The next evening, Zane stood on the beach in back of Sarah’s house and held out his new Star Wars lightsaber he’d purchased at Disneyland. He lowered his voice to a Darth Vader impression. “You will never defeat me, Luke Skywalker. I shall destroy the galaxy.”

Tyler giggled, then made his face serious. “Never!” He charged him with the lightsaber, and Zane pulled him in and took his lightsaber and dropped it on the ground, dropping his own, too. “No! My weapon!” Tyler yelled.

Zane kept him over his head, holding him up.

Finally, Tyler quit struggling and put his arms out. “Hey, maybe I’m Superman!”

The center of Zane’s chest warmed as he stared up at the boy, thinking about the complete fear he’d felt the past couple of days when they thought they’d lost him.

Gratefully, Harris had been caught trying to cross the border into Mexico. Cheryse had notified them early this morning that he was in custody.

Zane thought about how it had been a crazy couple of days. After getting Tyler back at Disneyland, they had stayed in the park because Tyler was so excited about being there and didn’t even realize he’d been kidnapped. They’d made the decision in whispered conversations that they wouldn’t tell him, either. Why terrify the kid?

So they’d done the park, and Zane found that even he had begun to relax by the end of the day, when he and Tyler and Sarah were sitting on the Main Street, eating ice cream with Mickey Mouse ears and wearing glow stick necklaces while watching the parade. Tyler had been sitting on the step between them, and Zane had decided then and there that he wanted this. He wanted it now. He wanted it forever.

In the present, Sarah’s arms slipped around his waist. “Got ya.”

Carefully, he put Tyler down. Sarah turned to hug both of them, but Tyler wiggled free and ran to his discarded lightsaber. “I will get you!”

Sarah leaned back in his arms, and both of them smiled at Tyler, then at each other.

“Hey,” Sarah said, leaning up and brushing her lips to his.

Every part of him tensed with desire for this woman and he held her longer, kissing her deeper.

He felt the tip of a lightsaber in his waist. “Give her up, Vader.”

Relaxing his grip on Sarah’s hips, he grabbed the tip of the lightsaber and yanked it forward, pulling Tyler close to him again. “Oh yeah?” he said, letting go of the tip and tickling him under the chin.

Sarah joined in, tickling Tyler under the arms. They all laughed, and Zane wanted to hold on to this moment, just being with them. Taking a chance, Zane crouched down, gesturing Tyler over. “Can I talk to ya, big guy, about something serious?”

“Yeah.” Tyler set down the toy and coyly walked to him.

Sarah must have sensed he was up to something, because she shot him a questioning look.

Winking at her, Zane put a hand on Tyler’s shoulder as he came over. Then he swallowed, deciding on the best way to say this. “Tyler, I have a question for you.”

“Okay?” Tyler said eagerly.

Zane put on a serious look. “As man of the house, I’m asking you. Can I marry your mom?”

Tyler smiled at his mom. “Do you wanna, Mom?” His voice had taken on an incredulous tone.

Sarah’s hands went to her mouth. Tears sparkled in her eyes. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

Tyler giggled. “You want to marry him?”

Sarah beamed at Tyler, then at Zane. “Yes, I do.”

Tyler shrugged one shoulder. “Well, since she wants to, I guess that would be okay. Wait.” He stuck a finger into the air. “Would that mean … you’re my dad?”

Zane blinked. “I would never take the place of your dad, but I would love to be a different kind of dad.” Zane wished he would have thought about how to answer this question.

Tyler grinned. “I bet Luke Skywalker would have wanted a second dad, don’t you?”

Zane grinned at this sweet, innocent boy. This boy he already loved so much he felt like his heart would shatter at times. He crushed Tyler in for a hug, and a tear fell down his cheek. “Yeah, I do.”

Tyler smiled and took his mother’s hand. “Cool.” He pulled back.

“Cool.” Zane repeated what he said and turned to Sarah, seeing a stream of tears running down her cheeks. Taking this as his opportunity, Zane went to one knee, feeling the emotion gather in his throat. From his pocket, he pulled the ring he’d picked out yesterday at the jewelry store.

Sarah gasped. “Zane.”

“Sarah, will you marry me?”

More tears washed down her cheeks. “Yes,” she said softly.

He slipped the ring on her finger, then picked her up and held her. Both of them laughed, and he couldn’t believe that this was real, that he had her in his arms.

Putting her down, he brushed a piece of hair of her face. “I love you.”

She laughed and cried. “I love you, too.”

Tyler wrapped his arms around both of them. “Does this make us, like … a superhero family now?”

Pulling back, Sarah laughed and put her hand on his head. “But I thought I couldn’t pull off Wonder Woman?”

Tyler shook his head and let out an annoyed grunt. “Mom, you wouldn’t be Wonder Woman now; you would be Jane Foster.” He said it matter-of-factly.

“Who?” she asked, unable to think of who he was talking about.

Zane mimicked his grunt. “You don’t know?” He reached for Tyler’s hand. “Silly woman, that would make you Jane Foster, of course, who was granted immortality by the gods when she fell in love with Thor.”

Her grin widened. “Of course.”

Zane leaned in, gently pressing his lips to hers and then whispering, “You’ve always been my Jane.”