Carter stopped the truck down the street from his house, pulling over in idle.

He grabbed the steering wheel and stared straight ahead. This was it. The moment he entered his house, his life was changed forever. Heck, it was already changed, it just hadn’t caught up with him yet.

His daughter was in that house waiting for him. Today she was three days old. Three days he had missed of her life already.

That lit a fire under him.

He put the truck back into drive and sped the rest of the way home. He pulled into the driveway and wasn’t a bit surprised to see multiple familiar cars there. It gave him a feeling of pride. Jordan’s family had come out to greet him, to welcome him into the fold.

No sooner had he opened the door, than he heard them yell out “Congratulations!”

It was the second time he had been greeted that way. This time around, in lieu of the condom balloons and cigars, the foyer was covered in pink streamers balloons and a large sign congratulating him once again.

In the back of his mind, it occurred to him that all he’d really done was break a condom. Maybe everyone should wait 18 years to see if congratulations were actually in order. That thought sank in as he realized the gravity of it.

Then Jordan appeared in the middle of the group, holding Bree. As small as Jordan was, at least compared to him, his daughter looked tiny in her arms.

“Hey, Daddy,” she said bringing Bree to him. “Say hello to Bree René Fox.”

He just stared down in wonder, terrified to touch her. Then Jordan held her up to him, urging him to hold her. She must have seen the look of trepidation in his face because she smiled in assurance.

“It’s okay,” she whispered.

That was all the encouragement he needed. She helped place Bree in one arm and brought his hand around to support the head. He was in awe at the fact that it was no bigger than his palm. She stared up at him with a confused and slightly unfocused look. That’s when he saw the twinkle in her eye and peered in closer.

“Huh,” he said, noticing the specks of green.

“Yep, definitely yours,” Jordan teased as if reading his mind.

That’s when everyone came forward to join in the moment. Jordan’s parents, her aunt and uncle, and of course, Ben were all there. They had set up a small buffet in the dining room, which had also been decorated.

The doorbell rang. Carter saw Jordan skip out to go answer it.

He went back to staring down at his daughter, taking in every tiny little detail. He saw Jordan coming back in out of the corner of his eye. Then he noted the flicker of red and his head shot up.

“Ma,” he said in surprise. His body tensed.

She looked across at him, her eyes blinking as she took in the picture of him holding Bree in his arms. She gave a teary smile.

Jordan brought an encouraging hand up to her back, urging her toward her son.

He relaxed a bit at the gesture but still gave his mother a wary look.

“Hello Carter,” she said smiling first up at him then down at Bree.

Carter looked past her to Jordan who gave him a smile and a nod letting him know everything was just fine.

* * *

It was late at night and Jordan was sound asleep next to him. The bassinet was on her side near the fireplace and armchairs. He gently removed himself from the bed and walked over to it. He could just make out the outline of Bree’s head in the shadows of the room.

He reached a hand in and reflexively brought it back out, scared to wake her. So he just stood there and stared. He wished one of the lamps next to the bed was on so he could see her. Right now Bree just looked like a tiny, helpless little nugget in the dark.

Would it be okay to hold her? He longed to experience it again.

He saw movement as she stirred. There was a small whimper that grew into a cry, then a wail. He froze, thinking somehow he’d caused it.

The bedside lamp nearest him switched on. One second later, he felt Jordan’s hand on his back as she came up behind him and he flinched in surprise.

“Welcome to your life for the next several months,” she said sleepily into his back.

“How do we know what’s wrong?” he pondered.

“Well, it’s either one end or the other,” she laughed softly, reaching in to pick Bree up. “Or she could just be in a cantankerous mood.

“Only one way to find out, isn’t that right, sweetie?” she cooed into Bree’s screaming face, surprisingly calm in the face of that torrent. “Although I suspect this one is hungry.”

She walked over to one of the chairs and settled in, tucking her legs up into the chair. Carter watched with interest and curiosity, as she unbuttoned the top of her nightgown and pulled out a breast, directing it with one hand toward Bree’s screaming mouth. It took a moment but as soon as the nipple popped in, an instant calm fell over the bedroom.

“Voilà!” she sang out softly.

She looked up and saw him staring. She gave him an amused smile. “You can sit down, you know,” she said, nodding toward the other chair opposite her.

He blinked as if realizing it was there and walked over to settle into it. It was mesmerizing watching Bree quietly suck away while Jordan stroked her hair. Now that it was quiet, it was actually calming. He had a chance to embrace it completely. And he loved what it revealed.

Jordan and Bree. They were his. He was theirs. A family.

It reminded him of the day’s events. Now that everyone had gone home he could broach the subject of his mother.

“So,” he segued, “you and my mother…?” He let the question hang.

“She visited in the hospital,” Jordan said, still smiling down at Bree. “We…came to an understanding. I think she’s come around.”

She finally looked up at him. “Some people are allowed second chances. Heaven knows we of all people should know that,” she said, giving him a wry smirk.

He smiled in return.

She looked back down at Bree. “I will say this though….” She brought her head back up. The smile was gone. There was a flinty stare in her eyes. “However you work things out with your father, that’s on you. But he’s never getting anywhere near my daughter.”

Carter looked down at the tiny figure in Jordan’s arms and couldn’t have agreed more.

Jordan saw it in his face and her expression softened. She looked down at Bree again.

“I think she’s done here,” she said, pulling the nipple out with a pop.

Carter waited for the cries to come but none did. Apparently, Bree was sated. He watched as the tiny eyelids blinked slowly until they stayed shut.

“There we go,” Jordan said. She looked over at him thoughtfully then slowly untucked her legs and got out of her chair. She brought Bree over to him.

“Here,” she said, placing her into his totally unprepared arms.

It was the second time today he held her. This time it felt a little more natural. He looked down at her small, sleeping form and knew that his heart was forever hers.

Jordan went back over to sit in the chair she had just vacated to watch him with a smile on her face. “Is your heart breaking yet?” she teased.

He chuckled softly. “A million times already.”

They sat like that for several minutes, Carter embracing every detail of his daughter, and Jordan embracing the picture of them together.

“Hey, Slugger,” she said softly. His eyes shot up to her.

She walked over and knelt on the floor beside him. “Will you marry me?”

It threw him. In the past several months the ring hadn’t come up. What with Jordan taking the bar, then starting work, then taking her maternity leave. Then, he was constantly away for games, then on to the post season. It had been a whirlwind.

But he didn’t need a ring to know she was his. By now, he knew she felt the same way. Obviously, he would be giving it back to her…but they would do it right. It certainly wouldn’t be Jordan on her knees asking for it back.

He leaned over to her and whispered. “No” He bopped her on the nose, just for good measure.

“What?!” she yelped, flinching away from his finger.

“Shhh!” he chided, giving her a scornful look and eyeing Bree still asleep in his arms.

“What?!” she repeated in an outraged whisper.

“Calm your panties, Jordan,” he teased in a whisper, grinning down at her. “If anyone here is going to be doing the asking…it’s going to be me.”

She gave him an indignant frown, torn between wanting to have a discussion about this and not wanting to wake Bree. He was enjoying every minute of it. This wasn’t payback, but hell if he wasn’t going to follow through on the plan he’d had ever since she’d decided to come back into his life.

He winked down at her. “Trust me, sweetheart…it’ll be worth it.”