I'm pacing in the surgical wing when Lexi arrives with Asher. He's fussing in her arms, all red-faced and trying to wriggle his way out of her grasp. Seeing him takes away some of the heartache I feel. It's been such a long day.

I pull them both into a hug, tears streaking my cheeks as I explain everything that has happened since this morning.

"Oh my God, did you tell him?" Lexi asks.

We sit in sterile hospital chairs as I open my top to allow Asher to nurse.

"I gave him a bottle an hour ago, but of course he's been crying for you," Lexi says, setting the diaper bag on the chair beside her.

"Thank you for everything. I couldn't have done this without you." Asher finds my breast and begins nursing, instantly calming himself. "But no, I don't think Dane heard me. He was...," I shake my head remembering the way Dane looked when he was wheeled away for the operation. "He looked like he was on death's door."

"Oh, sweetie, it's too much."

"I know," I say, blinking back tears. "But I told him I loved him and I know it's been only a few days... but I do. I really do, Lexi."

Sobs wrack me as I hold Asher close, imagining Dane on that hospital table... as I imagine him not making it through the operation.

"It's not crazy, Dottie," Lexi says soothingly. "Love isn't black and white. You made Asher together... he opened you up in a way you'd never allowed another man to do. He must be something special to have done whatever he did to you in Miami."

"He didn't just screw me, Lexi, and I know that's what everyone thought when they found out I was pregnant. When he made love to me... that first time... it was magical... so meant to be."

"It's okay to fall in love with a stranger," Lexi says. "Hell, I've been married a year and some days it still feels like I don't know my husband."

I manage to crack a smile through the tears. "If he dies without knowing Asher..." I press my lips to Asher's head. He's fallen asleep against me, milk drool on his mouth. I pull up my shirt and let Asher rest against my shoulder, patting his back softly.

"Don't think like that, Dottie. Right now Dane needs you to believe in him. Believe in the power of your love. After all, the fact that you and his brother were in that accident... the crash that brought him a kidney. It seems like fate."

"But his brother died, Lexi. It's too bittersweet, too tragic to be considered destiny."

"Dottie, sometimes life is like a sunset. Things have to come to a close for the sun to rise the next morning."

Her words make sense, even if they are sad. But maybe not every love story is written in the stars... maybe some love stories are written on the sun.

I close my eyes, praying that Dane makes it out alive, hoping on a ray of sunlight that he comes out of this so he can meet his son.

So he can meet Asher.

* * *

The day turns into night, and Lexi, Asher, and I are all asleep when a doctor comes to find us.

I open my eyes when he pats my shoulder. When Asher wakes, offering us a smile—revealing a front tooth that finally broke through while he slept—it's as if I can already sense things are going to be okay.

"He's in recovery and has been asking for you," the doctor tells us.

Lexi sits up, wiping the drool from her mouth. "So, he's okay? He's alive?"

"Very much alive. The kidneys arrived in the nick of time."

"It's a miracle," I say, breathlessly. My world comes back into focus. He is alive and I love him and Asher is in my arms and whatever the world throws at us next, I know deep down that we are going to be okay.

"It truly is," the doctor agrees. "Would you like to see him now?"

I nod, standing, Asher in my arms.

"Infants aren't permitted in recovery rooms.”

I shake my head. "I'm sorry Doctor, but this must be an exception. Dane needs to meet Asher."

I don't ask for permission, I just walk ahead, knowing I will never hold anything back from Dane again.

It's time he met his son.

* * *

I stop outside the door, suddenly nervous. My stomach is in knots, and even though I'm relieved beyond belief, this moment holds so much importance that I'm trembling.

Through the glass window, I see Dane sitting slightly upright in bed. Lexi stands behind me, and she nods, pushing me toward the love of my life.

"You can do this, Dottie. Don't be scared, you're going to make this man the happiest father in this city."

She's right, of course. When I walk into this room I am going to give Dane the most surprising gift in the world... which is saying something considering he's just received a kidney donation that saved his life.

"You hold Asher for a second, and I'll go in and tell him I have a present for him making it through surgery."

"You sure?" Lexi asks.

"I'm sure."

Smiling, I hand her Asher and pull open the door.

"Dane?" I say tentatively.

"It wasn't all a dream?" he asks, reaching out a hand for me.

"It's real." I smile, sitting in the chair next to him, savoring the feel of his warm hands against mine. His chiseled jaw, his unforgiving eyes. I memorize him, knowing this face is the face of the man I love and not wanting to miss a single thing about him.

"I remember you telling me something before I left for surgery..."

I smile. "Good. Because I couldn't bear for you not to know how I feel for another second."

"I love you too, Dottie. It might be crazy—"

"Shhh." I cut him off. He loves me. My heart fills, it expands. The lens in which I see the world is different knowing I am not in this alone. "It can't be crazy if we both feel this way."

I lean over and kiss him softly, knowing he still has a long road of healing ahead of him. "I'm so sorry about Thomas."

Dane nods. "So much time had passed, he was a wanted criminal and had removed himself from my life. I'd have sworn he was only here for my money. Yet his dying words saved me. I owe him my life, yet he's already gone. It feels wrong to accept this gift knowing it meant he died."

"I can only imagine what you're feeling, Dane." I squeeze his hand. "But I have another gift for you."

"I don't need anything from you Dottie except your love."

I smile. "Sorry, Dane, but I refuse to accept that."

"Oh really, is this a bossy side of Dottie I didn't know about?"

"Maybe, but I'm betting there are a lot of sides to both of us we have no idea about. Does that make you change your mind about loving me?"

He raises an eyebrow. "Nothing could change how I feel."

I swallow. "This gift is going to change a few things."

"Really?" he asks. "In that case. I have to ask you something before anything else changes."

"But when things change, it might cause you to reconsider your question."

He scoffs. "I'm a man who always knows what he wants. And I want you. Nothing you give me could change that."

"Is that so?" I bite my bottom lip knowing that me introducing him to his son is something he has not considered. But his confidence in our love makes me brave.

"It is." He takes both my hands, kissing the tops of them. "Marry me, Dottie. Marry me knowing that in life there are no guarantees. This moment might be all we get. I don't want to lose any more days with you. I want them all. I want you forever."

I cover my mouth, not expecting this, but I want it with all that I am. "Yes, Dane. I will marry you. I will give you all of my days and I will give you my heart. But now, you must let me give you my gift."

He pulls on my hands, not wanting to let go.

"I promise, it's good." I move to the door and step out of it. Lexi's eyes meet mine. "He proposed. We're getting married."

"After you told him about Asher?"

"I haven't told him yet."

"He really, really loves you."

"I know. And I really, really love him."

I kiss Asher's head, open the door again and step inside.

Dane looks at me with confusion.

"Who's this?" he asks.

I sit back in the chair, turning Asher to face his father.

"This, Dane, is my little boy Asher."

"You have a child?" Dane looks puzzled as I nod.

"I do. I didn't know how to tell you—"

"It's okay, Dottie. It doesn't change how I feel about you, about our life. I can be—"

"No," I say, stopping him. "He is your child. Your son. Asher is our baby."

Dane's eyes widen, the same way Asher's do when he's surprised.

"You got pregnant in Miami?"

I nod. "I didn't know your name, how to find you... but when I saw your picture on the news, I finally knew your name."

His eyes glisten with tears. "If I hadn't been dying I would have never known I had a child," he says reaching for our son.

"I know, it's bittersweet but beautiful."

"A few days ago I didn't think I had anyone in the world to leave my fortune to, and look at this now..." Dane shakes his head. "I'm the luckiest man to have ever almost died."

"But you didn't."

Dane kisses Asher on the cheeks, inhaling his perfect baby scent for the first time. My heart melts at the sight of them together.

"You gave me a reason to live, Dottie."

I look at my boys, knowing they are my reason for everything.