and could be intimidating, and with Kayson and all these women, none of whom she knew but all of whom were staring at her with looks of wide-eyed shock, she was probably overwhelmed. Harlow surprised me when she smiled as if they were all here to play with her and headed straight for the group. She was definitely related to my sister.

“Daddy, I need to go potty.” Harlow crossed her legs.

Shit. I hadn’t even thought about that.

“Come on, sweetie, it’s in here.” What was I supposed to do? I opened the bathroom door, and Harlow raced in, pulled off her pants, and sat on the toilet. She didn’t even care that I was standing there. Was it okay that I was standing there? Oh, shit, how did these things work? I looked up at the sound of Kayson chuckling, only to see the women all smiling back at me. “What? I’m not sure that I’m even allowed to stand here and watch while a five-year-old goes to the bathroom.” They all laughed some more.

“It’s fine, you are definitely her father, you’d win that million-dollar bet. Stella has a mini me,” Vivian said, and I let out a long sigh.

“I know, right? She obviously got her good looks from me.” Stella beamed.

I turned back at the sound of a grunt. Harlow was stretching, trying to reach the faucet. “Step stool. I need to get a step stool.” Moving into the bathroom, I picked her up so she could reach the sink while she washed her hands.

“On it, I’ll start a list.” Ariel pulled out a notepad and pen.

Holding Harlow’s hand, we walked back to my living room. “Would you like to meet these people?” She nodded, so I introduced her to everyone.

“My sister Gia is sleeping in Daddy’s bed.” She announced and then happily went to Stella, obviously recognizing her from earlier. She sat in Stella’s lap while Stella finger combed her hair and we continued to make plans for tomorrow.

Stella looked over to Leo. “Can you go by the shop and grab the garage remote from his patrol bike before we meet in the morning?”

“Sure, I can get in at seven.”

“Awesome. Thanks. That gives us Carter’s Jeep, Kayson’s truck, and Everly’s Suburban to use to haul stuff tomorrow. Wait . . . does Everly work tomorrow?”

“I’ll text her now.” Leo pulled out her phone.

I kept my head buried in my hands, trying to absorb this change in my world when I felt my sister’s hand on mine. “You know I’m always here for you, right?”

“Yeah. Don’t get all mushy on me, kind of scares me, it makes you unpredictable, it’s out of the norm.”

“Oh, fuc—unny, I’m going to have to learn to watch my language.”

Stella trying not to say fuck was going to be very funny.

“Everly is calling in tomorrow, she’ll be with us.”

“Great. Let’s meet at Ariel’s”—Ariel nodded her okay—“tomorrow by eight, I know it’s early, but if we get there before neighbors in that area actually wake up, we can avoid any drama.”

“Smart plan,” Kayson and I both said in unison.

“Now, for the pink elephant in the room.” I slid down in my chair at my sister’s statement, and rested my head against the back. “Who is going to be responsible for getting the truth to her? She needs to know.” Leave it to Stella to get right to the point. “If I have to stand outside with a megaphone and shout it, so be it, but I figure one of you might want to be more diplomatic.” She pointed to everyone else.

“Let’s think about it.” Kayson’s firm voice invited no arguments. He leaned over and saw that Harlow had fallen back asleep in Stella’s arms. 

Stella was rubbing her hand up and down Harlow’s back and caught Kayson’s stare. Figuring that he wanted to talk about the girls, she stood and carried a sleeping Harlow back to my bedroom.

“Let’s finish talking about everything else. The girls, what do they know? Do you know anything about Ivey’s parents or any other family?”

“No. Nothing. We haven’t spoken since Vegas.”

“What are you going to tell the girls? They are going to start asking where their mom is.” I looked at Kayson, surprised. How the hell did he know this shit?

“When Sophie’s dad died, she had a million and one questions. She and her mom stayed with us, and even though I was only, like, seven at the time, I still remember it. She and I would talk about when he was coming home. My parents tried to explain it, but it was Damon who actually got through to us.”

“How?” I was exhausted but needed to know how to handle the next few days.

“I always carried this Batman action figure around. Damon took it from me and stuffed it in his shirt. He asked if we could see Batman, and we both said no. He asked us if we knew Batman was still there, and we both said yes. And that was exactly how it was with Uncle Nick, Sophie’s dad. We wouldn’t be able to see him anymore, but we would always know that he was there.”

“Gotta love kids,” Stella whispered. I stared at my sister. Under all her false bravado, she was a sucker for those that couldn’t take care of themselves. It was why she was an awesome nurse.

“Can I say that I just fell in love with Damon?” Vivian laughed. “Those are powerful words even for me to take in and know that my husband is still here.”

“Okay, enough mushy shit.” We all snapped our heads to Stella. “Sorry, crap. Let’s call it a night and meet at Ariel’s in the morning. Carter, have you checked Gianna to see if she’s wearing a diaper or Pull-Ups?”

My eyes must have gotten as big as saucers because I had no clue what a Pull-Up was and the thought of diapers totally grossed me out.

“Get used to it, Avril’s gonna wear them for a few years.” Stella gave me a wicked smile. “You all go on home. I’m going to stay here for a bit before heading out. See you in the morning.”

I walked everyone to the door and gave each of the girls a kiss on their cheeks. Kayson leaned in and patted my back. “I talked to my aunt, one of us will get through to Sophie. Let’s not have the girls do it. When she learns the truth, I want them to all be friends again. Family she has to forgive.”

I nodded, knowing that he was right. I didn’t want my mistake to put a wedge between her and the girls. “Please do it quick. I love her, Kayson.”

“Wow, I never thought that I would hear you say those words. I’ll do whatever I can.”

I locked the door behind him and went to find Stella, who walked into the kitchen at the same time I did. 

“She wears Pull-Ups. I’ll run up to the 7-11 and grab a small pack for the night.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.” 

“Any time, Carter. I’ll be right back.” She placed a hand on my shoulder and peered into my eyes, searching for some answer. “You think of anything you need, call me.”

She must have decided against whatever she was going to say and right now, I was grateful. My mind had slowed to a crawl.

“Okay.”

“I’ll be right back.”

She left, and I headed to the bathroom to change. It was a whole new world of wearing clothes to bed. Fuck, I needed to get a better gun cabinet. Damn it, they hadn’t eaten, they were going to be starved when they woke up. Leaning over the counter, I slid my hands down my cheeks and stared at my reflection in the mirror. Was this fair to the girls? Was I what was in their best interest? Was this what Ivey wanted, was this why she named me as their father? 

Was it because she knew I would protect them if something ever happened to her? Remembering the story Sophie had told me about how her cousins had reacted to her crush on the lifeguard, I thought about what kind of father I’d be—I’d probably be worse. I’d probably chaperone them or follow them until they were thirty. 

Kids were raised in single-parent homes all the time and some were single fathers, right? I could do this. It was Avril who I was most worried about. Do they have preschools for newborns? If not, could I afford to have someone here the days that I worked? Splashing some more cold water onto my face, I snapped myself out of this daze and walked out of the bathroom just as the sound of a key jangled in my door.

Stella entered with several bags. 

“I thought that you were just getting those pull things.”

“Pull-Ups. Yes, I got those, but I also got some other stuff. They’re going to want breakfast, and we might be longer than lunch, so I got a box of mac ‘n’ cheese. Plus, I got these.” Stella held up two dolls with tiny bodies and gigantic heads and far too much makeup. “They’re stupid, I know, but it was all the convenience store had.” 

“Just in case I forget to tell you, I love you. You’re a great sister.”

She bumped my shoulder. “Go get some sleep. I’m going to head home. Oh, might I suggest sleeping in your own room, but curl up on the far side of the bed. The last thing you want is for them to wake up and be scared to death in a strange room, especially Gianna. Little kids have the lungs of a banshee. Go. They will probably be up in a few hours anyway.”

I followed Stella to my door, and then I watched her get into her car before turning around and locking up for the night. Turning off the lights, I picked up my phone and dialed Sophie as I padded back to my bedroom. The call went straight to voice mail, I disconnected, then crawled into bed, and lay on the far side. I patted my pillow and after that remembered nothing else.