Grace didn't know how much more of this she could stand. Nico had been screaming for the better part of the last three hours, and her head ached from the incessant noise while her heart ached for her sweet little son.

Clearly something was wrong and she just couldn't figure out what it was, couldn’t comfort him or make it all better. In that moment, she missed her mother so deeply her eyes burned with frustration.

"It's okay, sweetie," she said loudly enough to be heard over her son’s cries. "Everything is all right." Except she didn't believe that. She was a horrible mother who couldn't even comfort her own son.

She tried nursing him twice, and each time he'd settled for a bit before returning to his wailing, unabated. "I don't think babies are supposed to cry like this. Tell me what I'm doing wrong?" She didn't know who she was asking and she certainly didn't expect to get a response.

"He's just fussy," said Matteo behind her.

She hadn't heard him come in the bedroom. She turned around. "This isn’t fussy. This is irate."

He held out his hands to her. "Let me take a turn."

"Have you ever held a baby before?"

"Of course I have. That one time you handed him to me for a minute when I first got here.”

It was hard to believe that was only a week ago. He’d moved into her life so smoothly it seemed as though he’d been here forever. She didn’t even mind sharing her space with him, since he slept on the floor and seemed to have a sixth sense about when she needed to be alone.

But he’d never stepped in and helped with the baby until now. She narrowed her eyes.

"How hard can it be?" he asked.

As if to show him, she held out the screaming infant. Matteo scooped him up like it was something he did every day. He looked so comfortable, she instantly knew he was far better with children than she was.

She crossed her arms over her chest. Nothing about parenthood was easy for her. She second-guessed herself every time her interactions with her son didn't go as picture-perfect as she planned. Her eyes moved down Matteo's chest to Nico's red, teary face.

At least the baby hadn't stopped crying. That would've added insult to injury.

"Why don't you go take a break,” he said. “Go for a walk or something. Nico and I are fine."

"You don't look fine. He’s screaming just as much for you as he was for me."

Matteo smiled. "That's right. You don't have to do this by yourself, you know. I can help, too."

His words were like a well-placed attack on the dam that held her emotions in check, and she nearly broke down from his display of kindness. She did have to do everything by herself. For while Matteo was here for the time being, he was not going to be a permanent fixture in her life or the baby’s, and she refused to allow the staff to do more for her child than they already were.

The idea of closing the bathroom door and taking a hot bath by herself for an hour was heavenly. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Of course not. I'm a Navy SEAL, remember? I'm not afraid of a little baby."

She nodded, grateful for his willingness to help her and secretly hoping he wouldn’t be any better at handling the baby than she was.

Don’t be so petty, Grace.

"Thank you,” she said sincerely.

She made her way into the bathroom, closed the door and locked it, pressing her back firmly against it with a sigh. She turned the water on, the sound instantly covering up the baby's cries in the distance. She felt herself relax for the first time in hours.

No, days.

She hastily stripped the clothes from her body, desperate to immerse herself in the steaming-hot water. She loved baths. Before she’d had Nico, she took a bath nearly every day, enjoying the warm water lapping at her skin and the soothing sound of the tub filling. But now with the baby it was difficult to get away for any length of time, and the only thing worse than not getting a bath at all was having one be interrupted.

That wasn't going to happen today. Matteo would take care of the baby for as long as she needed him to. She sighed contentedly. This must be what it was like for couples who really were married with a baby. Taking turns with everything. Sharing the joys and stresses of parenthood. What a relief that would be.

She thought of Mason and what a great father she had thought he would be. An excellent judge of character, she was not. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She wouldn't think about him tonight, wouldn't allow these precious moments of time to herself to be polluted by that man.

Reaching for the bubble bath—one of her favorite scents—she added a generous dose to the running water and inhaled deeply. She needed this more than she wanted to admit.

When did everything become so stressful, so hard? These politics were forcing her life into some sort of misshapen path, and she resented their intrusion even as she knew it was necessary. She had a responsibility to her countrymen to see them through this election and into the safe, sane hands of her father.

The irony that the man who could never be a good father to her was an excellent father to her country was not lost on her. He was wise and fair and dedicated where politics were concerned, but judgmental, distant, and unsympathetic in real life.

She sank back into the bubbles, her breathing deep and regulated now that she was alone. Maybe she should tell her father how she felt, how much she missed him.

Like it would do any good.

It hadn’t always been like this between them. Back when her mother was alive, she and her father had worked hard to share the best sides of themselves with each other, but without her mother’s guidance keeping them together, everything had gone downhill.

The tub was nearly full, and she knew when she turned off the water she would be able to hear her baby’s cries once again. Reluctantly, she turned off the water with her toes and waited for the screaming to reach her ears.

Nothing.

She frowned. Maybe Matteo had taken Nico into another room to give her some peace and quiet. Yes, that must be it. She let herself soak to her heart's content, so when she stepped out of the bathroom nearly an hour later, she was surprised and touched to see him and Nico cuddled on the bed together, sleeping.

They could have passed for father and son. Matteo's arms were around Nico, the two seemingly frozen in a snuggle. She quietly slipped in beside them, closed her eyes, and fell instantly asleep.