I pulled the car into the lot and shut off the engine, looking over at Benji in the passenger seat. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

He nodded, looking up at the house. “I think I have to, for Amelia’s sake.”

I couldn’t help but agree. When we finally crawled out of bed this morning, Benji had suggested going and finding where Amelia had lived previously, putting to rest that chapter of her life. I had agreed, and now we were here, at the address that had been on Marcie’s driver's license. The house itself was one of those cookie-cutter houses along a quiet little street, surprisingly only about an hour outside of Chicago. I couldn’t imagine what was going through Benji’s mind knowing that his daughter had lived so close, yet if it wasn’t for this happening, this tragic event, that he would have possibly never known about her. “Come on,” I said, opening the door. “Let’s see if anyone is home.”

Benji climbed out, and I was glad we hadn’t brought Amelia, leaving her in the capable hands of Hannah and Tony instead. If we ran into a bad situation here, I didn’t want her to witness what her daddy might do. Benji grabbed my hand as we walked up the walkway to the front door, knocking on it without hesitation. “I feel like I’m about to do something stupid,” he said, his hand shaking in mine. “God, I’m nervous.”

I squeezed his hand lightly, giving him a smile. “It will be okay. Whatever happens, Amelia is yours, and she will have a life full of love and happiness.” I loved that little girl like my own now and was looking forward to being part of her life as she grew up into a beautiful woman. I could already imagine the birthdays, dates, dances, and school events that she was bound to experience.

“I love you,” he said as the door opened, revealing a tiny older woman.

“May I help you?”

“Um yes,” Benji started out, shooting her one of his winning smiles. “I am looking for someone who might know Marcie Henson.”

“Marcie?” she asked, emotion clouding her face. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but she died a few weeks ago.”

“I know,” Benji replied. “I am, well, I found out that I was her child’s father.”

“That poor little girl,” the woman breathed, tears in her eyes. “She was precious. Come on in then. I’m sure you have questions.”

Benji looked at me, and I shrugged, following the woman inside the neat little house. There was a smell of cookies in the air as we walked into the living room area, full of furniture and knick-knacks. “Please have a seat, will you?” she said, motioning toward the couch, covered with a colorful afghan. “Would you like a cookie?”

We both declined, seating ourselves on the couch, our knees touching. “How did you know Marcie?” Benji asked after a moment.

“Oh, my I haven’t told you who I am,” she laughed. “My name is Gertie, Gertie Travele. Marcie lived with me as my caretaker.”

I let out a breath. “How long did she work for you?”

Gertie placed a finger to her chin, deep in thought for a moment. “Well, my husband died five years ago so about that long? Marcie was a sweet girl, studying to be a nurse she was.”

So, she was the girl next door. I looked over at Benji, attempting to see his expression on what he was learning but he kept his friendly, a face I had seen numerous times before. It had to be a relief to know that Amelia had a happy childhood and a wonderful, hard working mother.

“And that baby of hers. I heard that she was not hurt?”

“No ma’am,” Benji replied, shaking his head. “She’s a happy child.”

“Good,” Gertie replied with a satisfied smile. “That was a precious child. She never made a peep. I let them stay in the house you know since it was just me and paid her a few dollars a week to do the shopping and pay my own bills. It’s sad to know that she died so young.”

“Yes ma’am,” Benji said respectfully.

“I had all her things moved to storage,” Gertie continued on. “I have the key somewhere around here. Got me a new caretaker, a sweet girl, who is running errands right now. You can have the key, and maybe that precious girl can have her mother’s things and hers as well.”

Benji cleared his throat. “I would like to bring Amelia to see you.”

The older woman’s eyes clouded with tears behind her thick glasses. “I would like that very much.”

We chatted just a few minutes longer, and Gertie located the storage key, wishing us well as we walked out of the house. I didn’t say anything as we climbed back into my car, some of the worries lifted off my shoulders. Amelia had been loved. There was no doubt about it.

I looked over at Benji, his jaw clenched tightly as he stared out of the windshield. There was anguish on his face at what he had learned, and I doubted because he was worried about Amelia any longer. Reaching over, I touched his good arm. “Don’t beat yourself up about this Benji. The good thing is that Marcie was a good mother, the best it sounds like, and now you have someone who can tell Amelia stories about her, good stories.”

He looked over at me. “I remember her.”

That wasn’t what I was expecting to come out of his mouth. “Y-you remember Marcie?”

He leaned against the headset, his jaw clenched tightly. “It was at a party after one of my matches. She was in a group of women who had been invited. I remember her looking like she was out of her element and went over to strike up a conversation with her. I guess we had too much to drink and, well, you know the rest. I woke up alone the next morning and didn’t even remember sleeping with her.”

I listened to him explain, his voice sounding tortured. “It’s not your fault,” I said gently, reaching over to stroke the back of his neck lightly. “It sounds like she took it all in stride and with all the options she had, she kept Amelia.”

“I just wish she had told me,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face wearily. “I would have helped her out you know?”

I nodded, a lump in my throat. This was the man who had stolen my heart. “Come on,” I said as I turned on the car. “Let’s get you back to the gym.”

* * *

Hours later I walked back into the gym, an envelope burning a hole in my hand. After dropping Benji off, I had gone back to work, smiling as a packet of papers had been handed to me to hand-deliver. I hadn’t opened the envelope of course, but what was inside didn’t matter. Benji was going to be Amelia’s father, and if all went well, I was going to be that little girl’s mom one day.

Benji was sitting in the office, pouring over some blueprints when I entered, taking a moment to watch him at work. I would never grow tired of watching him, whether it was while he played with his daughter or when he attempted to mentor a young fighter. Benji had been full of surprises, and I felt that he had finally let go of the demon that had been plaguing him since he had taken Amelia into his arms that night. Today had helped that happen, and I was glad to know that Amelia had experienced a good life before she had found her father. On the way back to the gym, he had talked about the storage building and how we would bring some of the things back to Amelia and save the rest of her mom’s stuff for when she was a little older. If I hadn’t already loved the man with everything I had, I would have fallen in love with him all over again today. “Hey you,” I finally said, walking into the office. “What are you doing?”

He looked up and that oh so sexy grin crossed his face. “Hey. I didn’t hear you come in.”

I walked up to the desk and laid the envelope down in front of him. “This came today, and I was asked to hand-deliver it to you.”

Benji’s jaw worked as he stared at the envelope. “What if it doesn’t say what it needs to?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I reminded him gently. “The paperwork is in there. Unless you forgot to sign something, you are more than likely Amelia’s legal guardian.”

He blew out a breath and tore open the envelope, pulling out the stack of papers that was inside. I waited with bated breath as he read the contents, his expression giving nothing away. “I’m the father,” he finally said, looking up at me.

I released a breath I didn’t know I had been holding, tears coming to my eyes as I saw pure happiness on his face. “Congrats.”

“Thank you,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Damn. You don’t know how good this feels.”

“I can kind of guess,” I said with a wry smile. “Are we having another party tonight?”

He winked at me, stuffing the papers back into the envelope for safe keeping. “Only if it’s just the two of us. We will celebrate with the rest of the team later.”

I felt my blood start to hum in my body at the thought of having the same fun we had last night in his bed. In fact, I had already packed a bag, knowing I probably wouldn’t be going home again tonight. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

He pushed back the chair and stood, walking around the desk. I started to back up as he advanced on me, trapping me against the wall, his body blocking my escape route. Not that I wanted to escape. Without a word, he leaned down and brushed his lips over mine. “Think we will make it home?”

Home. I hadn’t thought of his place as home before now. It was home, filled with the most important thing ever: love. “I think so.”

“Come on then,” he said grabbing my hand and tugging me close to the door. As he stepped through the doorway, a familiar face came into view, one that looked holy pissed off.

“Luke?” Benji blurted out as my brother maneuvered his way into the gym door. He looked older, one of those geek nerds that he had picked on when we were growing up.

Nerd or not, his right hook collided with Benji’s jaw, causing him to stumble back into the office as Luke advanced on him, with me desperately attempting to stop him. “Luke. Wait.”

“What are you doing fucking my sister?”

“Luke!” I said appalled as he pushed Benji against the wall, the movement jarring his injured shoulder. “Leave him alone!”

“There’s a code Lomns,” he said, looking at Benji. “I can’t believe you crossed it.”

“I love her.” My heart melted as the words came out so forcefully, no question what he meant by them, even with my brother attempting to kill the man I love. I was shocked to see him here, wondering what the heck had brought him across the globe just to give Benji a broken jaw.

Luke’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“I fucking love Danielle,” he repeated, looking him in his eye. “I would never hurt her. You know that. You know me. This is going to be something for the future, not some wild fucking.” He then chuckled. “But we are doing that too.”

“Benji!” I said, my face burning as my brother’s face turned murderous. “I don’t think Luke wants to hear about that.”

“I know he doesn’t,” Benji said with a grin. “I wanted to see if his face still turned the color of tomatoes when he was really pissed off.”

My brother looked at him, shaking his head. “You are still the same cocky bastard you always have been Lomns.”

“Good to see you too Luke.”