Doctors’ appointments were not new to Katie, but this one was interesting. Bowie had asked her to accompany him to Doc Parker’s so he could understand her condition and what his part would be in keeping her healthy.

It had been two days since he carried her into her apartment. She’d never felt so loved or been loved so completely.

“I can see why you didn’t tell him.” Doc turned to her and lifted his bushy brows.

“Right? Weeks ago I was safe to row a boat, but today he doesn’t like me crossing the street by myself.” Katie laid a hand on Bowie’s back. She knew he was coming from a place of concern and love. “This kind of obsessive behavior made me run away from Dallas.”

Bowie’s head snapped in her direction. “You run away, I will hunt the ends of the Earth to find you.”

“The only running I’m doing is to you, but you have to calm down. Tell him, Doc. I’m healthy. I can do almost anything a non-transplant person can do.”

Doc let out a long exhale that warbled with the shake of his head. “To be young and in love.” He dragged the chair from the corner toward the examination table and flopped into it. “Let her live, Bowie. She can do anything she wants.”

“Okay, but she wants to babysit the Williams’ eight kids tonight.”

“Seven,” Doc and Katie said in unison.

“That’s got to be unhealthy.”

“Crazy, yes, but unhealthy, no. The Williams children aren’t sick. The worse that can happen is they tire Katie out.” Doc looked over at her. “Looks like you’re doing a fine job of that yourself, son.”

Katie felt the heat rise to her cheeks. Now that she and Bowie had made up, they didn’t pass up a chance to make love. Doc ordered condoms in bulk and gave them a discount.

“See? I’m good, now stop worrying.”

Bowie threaded his fingers through hers. “You can’t fault me for wanting to hang on to a good thing. If I’m protective, it’s because I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Have you made an appointment with Dr. Holland?” Doc put the stethoscope in his ears. The feet of the chair scraped against the linoleum floor as he stood. He pressed the cold instrument to her chest and listened. “That’s a sweet sound.” He looked at Bowie. “You want to hear how healthy she is?”

He’d laid on her chest dozens of times, listening to the drum of life beat out a steady rhythm.

“Yes. I do.” He turned toward Katie. “If it’s okay with you.”

She no longer worried about what he would think. He’d proven in short order he loved everything about her, from the way she stole the blankets at night to how she called out his name in passion.

“It’s fine. You can listen.”

Doc cleaned the earpieces off with an alcohol wipe and placed them in Bowie’s ears. She knew the second he heard her heart beating. His smile grew broad and bright. “It so fast,” he whispered in awe.

“One hundred heartbeats a minute, just for you.”

Doc took his stethoscope away. “I was never one for sickly sweet, but you two are a second away from relationship diabetes. You better grab another box of condoms and go back to bed. You’ll eventually get that out of your system, too.”

Katie jumped off the exam table. “No time. We’ve got seven little angels to watch over.” She rubbed her hands together like a devious mastermind. “I can’t wait to get my hands on baby Bea.” Katie had long ago come to terms with the fact that she’d never be a mother, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to be one or taking advantage of mothering other people’s children.

Doc patted Bowie on the back. “Any more questions, son?”

“I think I’m set.”

They walked to the door, and Katie stepped aside to give room to Bowie so he could open the door. She watched the two men exchange glances.

“You gonna open that door, Duchess? I’d hate to take away your independence.”

Bowie’s grin bloomed until Katie wound up and punched him in the arm.

“Bowie Bishop, I’m not trading my independence for your bad manners.”

Doc howled with laughter. “You’ll learn, son. Might take you fifty years, but you’ll learn.”

Bowie pulled the door open. “I need a manual just to learn how this independence thing works.”

Katie fisted his shirt and pulled him behind her. “I’ll write you one.”

They hopped on Bowie’s Harley and drove to the Williams’ house. Once parked, they stood outside the two-story Victorian on Daisy Lane. Flowerbeds bloomed with hydrangeas in pink, green, and blue. A white picket fence surrounded a yard littered with Little Tyke toys. A pang of regret sliced through Katie that she tried to push away. She’d never have this life, but one look at Bowie and her regret turned to gratefulness. She might never hold their child in her arms, but she’d hold him, and that was enough.

“You ready for this?” She buzzed with excitement. Louise said the kids would be bathed and fed, and all they needed to do was entertain them until bedtime.

“I’ve been to war multiple times. I can’t imagine this is worse or different.”

She wanted to tell him he was being silly, but his description was spot on. With seven kids to watch, there was no doubt there would be battles won and lost over the next three hours.

Bobbie and Louise met them at the door. Louise looked beautiful tonight dressed in yellow. Little Bea slept in the cradle of her arms.

By the way Bobbie looked at his wife, Katie knew if they didn’t stay someplace public, Williams baby number eight would be on the way soon.

“We’ll be at Bishop’s Brewhouse if you need us.” Louise kissed her daughter on the forehead before she passed her off to Katie, who snuggled Bea to her chest and breathed in the scent of baby powder and fabric softener.

It took all of two minutes for the calm of the moment to turn into chaos. Jill ran toward Bowie and threw herself into his arms. Big crocodile tears ran down her cheeks.

“David tore off my Barbie’s head.” She lifted a decapitated doll to his face.

Bowie’s lost expression told her this was worse than war.

David claimed innocence, but the look of guilt shone from him like a beacon. Katie had seen that look of guilt on the faces of many children she’d visited in the children’s hospital. When they were stuck in bed, mischief was all they had left.

She shifted baby Bea to one arm and held out her hand. “Give it to me.” Her voice was stern despite the laughter that bubbled inside her. “Right now, young man, or G.I. Joe will meet a similar fate.” She spied the man-doll gripped in his hand but didn’t see the Barbie head.

“She made her doll kiss Joe. He’s a soldier.”

Lucky for Katie, soldiering was something Bowie could relate to. He gave Jill a hug and put her on her feet. “Go with Katie.” He turned to David. “You and I’ll talk about women and war.”

As Katie herded the kids into the living room to watch a movie Louise had chosen for them, she heard Bowie tell David there were battles a man should wage and some that were better left lost. When David said something about kisses being gross, Bowie laughed and told him he’d change his mind soon enough.

Bowie returned some time later with the doll’s head dangling between his fingers. He found the torso discarded on the coffee table. Once he reunited the two pieces, he tucked the doll into the arms of Jill, who had curled into a chair and fallen asleep. He squeezed into the spot next to Katie and wrapped his arm around her.

It took time to get them settled down. For a while, it seemed they all needed something different at the same time. Snacks and bathroom runs and Band-Aids applied to nonexistent wounds took up the first hour of the night. Getting six kids and a baby into the living room was like herding cats. She and Bowie had done it and were no worse for the wear. She looked at the seven children who either slept or zoned in on the cartoon and smiled. They’d survived, so far.

“You know,” Katie said to Bowie. She glanced at David, who was lying on the floor, sandwiched between Melissa and Thomas. “You were wonderful with him.”

“He’s a good kid, and now he’s ahead of the pack when it comes to women. I let him know the golden rule.”

“There’s a golden rule?” Her voice rose with each word. “What’s that?”

Bowie seemed to consider whether he should tell her. “I told him the facts. When he’s right, he’s wrong. When he’s wrong, he’s wrong. He’ll be much happier if he’s always wrong. I also told him the right kiss from the right woman would make everything right. Then he and I and G.I. Joe blew up stuff in his room.”

Every day, Katie fell in love with Bowie a little more. Her secondhand heart was full. She’d hit the lottery with him and worried he wasn’t as lucky with her. It pained her that this man would give up the possibility of a family for her.

“Are you sure you’re okay with not having one of these yourself?” She hugged Bea closer to her breast and bent over to rub her cheek along the baby’s soft hair.

He looked around the room at the seven kids. “Watching this brood is the best birth control ever. It’s a wonder their parents had time to make so many.” Bowie turned and nuzzled his chin into her neck. “If we ever feel like we’re missing out, I’m sure Louise will have a new one we can borrow.”

“You’re probably right, but I don’t want you to make a sacrifice you’ll regret.”

“No regrets. All I want is you.”

As the children dropped off to sleep one by one, Bowie carried them to bed. The only one left was Bea, who Katie wanted to cradle for a moment more until her bladder said enough was enough.

“Hold her for a second while I go to the bathroom?”

Bowie stared at the baby as if she’d asked him to hold a live grenade, but he held out his hands and took the tiny little girl. Bowie’s arms dwarfed little Bea. She was barely bigger than his palms lined up side-by-side. He looked perfect holding her. Katie stood in the hallway and watched him look down at the baby with wonder and awe. She knew right then her only regret would be never giving Bowie a child.

Bobby and Louise returned holding hands. They were the kind of couple that emitted the light of love. Katie saw it in the way they looked at their children—the way they looked at each other. She saw the same look in Bowie’s eyes when he looked at her.

“Bring that car over whenever you need an oil change,” Bobby told Katie before he closed the door.

At the bike, Bowie placed the helmet on her head and said, “You got an oil change for babysitting? I helped. What do I get?”

“I’ll show you when we get home.” She hung on to Bowie as he raced back to her apartment, where she expressed her gratitude for over an hour.

They lay sated and wrapped in each other’s arms. “We made it through that gauntlet. What’s next?”

Katie turned to him. “You thought that was a gauntlet? Wait until you meet my parents. I’ve invited them here for my birthday.”