Seeing your own aura: Sit in front of a mirror. Make sure the background behind you is a light, neutral color. Then focus on the outline of your body. Your life energy will be visible in a blurred-out, clear-type haze. Use all of your focus on just the outline. After a few minutes, a color will present itself. That’s the color of your aura at that time.

“Dr. Hart, I swear to God, I don’t know if I can ever talk to Whitney again. The shit she spewed to Dara…” I shake my head and pace behind the couch.

As usual, Dr. Hart is sitting primly and properly in her chair, watching me fret. One of her hands resting over her very pregnant belly. She’s got to be due any day now. Sarah was seven months along when she died, and her belly was not that large.

“Silas, I understand that you’re hurt and angry, but you have to keep in mind, Whitney was presented with a replacement of her best friend.”

“But she’s the one who told me to move on! Helped me do it!”

Dr. Hart nods. “Yes, but she was doing so in the figurative sense. The physical stuff, like donating her clothes, packing up her things. Her heart hadn’t let her go either. Probably because none of you dealt with Sarah’s death completely before being presented with the death of your father. That’s a lot for one family to handle. It’s easier to sweep those feelings of grief under the rug and focus on other things, such as your company and one another.”

I stop behind the couch and brace both hands on the back, curving my shoulders and dropping my head forward. “Whit and I are tight, doc. This is a blow. I want her happy about Dara and the baby, but I’m afraid she hates her.”

“She doesn’t hate her. Whitney doesn’t know Dara. Give it a bit of time. She will learn to accept Dara into the fold, but she has to let go of her own upset over her best friend dying, her brother moving on with another woman and having a family that isn’t Sarah’s. You’ve accepted this, and it took some time for that to happen.”

“I still miss her. Every day. But I love Dara and our baby too.” My skin itches, feeling prickly and clammy with the admission.

“And you’re allowed to. What you feel for Dara and your unborn child doesn’t replace what you had with Sarah. Different women.”

“I’ll say. Sarah was so white she glowed in the dark.” I grin. “Dara’s caramel-colored skin, though, her insanely blue eyes against that skin tone, her body. Doc…” I suck in a breath between my teeth and bite back the desire to gnaw on my knuckle. Dara’s beautiful stacked little body makes me crazy. Her rounding out more with my child, I’m hard all the time. All I have to do is be near her, and I’m fighting off a raging erection.

Dr. Hart laughs. “I’m glad you’re attracted to your woman, especially in pregnancy. That, I can relate to.” She rubs her bump in a big circle.

“When are you due again? I know you told me when we started. I’m sorry I don’t remember.”

“I think you’ve had a bit on your mind.” She grins. “Two weeks, which is part of what I need to discuss with you today. I’ll be heading out on maternity leave next week. I’m having a good friend and exceptional therapist see the clients who need to continue therapy in my absence.”

I purse my lips and think about spewing all my shit to a new person. As much as I still think about Sarah and miss her, I’m not sure I need to continue therapy over her loss. Dara is giving me something to look forward to in our baby. Prior to entering my session, my Realtor called, stating they found a house that will go on the market in two weeks, only two streets over from the bakery. He’s sending me the images and information on pricing.

“You know, doc, I have a lot of good in my life right now. I’m feeling lighter. I have a new lease on life, and I’m focusing on the future.”

Dr. Hart smiles widely, her almond-shaped black eyes sparkling with happiness. She stands up, leading with her belly, and opens her arms. “I want to hug you. I don’t care if it’s unprofessional. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones!” She laughs. “I’m so happy for you, Silas.”

I walk into her arms and hold her small body and laugh when her belly jolts and I feel a kick against my stomach. Without thinking, I place my hand over the bump and wait. The baby kicks me again, and we both laugh out loud. Dr. Hart is a beautiful soul, and I’m so glad I met her.

“You know, we’re going to be seeing more of one another now that Atlas knows you’re my doctor.”

“No longer your doctor, Silas.” She puts her hand over mine on her belly. The baby rolls, and she grins. “Now I’m your friend.”

A loud scream comes from beyond the door where the waiting room is. My blood chills in my veins, and I grip Dr. Hart’s shoulder as the door flies open.

Mallory stands in the open doorway, eyes entirely black, no color left to be seen. Only that’s not what has me quaking; it’s the shiny metal gun in her hand, finger right on the trigger.

Her other hand comes up and pulls at her wild blond mane, which has seen better days, way better. Normally, her outfit is styled to perfection. Now she stands before us in a pair of ratty-looking jeans and a filthy green tank. Most of a pink lace bra is peeking out from the scoop neck, and her chest is heaving, her fake tits at risk of falling out the top.

“Another fucking woman! Silas, baby! This is ridiculous!” she screeches at the top of her lungs and lifts the gun.

Immediately, I push Dr. Hart behind me. She tries to come around and address the whackjob client of mine. “Miss, I’m not sure who you are or what you think this is, but I’m not Silas’s woman.”

Mallory takes two steps in. Through the door, I can see Dr. Hart’s receptionist with a phone to her ear, ducking behind her desk and out of view. She’s obviously calling the cops. Good. All I have to do is keep Mallory calm until they get here.

“I saw him holding you. Touching your stomach. Do you know he has another pregnant black bitch on the hook? And now an Asian cunt! Silas, seriously, baby, what are you trying to do? Repopulate the earth with mixed babies? You’re supposed to be mine! Having babies with me!” She waves the gun around.

“This is not his baby,” Dr. Hart attempts again.

“Shut up, bitch!” Mallory aims the gun to the side wall and fires off a round. It crashes through one of the doctor’s pictures, scattering shattered glass into the air.

Dr. Hart’s body jerks, and she folds over in front of me. “Oh no…” Her voice comes out as a whisper.

I chance a glance behind me and see a puddle of what looks like spilled water seeping into the beige carpet. Fuck!

“Mallory, I need to get Dr. Hart to the hospital.” I raise my hands in a gesture of surrender.

Her entire body flails like one of those inflatable tube men you see on the side of the road. She cackles out a bout of laugher before lifting the gun and pointing it. “You have got to be kidding me! We’re not going anywhere until you admit you love me and I get rid of every one of your pregnant bitches in the process.”

A ripple of dread slithers down my spine as I realize this is not going to end well. Dr. Hart’s nails sink into my waist as a painful-sounding moan rips from her lungs. “Silas…baby’s coming,” she grits through her teeth.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

“Mallory, baby.” I try a different tactic. “You know I love you,” I lie through my teeth.

Her eyes narrow into slits.

“This woman is not mine. She’s my doctor. You’re in a therapist’s office. I was uh…trying to get over my desire to be with you,” I say, doubling my first lie.

Her face brightens and she smiles. “Really?”

I take a step closer, and she reacts by lifting the gun again and pointing it at me.

Shaking my hands, I take another step. Dr. Hart cries out behind me. Mallory’s gaze shifts from mine and narrows on the doctor.

“Help me…” Dr. Hart leans against the back of the couch, gripping her belly with both hands.

A vile expression crosses Mallory’s face. “I’ll fucking help you, bitch. Help you go straight to hell for taking my man from me!” She shifts to the side, gun poised and ready.

“No!” I fly forward toward Mallory, making sure the gun is aimed at me and not Dr. Hart. The gun goes off, the sound deafening in my ears.

A blinding, piercing pain rips into the right side of my chest as I barrel into Mallory. The gun goes flying out of her hand as she locks her limbs around me. “Silas, baby!” I hear her cry out as I land on top of her.

I blink back the pain, feeling my body jerking around until I’m flat on my back. My eyes start to roll around, but before I lose touch with my body, I see the boys in blue dashing into the room. Mallory is suddenly pulled off me.

Dr. Hart’s receptionist cries out for the cops to get to Dr. Hart.

“I love you, Silas. I love you, baby! I did it all for you. For us. I’m sorry! Baby, I’m sorry!” Mallory cries, her arms behind her back.

Right before I lose consciousness, I see paramedics entering with a stretcher. Then it all goes black.

---

Fire. Nothing but fire burns across my chest. I try to move, but I can’t. My body is heavy, so heavy I can’t even feel my feet.

A peaceful sensation presses against my hand. The smell of sugar enters my nose.

“Dara…” I whisper through dry lips.

“I’m here, baby. Never leaving.” Her beautiful voice enters my mind, and I hold on to it as the black takes over once more.

---

Voices. Voices jolt me from a beautiful dream I was having of Dara holding our baby. A beautiful baby boy. Skin darker than his mother’s, more like my father, but with stunning blue eyes.

“I’m not leaving him.”

“Child, you need to rest. For the baby.”

“No. He needs me here.”

The blackness swirls, and I reach for the tiny speck of light at the end of my vision. I’m in a tunnel, the voices loud around me, almost like a train speeding by and echoing all around. Except I know those voices.

“Dara, you’re carrying my son’s baby. He’d want you to rest.”

“Go away. I’m not leaving him.”

Then the sunlight sensation hits my hand and my cheek. The scent of raspberry and sugar fills my nose, and I can feel my body seeping into the blackness, only this time with the lightness of my woman’s essence all around me.

---

“Silas, you need to wake up.” A voice I haven’t heard in years whistles through my mind. The blackness is still all around except a light is getting brighter. It grows with every breath I take, becoming blinding.

And then she’s there.

Sarah.

Her blonde hair is flowing, a white dress covering every inch of her body. She looks like an angel.

“Sarah,” I whisper, not believing my eyes.

Sarah speaks, but it’s not what I expect her to say.

“You need to wake up. She’s waiting for you. Scared. Alone.”

I shake my head, trying to understand. “But you’re here. I don’t want to leave you. Honey, it’s been so long.”

Sarah smiles, her pink lips like a cherub’s. Her brown eyes glowing with happiness. “I’m happy you found her.”

“Honey…” I choke on the word, knowing she’s talking about Dara. “But I love you…”

“And you love her. And that’s perfect.” She holds her hands over her heart. “I wanted her for you. I want you happy, Silas.”

“Sarah…” I reach out, but she’s too far away. Her form and body slowly glide back, getting smaller.

She shakes her head. “I have to go now, but just know Dara and your baby, they are meant for you. I’m happy here, and one day, when you’re old and gray, I’ll be waiting to see you again. Until then…be happy, my love.”

“No!” I try to reach out again, but my arms are heavy, weighted down.

“Dara and your daughter, they are your destiny. Now, wake up, Silas. Wake up to your new life and be free.”

“I love you, Sarah,” I call out because there’s nothing else I can do.

“I love you.” Her voice is but a whisper on the wind.

As she goes, the darkness surrounding my body lessens, and there’s nothing but pain. Bone-cutting agony rippling through my entire form.

---

My eyes are heavy as I blink. When I can finally manage to open them, a giant blond guy is standing three feet from my bed, leaning up against the wall, arms crossed over his big chest. His lips are a flat, serious-looking slash across his face.

The warm sensation I know well is covering my hand. I glance down and see my woman. Her face plastered against my hand, mouth open, fast asleep. Dark circles ring around her eyes, even in sleep.

I try to speak, but it comes out in a cracked whisper, my throat coated in dust bunnies. The big man I don’t know but think I’ve seen before gets the pink cup on a side table and brings the straw to my mouth. I suck greedily from it, allowing the cool water to dispel the dryness in my throat.

“Who are you?” I croak.

The man’s blue eyes are sharp when they come to mine. “I’m the man who owes you everything.”

I frown.

“Clayton Hart. My wife is Dr. Monet Hart. And you saved her life and that of our son. Owe you. Huge. Plan to pay up, soon as you’re well.” His voice is deep but filled with gratitude.

Before I can say anything, my girl blinks awake, her sleepy blues coming to mine. “Silas…” she gasps, tears filling those orbs and falling down her face. “Baby.”

She comes forward and puts her mouth to mine. “You’re okay. You’re awake. Baby,” she whispers again, this time choked up with emotion, tears falling in a stream down her cheeks.

I lift my good arm and cup her cheek. “Never leaving you.” It comes out as a promise.

“No.” She shakes her head.

“No,” I repeat.

She sighs and rests her forehead on mine. I hear movement—the big blond guy leaving the room.

“Dr. Hart?” I say, my voice still scratchy.

“Fine. She’s fine. Perfect, baby. You saved her life.” Dara caresses my face as if she can’t stop touching me.

“Her baby?” I mutter, needing to know everything went okay with her child.

“Beautiful boy. All ten fingers and ten toes. Because of you they’re breathing and alive in the maternity ward.”

I swallow around the lump of cotton and fear in my throat. “What happened after I blacked out?”

Dara leans back and eases onto the side of my bed. Instantly, I put my hand to her belly, feeling our baby. She smiles and clasps her hand over mine before speaking.

“Mallory apparently had been following you around. Saw you and me together, and then she saw you waving goodbye to Dr. Hart one day after a session. Saw she was pregnant too and snapped. Bought a gun, came to the office, and threatened the receptionist before coming in. Didn’t think to do anything about the people or receptionist. Her focus was on you and the doctor.”

“Fuck!”

“Yeah. They called the cops, but it was too late for you. She’d already fired when you jumped at her to save Moe.”

“Moe?”

“Dr. Hart. Her name is Monet. Best friends with Mila and Atlas. Atlas is also best friends with Clayton. I’m shocked you didn’t know him.”

“Didn’t spend a lot of time with people outside of work.”

She rubs my hand over her belly. “Nope, you didn’t. Though one night you did.” She grins. “And I’m so happy you did.”

“Lil’ mama. You okay?” I rub her belly. “Baby good?”

She nods quickly. “Now that you’re awake, the bullet’s been removed, and my man is going to be fine, we’re all good.”

“I love you, baby.” I kiss her soft cheek.

“I love you too.”

“You didn’t leave my side.” It isn’t a question, because even in my drugged haze, I knew she was there, every second.

Dara shakes her head. “Never leavin’ my man, especially when he needs me right where I am. Holding his hand. Praying for him to wake up and be with me and our baby.”

“Come here.” I tip my head.

She comes down and snuggles against my side. Then she says something that hits me right in the chest, more painfully than the freakin’ bullet.

“I was scared, Silas. We just got you, and I thought maybe I’d lost you, and you never got to meet our baby.”

I lock my good arm around her and do my best to move my other one, which jolts my wound. I grit my teeth but know she needs my hold more. “Told you, woman. Never leaving you.”

“Yeah,” she whispers and then nuzzles in.

“Rest, my queen. You need it.”

“’K.” Her voice is low and then her weight presses my side. She’s fast asleep against me within minutes. The poor thing is exhausted.

I can’t even imagine what this was like for her. Hearing that I got shot. Worrying about losing me. Our baby. Fuck. I grit my teeth and hold her close, planting my nose in her hair. That sugary bakery smell I love still wafts through her locks. With her scent in my nose, my good arm around her, my woman and baby nuzzled up to my side, I fall back asleep. Peacefully.

---

The next time I wake, Dara is whispering at the door. “He’s not awake yet.”

“I have to see him.”

I hear Dr. Hart’s voice as I blink my eyes open and attempt to sit up with a groan.

“Moe, beautiful, he needs some time,” a male rumble answers.

“Just a minute,” Dr. Hart tries again.

“Let the woman in!” I rasp from the bed, taking in my surroundings. Flower vases are positioned all over the room on every possible flat surface; the place looks like a flower shop. Dara, standing at the door to my room, glances my way and smiles softly.

God, I love this woman. Her smile could light up any darkness.

“I want to see him too!” a voice I recognize as my brother Russell yells.

“Yeah, let us in!” Kevin, my baby bro, complains.

“Dara, now I know you’re protective, but his family needs to see him.” My mama’s voice rings through, and she pushes her way in. “Baby boy. How you doin’?”

I smile. “Got a hole in my chest but a beautiful woman who’s havin’ my baby watching over me. Can’t complain.” I mean every word.

“Mmmhmm. Just as I thought. Crackin’ jokes and raisin’ hell, just like your father,” she mumbles, grinning.

Dara walks over to my side. “How you feelin’, baby? You need anything?”

“Besides you and a gallon of water?” I grip her hip and run my hand down to her ass and give it a little welcome squeeze.

She smirks and gets the cup, putting it into my hand. I suck back more heaven while watching my family shuffle in. Russell, Kevin, Whitney, and Chantal line up around my bed, speaking all at once.

I lift my hand, cock my head to the side, and notice there’s someone sitting in a wheelchair behind them, a giant blond guy I now know as Clayton Hart standing behind the chair.

“Guys, move over. I wanna see my doctor.” I wave my hand to the side, and then I see her.

Dr. Hart is holding a small bundle wrapped in blue in her arms. The sibs move to one side of the room and quiet down as Clayton pushes his wife through.

“Far enough,” she says to her husband and stands, holding the bundle in her arms and walking to my side.

“I don’t mean to intrude, but I had to thank you…” Tears fill her pretty dark eyes and slide down her cheeks.

“Dr. Hart, no need.” I reach for her hand.

“Monet,” she corrects.

“Monet. I brought crazy to your office. I didn’t know I was doin’ it, but it still happened. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

She swallows and nods. More tears falling down her face. “Crazy always finds me. Part of the business.” She winks, cracking up at her own joke.

I chuckle but stop when she pushes down the blanket and shows me her child’s round face. “I just wanted you to see what you took a bullet for.”

“Jesus!” I whisper, eyes on the tiny newborn.

“Meet Knight Atlas Hart. Knight after the hero who saved his life and mine.”

Chills ripple all over my body, goosebumps rising. “Monet…” I gasp and swallow, eyes glued to the perfect little boy with blackish hair. He opens his eyes, and they’re bright blue. Sky blue.

“Honored,” I rumble out, emotion closing off my throat.

Monet leans forward and kisses my forehead. I lock my hand around her neck, keeping her there while she whispers, “Thank you, Silas. Soon. We’ll talk soon.”

“Yeah. Soon.” I let her go, her jasmine scent filling me with peace.

She smiles softly and hands the baby to Dara, who’s eagerly waiting to snuggle him.

My girl looks down at the little one, holding him close to her chest. “Knight. We’re going to love you and be the best auntie and uncle you ever had. You’re going to have a new cousin in our baby too. And last, I’m gonna make you so many treats.” She coos to the baby in her arms, and I just lean my head back and smile.

I may have a hole in my chest, but I no longer have a hole in my heart. That space is filled with Dara, our baby, my family, friends, and a new adopted clan I just got in the Harts.

Sarah was right. I’m free, and so is she.