Addy was overwhelmed at how fast things were moving forward with her and Owen’s wedding. With Ivy’s help, they’d hired an event planner that was able to make things happen in just weeks. It helped that they were past the holiday wedding season and still well before the major spring season.

All the logistical decisions had been made and the planner was progressing well with the project. Addy couldn’t wait to see it all come together.

Val’s friend had come up with two vans full of dress and accessory choices for them. Among the offerings, Addy found her perfect dress. The seamstress she’d brought with her had adjusted it for her during the same visit, which made the whole process so much easier.

Addy had considered getting tuxes for Augie and Troy, but Augie wanted to wear the same outfit the cubs were wearing—a blue blazer, white shirt, and khakis. And, of course, since Augie was wearing that, Troy wanted to wear his. That made their attire something simple to handle.

Addy and Owen were finally about to head to Denver to meet with the jeweler she’d selected. She’d barely been able to sleep for the excitement. She went outside to find him waiting for her next to one of the team’s SUVs.

She smiled as she stood next to him, giving herself a chance to catch the moment in her mind. A decade ago, when she was taken from him, they’d both given up on their dreams of building a future together, yet here they were.

She set her hand on his chest. She’d had her nails manicured with a pale pink gel and white tips just for the occasion. He reached up and wrapped his hands around hers. So warm.

“Can you believe we’re actually doing this?” she asked.

He shook his head. “When Ace let it slip that you were still alive, I was shocked.” He kissed her palm. “And then all the anger, the hope, the fear that followed—all of it was crippling.” He touched her cheek as he stared into her eyes. “You’re as beautiful now as you were when they took you from me. It’s humbling getting a second chance. Most people don’t after a loss like we suffered.”

He leaned down to kiss her. She had to find a way to quit looking at all that had been stolen from them—all those empty years. She saw the same struggle in his eyes and forced a smile.

“This will be a good day,” he said. “We can have lunch while we’re in Boulder. A whole day, just you and me.”

She nodded. “Ivy and Mandy volunteered to help Wynn with the boys, so we don’t have to hurry home.”

Owen stepped back and set his hand on her door. “Then maybe we’ll do dinner out somewhere too.”

“Like regular people do.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “Like that.”

Addy hadn’t spent much time at all out in the public in the ten years since her abduction. There’d been social events—at her home and others—but she’d tried to avoid as much as she could of them; they were never pleasant experiences.

It gave her no small anxiety being out in the wide open, walking in the winter sun, people all around them. Passersby checked Owen out, even though they were holding hands. Addy couldn’t blame them—he was a gorgeous man, tall and hard to miss with his blond hair and pale eyes. She was just glad they weren’t staring at her.

When they reached the jewelry store, Owen held the door for her. One of the salespeople came forward to greet them. Owen told her they had an appointment with the store manager. They were taken to an office in the back. It had no windows to let the sunshine in, so the room was only dimly lit by a single desk lamp.

It wasn’t a large space, but it was filled with a lifetime of collected treasures. Glass barrister shelves lined one wall and were filled with large rock and crystal specimens, art glass, and cloisonné dishes. An old Persian carpet covered the floor. Two club chairs sat before an antique library table. Framed photos around the room showed celebrities who’d apparently purchased their jewelry from this store, all of them featuring a happy man, slightly short and a little rotund. In the older pictures, his hair was black, but in more recent ones with celebrities Addy recognized, his hair was salt and pepper. The room itself had a distinct scent of unsmoked tobacco and sandalwood. On the desk were various tools of a jeweler’s trade: loops, microscopes, ring sizers.

Addy folded her arms and sent Owen a glance. He gave her a reassuring smile. “This store and its employees and owner were fully vetted. You’re safe here.”

“It’s like another world.”

Owen nodded. “Not what I was expecting.”

She took his hands. “I hope I can find what I’m looking for here.”

“If not, we’ll try someplace else. If we have to use temporary rings for the ceremony, that’s what we’ll do. I don’t want you to settle for anything less than exactly the right ring.” He smiled at her.

She was so in love with him—it sometimes just stole her breath.

The storeowner joined them then. He was as jolly as he seemed in his photos. He congratulated them on their engagement, then spent the next half-hour telling them stories from the celebrity engagements he’d been part of.

“Now, Ms. Jacobs, I understand you’ve come to see our selection of aquamarine and diamond engagement rings.”

A staff member brought in two black velvet trays and set them on his desk.

“Why don’t we have a seat and design your perfect ring?” the owner said.

Addy exchanged excited glances with Owen, then took the seat he held for her at the owner’s desk.

Two days later, Addy was in the kitchen decorating a cake Russ had made for Jim’s birthday. He’d made two, actually. A big sheet cake, which she’d already decorated, and a personal-sized layer cake that was just for Jim.

Addy looked up as Augie came into the kitchen. She smiled at him. He gave her the same odd look that he’d often had since his return, like his skin didn’t quite fit him anymore.

“What are you doing?” he asked, sitting on a stool. He propped himself up on his elbows to look over the counter.

“I’m decorating Jim’s birthday cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. We have vanilla and chocolate ice cream to go with it.”

He sat back and looked at her. “You used to do that for us. I forgot about that.”

Addy kept her face relaxed despite his stricken expression. “I did. Even when you were gone, Troy and I would have a birthday party for you. I didn’t want him to forget you.”

“What happened after I left that day, Mom? Cecil hit you so hard. When they told me you were dead, I believed them.”

She nodded. This conversation had been a long time coming. She’d wanted to have it so many times, but always hesitated to start it—she didn’t want to further traumatize him by dragging him back into that awful place.

“I spent some time in the hospital. And not long after that, your grandfather and Uncle Wendell realized how bad things were. They helped me get a divorce. They also started looking for you.”

“Is it true that Owen’s my real dad?”

“It is.”

“Is he Troy’s dad too?”

“He is now.”

Augie nodded. “Okay.”

Addy looked at the cake she was icing, glad Augie hadn’t asked for more details. She used the spatula to smooth already-smoothed frosting. “What happened after they took you that day?”

Augie looked away. She saw his gaze bounce around the room and feared he was not going to answer. She braced herself.

“They took me to jail.”

“Jail?”

“Yeah. There were bars. I was the only one there at night. It was scary. They told me you were dead, you and Troy. They said if I tried to run away, they’d kill me too. They showed me clothes from you and Troy with bullet holes in them—and a lot of blood. I tried to get away anyhow. I had to know for myself, but I didn’t know where I was or where we lived. And there was no one around who could help. After a while, I stopped trying. That’s when they took me to live with other boys like me who’d lost their families. I learned to be a cub and live in a pride. Then Cecil came to take me away. He put me with Lion’s pride. For a little while. Until he took me from there, too.”

Addy stopped what she was doing mid-stroke and looked at her son. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him from taking you.” Her eyes watered. “I was so scared for you.”

“I was scared in the beginning, too. But things got better when I went to that first pride. I wonder what happened to them.”

“You should talk to Dad about that. We have room here for them, if they can be found.”

Augie continued to sit on the stool, leaning over the counter to watch her. Addy was warmed by his presence. Since he’d returned, he’d spent most of his free time with the cubs. But little by little, he was finding moments to be with her, and they were slowly reestablishing their connection.

It was a treasure she didn’t mean to squander.

“Are you ready for school next week?”

“I guess. We aren’t a normal family, are we?”

She gave him a sad smile. “No. And to be honest, other than what I see on TV, I really have no idea what normal is.”

“Me either.”

Addy started to decorate the cake with yellow rosettes.

“Lion warned us there would be differences between us and others. He said he didn’t know what all those differences were, but that we would know them when we met them and that when we did, we were to keep quiet about our side of those differences.” He looked at her. “There are a lot of them, Mom.”

“I’m not surprised. But you know what? This stuff, these differences, they teach you about what you do and don’t like. And when you find things and people and situations that you do like, just do more of them.”

Augie was silent a long moment. “Do you like Dad?”

She nodded. “We were kids together. He was a lot older than me, but he would play with me as much as he could. We had the chickenpox together. I’ve loved him forever. And I couldn’t love him without liking him very, very much. So yes, I do.”

Addy changed tips on the icing tube. Augie reached for the discarded one to suck the icing out of it.

“So, tell me,” Addy said, “how are you getting along with Troy?”

Augie huffed. “Sometimes he bugs me.”

“Why?”

“Because he follows me around. Sometimes I just want to be with the cubs. He’s not a cub.”

“Ah. I realize you never had a choice about being born first. But you were, so you’re older than him. You know how you look up to the cubs? Well, that’s exactly how he looks up to you.”

“He mimics me.”

“That’s how he learns, by doing what you do. Dad and I are a lot older than he is, so he can’t relate to us in the same way he can with you. He’s learning from everything you do, just as you learn from everything the cubs do.”

“Oh. I’m like a teacher to him. Like Lion.”

“Exactly like that.”

He shrugged. “Well, I guess I could let him hang around some.”

“That would be nice. Dad and I would appreciate that. You’re important to us and to him.”

Augie got off the stool. He exchanged looks with her then started for the kitchen door, stopping to look back. “I’m glad I’m home, Mom. I can’t wait for cake tonight.”

Addy smiled. “Me too, honey.”

It was a cold afternoon as Owen waited for his family to have their riding lessons. His family. That had a wonderful sound to it. Troy was first up and first to finish. He still took naps now and then, so Owen wasn’t surprised when he came over and leaned against his leg. He put a hand on the boy’s head. It was awful to realize that Augie had been Troy’s age when Edwards took him away from Addy.

“Tired?” Owen asked Troy.

“Yeah.”

He picked Troy up and went over to one of the benches set under the eaves of the stable, overlooking the corral where the lessons were taking place.

Troy leaned against him, his cheek against Owen’s chest. “Warm enough?” Owen asked.

Troy nodded.

Owen locked his arms around Addy’s son—his son—and turned his attention to Augie in the corral.

“Will I be as big as you one day, Dad?” Troy asked.

Owen thought about that. “I don’t know. I guess you’ll be as big as you need to be, which will be big enough.”

“Okay.”

The next thing Owen heard from Troy was his soft snoring. Addy came over to check on them. She gently brushed Troy’s bangs from his face, then leaned over and gave both Owen and her son a kiss.

Owen was still trying to figure out the right way to be a dad, but judging by the happy look on Addy’s face, he’d gotten this one right.

Owen plopped himself down on his big bed by Addy’s feet. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. That was the best thing ever—having her there with him, getting to put their boys to bed. He always read Troy a bedtime story, and Augie, for all his standoffish ways, rolled over to watch and listen.

Slow and steady was the only way he’d build trust with either of them—at least, that was what Mandy had said while teaching Augie how to trot and lope. If it worked for kids and horses, maybe it would work for kids and dads.

“Do you think the boys will be all right in school?” Addy asked him.

He sat up and moved over so he could massage her feet. “I think so. They take after you in a lot of ways, and you were pretty social and loved school. It’ll be good for them.”

“Owen—I’ve been thinking about something.”

“Oh?”

“I want to have more children.”

His hands went still. He lowered his gaze to her feet, fighting the terror that comment sent through him. After a minute, Addy sat up and folded her legs under her. He wished he’d been able to hide his reaction from her, but her perceptive eyes saw everything.

“You don’t want more children,” she said, careful to keep her voice steady.

Owen met her gaze. “It isn’t that I don’t want more kids. Rather, it’s that I want you more than I want more kids. I just got you back. You’re only now returning to good health. We’re still figuring out what was done to you. We don’t have any idea what the nanos in your system might do to a fetus. There’s a lot we don’t know.”

“So let’s find out those answers. If the Ratcliffs come back with your dad and Jax, we could have them do some tests to find out if it’s safe for me to have another baby.”

“It doesn’t look as if they’ll be coming back right now. But we can still reach out to them for a consult. If there’s the slightest chance that we might be endangering you or the baby, then that’s that.”

“Let’s see what they say, and then make a decision. Their answer may not be cut-and-dry like that.”

Owen stared into her eyes, trying to read what was behind this need for more children. “I’m happy with the boys we have. If they’re all we can have, I’ll still feel blessed.”

She nodded, but he got what she wasn’t saying.

“This means a lot to you.”

“It does. I had my life stolen, Owen. You did too. I want to wipe that out and start over, start as we should have all those years ago.”

Owen nodded. “I can understand that. But then again, we are who we are and where we are and what we are. We have to be realistic.”

She lowered her gaze. The moment stretched into a long silence, then she said, “The doctor who examined me for STDs said I had significant scarring. There’s a chance, even if I’m cleared by the Ratcliffs, that I won’t be able to conceive, which is probably why I haven’t yet. Or maybe the nanos are keeping me from getting pregnant. I don’t know.”

Owen reached over and caught her hands, desperately needing to touch her. “This is what I mean about accepting ourselves as we are.”

“I’m a woman who wants to be a mother again. That’s who I am right now, Owen.”

He shut his eyes, then met her gaze as he kissed her palms. “Then I’m the man who’ll do everything he can to make that happen.”

He leaned back, drawing her with him until she was lying on top of him. Her face, as ever, was serious. He wondered when the fear and worry would be gone from her eyes.

Slow and steady, he reminded himself—as with her boys, as with everything in the world that mattered at all. He caught her thighs and pulled them open over his legs, grinding himself against her as she leaned forward to kiss him.

“Have you worked out your vows for the ceremony?” he asked.

“Almost. I keep thinking of things to add. Did you lock the door?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah.”

She sat up and pulled her tank off. Owen felt himself tighten at the sight of her bared breasts. He buried his face between them, pressing the soft mounds to the sides of his face. He kissed the sides then drew a nipple into his mouth, rolling it around his tongue. She arched her back then gripped his face and bent close to kiss him.

He wrapped his arms around her back and laid her down on the bed. Their gazes locked as he pulled her pajama shorts and lacy underwear down her legs. He looked at her small triangle of hair, anticipating what he was about to do. He buried his face there, his tongue finding her clit. Addy moaned. He could feel her body tensing and slipped two fingers inside her. He moved his other hand up her body, holding her in place as he pleasured her.

Her hands wrapped around his as her release came. When the last throes eased away, he knelt, still between her legs, and removed his own pajama bottoms. Her eyes, which were normally blue, had deepened to the color of her passion—purple. He held himself and stroked her folds with his cock. She leaned up on her elbows to watch him.

“Owen—” she hissed after a moment.

He entered her then settled himself over her body. Watching her eyes was an aphrodisiac; he could do it the rest of his life and never want for anything else.

He kissed her, long and slow, fighting his own release, wanting to hold off as long as possible. He spread his legs wider as he moved in her, burying his face in her neck. He was close, so close.

Her orgasm was his undoing, driving him to take her harder. He pounded into her until his release broke free in bursts that racked his body.

It took them both a long moment to settle back into normal breathing. He smiled into her eyes as he eased himself from her. “I love you.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “That makes my life perfect. I love you too.”