Grace paced the hardwood floor, waiting for her mom and dad to arrive. She had changed her clothes twice and checked her makeup at least a dozen times. Even Blue was in his third outfit. And his tufts of auburn hair were slicked back with baby oil.

I’d thrown on a pair of jeans and was deemed perfect, but then again, Grace always thought I was perfect. The woman wore blinders when she looked at me.

I walked over to the window where her head went from side to side looking for her father’s white sedan to appear. “It will be fine.” I cradled Blue in my arms. “If it isn’t, I’ll drop-kick them to the curb.”

“You’d do that for me?” She leaned into my body, and I gave her a reassuring smile.

“Sweetheart, there are few people I’d do anything for, but you and Blue and Ryker and Ana are tops on my list.”

“I’m so in love with you.” She rose on her toes and gave me a chaste kiss. Anything more intimate and she knew I’d have her in the bedroom flat on her back regardless of who was arriving.

“I love you too. So much it scares me.” Since that day in the courthouse a week ago, when there was the real possibility of losing Blue part time, I’d continued to live my life as if my time could run out at any minute. It was the reason I had a clock tattooed on my chest. But I’d had it wrong back then. I’d lived carelessly. I lived on the dangerous periphery. If I were smack dab in the center of things, it was not for the good. It meant that I was taunting the universe to take me. That was changing. I wanted to live smack dab in the center of Grace’s love. I wanted my time to tick by with minutes of family and friends surrounding me. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss an opportunity to show the people who mattered how much I loved them.

I didn’t have parents, not in the real sense, so this was just as exciting for me. I’d had a decent set of foster parents at the end. They loved their kids, and they seemed taken with me, but by that point, my heart had hardened, and my ability to trust was all but gone.

It would be interesting to watch the family dynamic between Grace and her estranged parents.

Her body stiffened, and I knew they were here. A white Lexus pulled into our driveway, and Will Faraday rushed to the other side of the car to help his wife, Jill, out. Will and Jill … I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried.

Grace’s mom was lovely, an older version of her daughter. My heart pumped rapidly with the knowledge that if I were lucky enough, I’d be able to watch Grace grow into a better version of the woman coming up the walkway.

“You got this.” I kissed her on the cheek and gave her a nudge toward the door.

“I haven’t seen her in over a year.” Her voice quaked like maybe she would cry, but the look in her eyes told me as long as I stayed close, she’d be fine.

“I’m not going anywhere, Grace.”

She let out a breath, and the tension visibly eased from her shoulders.

We walked to the door where, through the poorly insulated door, we heard her mother tell her father how nervous she was. A small smile appeared on Grace’s face.

“She’s nervous too,” she whispered, knowing voices carried through the walls.

Grace opened the door before her parents knocked, and as soon as her mother saw her, she burst into tears.

“Oh, Grace, I’m so sorry.”

Will stepped around his wife and came to stand next to me while the two women fell into each other’s arms and wept.

There were words of sorrow and pleas for forgiveness, and after at least a dozen hugs, Jill stepped into the house and zoned in on me.

“Who’s this handsome guy?” I was sure she was talking about Blue, who was wide awake and enjoying the stimulation of new guests, but when she walked up and cupped my cheek, I realized she was talking about me.

I hefted Blue, who was now just over ten pounds, into one arm and held out my hand to Grace’s mother. “I’m Silas.”

“Will has wonderful things to say about you, Silas.” I wasn’t certain if I was shocked or not. Will Faraday was a waffler these days. He couldn’t seem to make up his mind about much, but I saw a trend happening. He was seeing life differently too. Maybe he needed a big clock etched into his chest to help him remember that time was fleeting.

Jill’s eyes went from my face down to Blue, who couldn’t control his little limbs.

“Would you like to hold him?” I held the baby out, but she didn’t take him.

“Mom, you can hold him,” Grace said. “You raised me, and I turned out okay.” Grace pulled Blue from my arms and walked him over toward the couch where she sat. When her mother sat beside her, Grace put the baby in her arms, and the woman practically melted into the fabric of the cushions. Blue had that effect on everyone. He turned the hardest person into emotional goo.

“Coffee or tea, anyone?” I asked.

Three requests for coffee came immediately. Even Blue made a grunt, but he’d have to settle for formula.

“I’ll help,” Will said and followed me into the kitchen.

“Looks like you and Mrs. Faraday are mending fences.” I set four K-Cups on the counter and pulled out the milk and sugar.

“We are. She’s even considering moving back to Denver.” Will pulled four cups from the cupboard while I waited for the machine to preheat. “What about you, son? Are you going to make an honest woman out of my Grace?”

Laughter burst from inside me. “Grace doesn’t need me to make her honest. She’s brutally honest on her own.”

“You know what I mean, Silas.” His tone went serious.

I knew what he meant, but I wasn’t taking the bait. “Grace and I are fine the way we are right now. I don’t need a marriage certificate to prove she loves me. She doesn’t need one to keep me around. You of all people should understand that a piece of paper doesn’t make a marriage.” I set a cup aside and let Will doctor it up for his wife.

He added a single teaspoon of sugar and a splash of cream before he said anything. “I’m still old fashioned that way, but I’m learning. There is a huge disconnect between what I know in my heart and what the world wants to see.”

“Go with your heart. It seems to lead you in a better direction.” I had to give the man credit. He’d turned the custody thing around so Grace never had to worry about it again. Or maybe we’d just scared the living hell out of Trenton with our talk of college funds and the cost of diapers. Grace and I agreed that we’d be honest with Blue about his father, and if either of them ever wanted to meet the other, we’d set it up.

Once the coffees were made, we brought them into the living room where Jill and Grace were sharing baby stories. It brought me back to a time when Decker was a baby and we all sat around him and stared. To a six-year-old, it was like science fiction. One day the baby was in your mom’s tummy, and the next, it was on a blanket in the living room.

I didn’t understand how kids were created back then, but I was a huge fan of the process now. Although Grace and I were very careful to not make another kid too soon, I was excited about the prospect of Grace’s belly big with my child.

Blue got cranky, and I could smell the reason. “I’ll get it.” I lifted the baby from his grandmother’s lap.

“He changes diapers too?” Jill looked at me like a halo glowed above my head, and then she scowled at her husband. “Will, look at that. He’s an active participant.”

Will shook his head. “The boy is smarter than I ever was.”

I started toward Blue’s bedroom. “I’d helped out a lot with my baby brother, Decker. Even at six years old, I had diapers down to an art.” I nodded toward the baby’s room, and Will followed me. He had a lot of diaper changes to make up for.

We came out five minutes later with Will looking like he’d survived the Battle of the Bulge or some other big war, but there was a look of accomplishment on his face once you got past his upturned nose.

“When are the others coming?” Will asked. He was itching to get Blue baptized. You could take the man out of the church, but there was no taking the church out of the man. Since Grace wasn’t a huge fan of organized religion, she didn’t want the big church ordeal. Anyone could baptize a person. All it took were willing participants and water.

Those participants showed up an hour later. Ana came with Ryker, and Mona snuck out of Marty’s house and up to the door. Because she was nearly blind, she didn’t realize that we could all see her adjust her dress and smooth down her hair. And if I wasn’t mistaken, Marty’s lips had taken on the orange hue of Mona’s lipstick.

Inside the tiny little living room, Will baptized Blue. Despite Grace’s misgivings about her father, she knew the baptism was important to him. It was a turning point in their relationship where Grace could appreciate her father’s gifts and he could appreciate Grace.

Blue, on the other hand, wasn’t a fan of the holy water, and it took his grandmother’s bosom and a full bottle of formula to calm him down.