I followed Holden up the steps to the house, and my heart was fluttering with nerves at the thought of seeing all of them. I was now a woman who had punched someone—punched someone?—right in the face. That wasn’t who I was. It had never been who I was. Yet I was standing there outside the house, knowing I had landed a hit on the woman who had been hurting the most important little guy in the world to me. Holden had said none of them thought less of me, but I wasn’t sure that was true of me—at least, not yet.

We knocked on the door, and Raymond opened it a second later. I hardly had time to blink before Hunter came speeding past his legs to throw his arms around my waist.

“Autumn!” he cried out. “You’re okay!”

“Ms. Becks,” I reminded him playfully, gently extracting him from around my waist. “And yes, I’m fine. Nothing to worry about with me.”

“Except that left hook of yours,” Raymond teased me, stepping aside to let us in. “Come on in. I have dinner on the table for us.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Ray.” Holden slapped his friend on the shoulder as we walked into the house. “The last thing I wanted was to have to cook after we got home tonight.”

“Yeah, well, sounds like it’s been a busy day,” Olivia said from where she appeared in the doorway, wiping her hands on a towel and smiling at me.

“Baby’s asleep.” She pointed upstairs. “So just us five, yeah?”

“Sounds perfect,” Holden agreed as she led us to the dining room. There was a large pot of soup sitting in the middle of the table, and Raymond began to serve up for us at once. Hunter was right behind me, practically clinging to my legs like he didn’t want to let me out of his sight. I knew how he felt. He took the seat next to mine and shifted closer to me. Clearly, he had something he wanted to tell me.

“You were so cool today.” He widened his eyes. “You hit her. I’ve never seen anyone hit somebody in real life before—”

“You should never use violence to solve your problems,” I told him firmly. “You should always talk things out first. You shouldn’t take my lead on stuff like this. You could land yourself in a lot of trouble. I know I nearly did.”

“Yeah, of course.” Hunter nodded, but he looked a little disappointed by my reaction. I noticed Holden and Raymond exchanging amused glances. They would never have said it out loud, not wanting to undercut my message, but I knew they felt I had done the right thing. I was even having a hard time believing what I was saying myself, to be honest. I couldn’t think of any other way I could have gotten her to back off and stay that way without getting physical.

“Thank you so much for this.” I glanced at Olivia and Raymond. “It’s so kind of you.”

“Well, we couldn’t let the hero of the hour go without dinner now, could we?” Olivia remarked.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I protested weakly, but the three adults exchanged glances.

“I would.” Holden patted my hand, and my heart spun as soon as he laid his fingers on me. I couldn’t believe he’d called me Hunter’s mother in the car. Maybe it was the stress of the day, with so much happening it was hard to keep everything straight, but still, that was how he saw me. And I was beginning to believe it myself.

It was hard to remember a time when I had truly thought Karla might have been the best thing for Hunter. I was beginning to wrap my head around it now, the notion that because she was his biological parent didn’t mean she had some deep connection to him. Hell, she didn’t even seem to have a whole lot in the way of simple compassion for her son. The way she had spoken to him, the way she had looked into his eyes and told him she had never wanted him anyway—it sent a shiver down my spine, a flare of fury at the thought that she could speak that way to the boy she was supposed to love.

We settled in for dinner, and Olivia and Raymond chatted with us about the baby and what they had been up to lately. It felt good to revel in some normalcy after all the drama, and I was glad to absorb the news about their family. They seemed so happy, their eyes shining as they talked about their daughter, and I wondered if I would ever be in a similar place—delighted to tell people about Hunter, boasting about him and everything he had achieved. Looking at him now, engaging in the conversation where he could, was enough to get me to swell with pride. He had worked so hard to get where he was, to be able to communicate this way, and it was starting to pay off in a big way.

Olivia took Hunter off to see the baby after a while, leaving the three of us together to talk a little more. I was so tired, I could have keeled over on the spot right there and fallen asleep, but I was glad for the company to get my mind off the inevitable conversation I was going to have with everyone at the school when I got back there. I was pretty sure most of them didn’t even know I was seeing Holden at the moment, and this wasn’t exactly how I had imagined them finding out.

“What are you going to do now?” Raymond asked. “With Karla, I mean.”

Holden sighed. “I honestly have no idea. It depends on if she tries to press charges for this or not.”

“I’m thinking she’s going to let it drop,” I cut in, “given that most of the people there attested to the fact that she came up and started this shit with me.”

“Well, fingers crossed that it’s the last you see of her,” Raymond said. “Might be worth taking out a restraining order, you know, to make sure she keeps her distance.”

“Honestly, if she’s willing to leave it alone from here, then I am too,” Holden shook his head. “All of this has been so much stress on us, not to mention Hunter.”

“He didn’t seem very stressed today,” Raymond pointed out playfully. “Seemed to think the whole thing was very exciting when he was recounting the story to us. And he told it about three times, so I know it pretty well now.”

“Yeah, but she said some shitty stuff to him,” I reminded him. “It might not have an impact now, but in the future, it could take a turn for the worse. I want to make sure he’s taken care of and that he doesn’t have to worry about Karla coming back into his life anytime soon.”

“You’ll fight her off if she does, right?” Raymond teased, and I rolled my eyes and laughed.

“I’m not going to become some kind of pro boxer after this, you know,” I shot back. “I only did what I had to.”

“I guarantee you’re not the first person who’s wanted to land one on her,” Raymond replied. “And I doubt you’ll be the last. Not a court in the land would get you in any trouble for that, not if they found out what she was trying to do. Aren’t there rules about her coming onto school property, anyway?”

“Yeah, there are.” I yawned, covering my mouth. “Sorry, I’m exhausted.”

“I won’t keep you here much longer,” Raymond promised. “Just wanted to see that you were all right and fed before you went home.”

“Well, consider us taken care of.” I lifted my glass of water to him. “And thank you so much for this. You really helped me out.”

He smiled at me. “Anytime. Anyone who’d punch Karla in the face is a friend of mine for life.”

“You make it sound a lot more dramatic than it actually was.” I laughed. “I got pissed and swung for her, that’s all. Surprised I didn’t miss, given my sense of balance.”

“Even so.” Holden squeezed my knee beneath the table.

“Hey, so I was thinking,” Raymond leaned back in his seat, “you want us to take Hunter for tomorrow night? Maybe you guys could do with some time to talk things over, figure out what the best course of action going forward is.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Holden nodded, turning to me. “Maybe we could go out to dinner somewhere?”

“Celebrate the program getting a test run,” I agreed with a smile. “That sounds perfect.”

“Oh, the program stuff is going forward?” Raymond perked up. “That’s great news. Even more reason to get out there and have a good time, right?”

“Sure is,” I said. “I’m so proud of him.”

“Well, you both have a lot to be proud of.” Raymond smiled at us both.

“If you’re okay taking him for another night, then that would be great,” Holden agreed.

“Are you kidding?” Raymond raised his eyebrows. “He practically does all the childcare when he’s around. He can’t get enough of looking after her.”

“Must have learned that from you.” I nudged Holden, who gazed at me for a moment with a warm smile on his face.

“Must have,” he echoed as he turned back to Raymond. “You want me to drop him off after school?”

“Sounds perfect,” he replied. “And don’t worry about hurrying back. We’re happy to keep him for as long as you need.”

“And it means that Karla can’t get to him, even if she comes by the house,” Holden said. “That’s good news.”

“Not that she’d dare take me on again.” I nudged him playfully.

“Damn straight.” Raymond nodded, and then Hunter and Olivia appeared back in the doorway.

“I think Hunter’s getting pretty tired,” she said as the boy next to her let out an enormous yawn. I echoed it almost at once.

“Yeah, let’s get everyone home,” Holden agreed, getting to his feet. “Thanks for dinner, guys. We owe you one.”

“Anytime you need it,” Olivia replied at once, and we said our goodbyes. She gave me an extra-tight hug as though silently thanking me for what I had done today. She was a mother. Maybe she understood better than anybody else why I had done what I’d done. Perhaps she would have done the same thing in my situation.

We climbed back into the car, and Hunter passed out as soon as we hit the road. He would have a lot to talk to his new friends about at school tomorrow. What had happened there with Karla and me would be the talk of the students and the teachers alike, I could already tell.

“Thank you for what you did today,” Holden murmured, taking my hand as we headed back down to the center of the city. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“I should have done more.” I shook my head. “I should have never spoken to her.”

“You sound like a real parent.” He grinned. “You’ll always think you could have done more or that you should have. But trust me, you did enough today. More than enough. And we’re both so grateful for it.”

I leaned my head against the window and stared out on the street beyond, glad to know I had done something good today. Because I still wasn’t sure about what I had done and I wasn’t sure if I had made the right choice. At the end of the day, I had kept Hunter safe, and I hadn’t suffered too badly as a result of it. I still had to see what the school would say about the actions I had taken, but once I filled them in—or if Zoe already had, which I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear—I was sure they would understand where I was coming from. I was protecting a student, which was my duty, even if he happened to be the son of the man I was dating. The man I was in love with.