Darren Hernandez held out his hand and still felt utter and complete amazement when the tiny person beside him wound his fingers into Darren’s and held on tight. Darren had held Bella’s hand before when they crossed the street or when she was dragging him somewhere, but this was different. Maybe it was silly, but Darren liked to believe that he could feel that Jaeger was his son.

The hospital was busy with doctors and nurses going to work or going about their tasks. People dodged to and fro as they tried to find offices in order to get to their appointments on time. And every once in a while, there would be a gurney flying on by with a patient strapped on board.

“Are all of these people sick?” Jaeger asked, looking around. “This is a lot of sick people.”

“Not all of them are sick.” Darren stopped in front of the elevator. He started to push the button and then realized Jaeger might like to do it. “Push the button for seven, please.”

“You’ll let me?” Jaeger looked up with blue eyes wide with wonder. “Mama says it’s annoying when kids want to do that.”

“It doesn’t annoy me.” Darren was getting pretty sick of hearing what Carly said or did. He knew this was going to take a while, but seriously. The woman had been a complete bitch as a mother. “So, go ahead and push. Your grandma’s hospital room is on the seventh floor.”

The little boy reached up on tiptoe and touched the button with a seven on it. Then he stood back as though the most amazing thing had just occurred. “Elevators are exciting!”

The elevator finally came, and the two of them crammed inside with about ten other people already going up. Darren had his first experience of being paranoid that he was going to lose sight of his child in a public place and kept his hand gently on Jaeger’s shoulder the whole time.

“Am I going to go to school?” Jaeger asked suddenly.

Darren saw half a dozen other people turn their heads surreptitiously to see how Darren handled this question. Were people always so nosy? Or was he just feeling paranoid and on display? He sighed. “Have you ever been to school before?”

“No. Mama said you wouldn’t pay for it.”

“I see.” Darren nodded slowly. How did the whole school thing work these days anyway? “Well, you turned five in March. So, that would make you old enough for kindergarten. Would you like to go?”

“Yes.” There was zero hesitation. Apparently, Jaeger was ready.

“I work at a school,” Darren said slowly. He wondered if it was possible to let Jaeger just visit the kindergarten classroom this afternoon. “I’ll text my friend Maggie and see if you can hang out with the kindergarten class while I’m at work this afternoon.”

“Maggie isn’t just your friend,” Jaeger informed Darren.

How slow was this thing moving! Now Darren knew everyone was staring at him. He’d have been staring at him too, and laughing his ass off.

“Oh, really?” Darren managed to keep his voice neutral. “Then, what is she?”

“She’s your girlfriend. I saw you kissing her the other night when I was in the car. But I didn’t know who you were then.” Jaeger seemed to be puzzling this through in his head.

Darren was mentally freaking out. He and Maggie had pretty much been all over each other in the parking lot at Tony’s the other night. Jaeger had very likely been in his mother’s car. That meant it was entirely possible that Jaeger had indeed seen Darren kissing Maggie. This parenting stuff was hard.

Darren was saved from responding by the ding of the elevator as the doors whooshed open for the seventh floor. Darren hustled Jaeger out of the elevator and down the hall to the nurse’s station. The ladies were smiling broadly at the cute little boy, and for once they weren’t gawking at Darren. It was kind of a nice change.

“We’re here to visit Nancy Valdez, if that’s possible,” Darren told the nurse in charge. “This is her grandson.”

“Oh my.” The woman put her hand on her heart. “Nancy has been worried sick about this boy. She will be so glad to see you two.”

The nurse—whose nametag read CLAUDIA—was busy ushering them down a long hallway. There was a lot of the antiseptic hospital smell, the scent of bedpans and other unpleasant odors, and, of course, the beeping of machines and the muted noises from televisions on low.

Finally, they reached a room with the name VALDEZ written on the sign. Claudia led them inside, and Darren didn’t know whether to be glad or nervous that Jaeger was clutching his hand so hard.

“Here she is, sweetie,” Claudia told the little boy. “She’s very sick, but she’s glad to see you. She talks about you all the time. She loves you very much.”

“Jaeger?” A weak, reedy voice rose from the pile of blankets and tubes on the bed. “Is that my butterbean?”

“Gramma!” Jaeger started to cry. He turned and buried his face in Darren’s hip.

Darren lifted the boy into his arms and stepped closer to the old woman. “I’m Darren Hernandez, Jaeger’s father.”

“I know who you are.” Nancy Valdez was shriveled and looked as though she had one foot through death’s doorway. “I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad they called you. You’ve taken care of him the best you can. My girl—his mama—she’s just not ready.”

“Gramma, will you be okay?” Jaeger sniffed. He reached down and took the hand his grandmother lifted to him.

“Butterbean, I am tired and I am sick. But I feel so very glad that you’ve met your daddy.”

“Why?” Jaeger asked, wide-eyed and squeezing Darren as though he thought he might evaporate.

“Because you need someone to take care of you, and your daddy has been making sure you and I were taken care of for years now. Do you understand that?” Nancy’s voice grew stronger. “Your mama didn’t tell you the truth about this man, Butterbean. Your daddy is a good man. He’ll love you. I promise. You just stay with him and everything will turn out the way it’s supposed to.”

Darren was in awe of this woman who could set aside the feelings of a mother in order to be a good grandmother to this boy. He could not imagine how heartsick she was about how Carly had turned out. But Jaeger would grow up and things would be better.

“I’ll take good care of him,” Darren told the woman. “I promise.”

“I know you will.” Nancy patted Jaeger’s hand. “I’m going to let you go now, sweet boy, because I’m tired and very sick. I’ll see you again someday though.”

“In heaven?” Jaeger guessed.

Claudia was now crying, and there were silent tears falling down Nancy’s sunken cheeks. “Yes, Butterbean. I’ll see you in heaven.”

Walking out of there was the hardest thing that Darren had ever had to do. Yet he knew that the old woman wanted him to go. She had seen her grandson. She knew that he was going to be cared for. She had already given up on her daughter, not that Darren would ever blame the woman for that. There wasn’t much to be said for Carly at this point.

“I miss Gramma,” Jaeger whispered as Darren carried him to the elevator.

The boy wasn’t making any attempt to put his feet on the ground. He seemed happy enough to be in Darren’s arms. “I know you do, kiddo. I think she’d be tickled that you miss her. She loves you a lot. She was so glad to see you I think you made her whole day special.”

They got to the elevator in the seventh floor lobby, and Darren got real close to the button on the wall. “Would you like it if I leaned down and let you push?”

“Yeah. That would be fun.” Jaeger perked up at least a little.

Darren leaned over until Jaeger was practically hanging upside down and let the boy press the button for the elevator. Once they got inside, Darren did it again. He pointed to the button for the number one and leaned over for Jaeger to push. The elevator was just as crowded this time around, and Darren noticed there were more than a few people giving the little boy sympathetic looks.

“Is someone sick?” An older woman gave Jaeger a look of sympathy. “You look so sad.”

“My gramma,” Jaeger supplied.

The woman gushed over Jaeger, and Darren realized that Nancy Valdez had done a pretty darn good job of raising his son. Darren would always be thankful to Carly’s mom for at least teaching Jaeger how to be polite and respectful to others, because he sure as hell hadn’t gotten that from his mother.

“Maybe your daddy will take you for ice cream in the lobby,” the woman suggested, winking at Darren. “They have cotton candy flavored. I know my grandson always loves that when we come here.”

“Oh!” Jaeger turned around so quick that Darren nearly lost his grip. “Can we?”

“It’s not even lunchtime.” Darren only meant to tease.

Jaeger’s little face fell as though he’d just been told Christmas was canceled.

“Hey, my man,” Darren chuckled. “I was just kidding. I think ice cream sounds perfect right now. We’ll stop. I promise.”

It felt like he had handed his son the moon. Darren could not believe the way that Jaeger lit up. In fact, it felt as though there was something else going on here. Darren had a bad feeling that he was going to be stepping on Carly’s baggage for many years to come. There was no telling how much crap she had put in this kid’s head. Maybe she’d told him that ice cream had magic powers or something. Or it was more likely that she’d told him kids weren’t allowed to eat it. That way she could get as much as she wanted for herself and never buy any for Jaeger.

They got out of the elevator on the lobby floor, and Darren went directly to the snack shop. The scent of coffee was strong, but Darren could see the ice cream machine in the back of the little café area.

Darren handed Jaeger a plastic ice cream bowl. “Would you like to hold down the lever so you can decide how much you want?”

“Really?” Jaeger’s hushed tone of reverence was almost laughable.

Darren helped his son choose a flavor and then fill up his bowl. Then he got a small bowl for himself and paid at the counter. The woman working the register was a pretty brunette who could not stop staring at Darren as he helped his son get started on the ice cream. Darren had never believed that women liked men with kids, but apparently, this phenomenon was true, at least to some extent.

Finally, the two of them walked outside the café to a table in the lounge area of the hospital. They sat, and Jaeger dug in as though Darren had not fed him two frozen waffles just a few hours ago.

“You really like ice cream, huh?” Darren mused as he licked his own spoon clean.

Jaeger nodded. His mouth was too full to answer.

Darren would have said something else, but his phone started buzzing in his pocket. He took it out and was surprised to see he had texts from both Laredo and Maggie. He pulled up his brother’s first and expected something quick. But the text was so outlandish he had to read it three times before he actually managed to absorb what he saw.

Bella was being expelled for fighting?

Darren nearly dropped his ice cream trying to pull up the texts from Maggie. Yes. Bella was in trouble. Could he please hurry? And no, Maggie was not going to let Witherspoon expel his niece.

What in the hell was going on?