Danielle tinkered with the cover on her computer, but her heart wasn’t in it. She changed the font color. Again.

She was going to have a baby. With Jo... with a sperm donor. Joey wasn’t bad-looking, and was smart enough. He didn’t read a lot, but he was quick with math. If he’d gone to college, he could have gotten a degree in engineering easily.

And she knew his parents. They were good people. No diseases as far as she knew. So decent genes on his side.

She sighed. If only she carried Samuel’s child. They would have beautiful children.

She fiddled with the placement of the author’s name, her mind racing with about a million things. She would prefer to tell her father first, but since she needed to do it in person, it looked like her mother was up first.

Maybe she should move back to L.A. to be near her mother. But she had a nice apartment here and a job that she liked. She was left alone to be creative in her own space. Some of the more seasoned cover artists worked from home, so maybe she could do that after the baby came.

She would have to get baby furniture. She needed to look into classes to learn about caring for an infant, much less a child.

Samuel would know. Samuel had nieces and nephews. He knew how to take care of a baby, and he’d offered to help out. But Samuel was going to be in Dallas. Her father lived in Alabama and ran a business based in Fort Worth. Somehow, he managed it, but he mostly supervised the other pilots now. He only did a few contract flights himself. Most of his flying was between Auburn and Fort Worth, and L.A. to see her, until she’d moved. He hadn’t been to see her since she moved to Houston. In fact, she had been a little nervous about telling him that she had moved here, much less followed Joey here, but now there was so much more to tell him.

She missed her father terribly.

She could drive up with Samuel this weekend and fly back. She checked the calendar. She’d have to ask off for Monday.

Her head jerked up at three knocks on her door. After Joey showed up unannounced, she was wary of anyone coming to her door unannounced.

Noah stood leaning against the door jamb watching her. “Daddy!” She cried and ran to throw herself in his arms.

Hugged close and safe to her father, she started to cry.

“Hey,” Noah said, rubbing her back. “What’s this?”

Her breath hitched. “I just haven’t seen you in so long. It seems like… so much has happened.”

“Besides breaking up with Joey? Has Samuel been helping you out?”

“Samuel. Yes.” She wiped at her eyes. “Wait. You knew about Joey?”

“Of course I knew about it.”

Danielle sighed. “I was so worried about telling you.”

He took her chin in his hand. “Danielle, don’t ever be afraid to tell me anything. You know that right? After all we’ve been through?”

“Of course, Daddy.” All those months of counseling. “It’s just. It was such a big move. To come here to be with Joey, and it didn’t last.”

“Speaking of-- Can you leave? Can we get out of here? I’d like to see your apartment.”

She snagged a Kleenex from her desk and wiped at her eyes. “Sure. Do you have a car?”

Noah laughed. “Of course I have a car.”

Danielle gathered up her things and together they went downstairs, and he followed her directions to her apartment.

“This looks like a nice area.” Noah commented as he pulled into her apartment complex.

“I like it.” She bit her lip. She did like her apartment and had just gotten moved in and gotten it set up just the way she liked it. She was proud of her apartment and was comfortable here. No. She decided right then. She would stay here. She could raise her baby here.

Once inside, Noah walked around and stuck his head in each of her three bedrooms. Checked out her huge walk-in closet, and came back to the living area. “Nice,” he said. “Now come here and tell me what’s bothering you.”

He sat on the sofa and patted the seat next to him. She sat next to him and took deep calming breaths. Daddy had been through intense therapy with her. She could tell him anything. Right?

“Daddy.”

Noah rubbed her back. “You can tell me anything, Princess.”

She looked up and stared into her father’s loving eyes. Her breath hitched out. “I’m pregnant.”

She watched as a range of emotions washed over his face in a matter of seconds. Then he pulled her to him and hugged her again. “It’s okay, baby.”

“I’m so sorry to disappoint you.” She breathed against his chest.

“You could never disappoint me. Never. No matter what you ever do.”

She wiped at her eyes.

“Is it… Joey’s?”

She rolled her eyes. “He’s now referred to as ‘the sperm donor’.”

“Got it. How do you feel?”

“Better today. I’ve had morning sickness all day long, every day.”

“How did you stand it?”

“Samuel brought me crackers.” She laughed. “Oddly enough, it really helped.”

“Samuel’s been taking care of you.”

“I really like him.”

“Like him, like him?”

She smiled. “Yeah. I do.”

Noah rubbed his eyes with his palms. “That explains it.”

“Explains what?”

He looked at her. “I saw Samuel earlier today.”

“When? Why?”

“I’m paying him, remember?” Noah had a lopsided grin on his face.

“Right. And you’re taking him away. To Dallas.”

“Fort Worth.”

“Whatever.”

Noah laughed. “Working in a different city doesn’t mean it can’t work. It’s a lot harder though.”

“I don’t even know what we’re going to do about it.” She said as her phone chimed. “I forgot.” She looked up at Noah. “He’s supposed to be coming over tonight.”

“Okay,” Noah said, but she could see the disappointment in his face.

“I’ll cancel with him. He’s knows you’re here, so he’ll understand.”

“Savannah keeps telling me I need to stop showing up places unannounced.”

“It’s okay, Daddy. It’s who you are.”

He grinned. “You, on the other hand, take after your mother in all the good ways.”

“You mean, I call before I show up?”

“It’s a good quality to have.”

“What do you think Mom’s gonna think? About the baby?”

Noah shook his head. “I don’t know. She’s a lot different now that she’s with Grayson.”

“She’s coming here in two days.”

“That doesn’t give you much time with Samuel, does it? Between the two of us.”

“It’s okay. I’m supposed to be in a dating moratorium anyway.”

“Who said that?”

“It’s self-imposed.”

Noah stood up and paced to the window where she had a nice view of the pool. “Want some fatherly advice?”

“Always.”

“I don’t know Samuel very well, but he seems like a nice guy. His background checked out.” He looked at her sheepishly. “I like him well enough to hire him. If you like him, you shouldn’t let what happened with J…”

“Sperm donor.”

“Right. You shouldn’t let what happened with ‘sperm donor’ affect the possibility of a relationship with Samuel.”

“That’s kind of what I’ve been telling myself.” She got up and went toward the kitchen. “Do you want anything?”

“Just some water.” He glanced at his watch. “You know what? If I leave right now, I can make it home in time to have dinner with Savannah.”

She handed him the water bottle. “She’d like that.”

“But, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to come back next week, when Samuel is working, and spend the night. We can talk about what all we need to do to prepare for the baby.” A stunned look appeared on his face. “I’m going to be a grandfather.”

Danielle laughed. “You never thought you’d see the day, did you?

“No. Now I really need to talk to Savannah. She can talk me down off the cliff.”

“Daddy, it’s okay. You’ll be the youngest and coolest grandfather ever.”

“I love you, little one.”

“I love you too, Daddy. I’m so glad you came by.”

After Noah left, Danielle sent a text back to Samuel. Daddy left already. You can still come at seven.

That gave her three hours to take a long hot bath and figure out something to cook.