The next few weeks, we watch as our daughter grows stronger and has a few setbacks here and there. In the end, it’s all worth it when the doctor declares she’s recovered enough to go home.

“Home,” Violet cheers.

I smile at Chase, but in the back of my mind I wonder where home is. Chase gave up the villa in Italy. I have my apartment in Chicago, but …

“Yes, home,” the doctor says, interrupting my drifting thoughts.

He gives us a laundry list of dos and don’ts and things to watch out for. I take notes, but I’m grateful when he hands us a packet that has all the things he’s said written down.

“I’ll need to see her for a follow-up in a few weeks.”

I nod. It answers one question. We can’t exactly leave the States or even go to Chicago because we need to be close in the event something happens.

Because Violet doesn’t need isolation, our family comes in for the good news.

Chase startles me when he tips up my chin. “What’s wrong?”

I shake my head, plaster on a smile, and say, “I’ll tell you later,” because lying to him isn’t an option and he’s already picked up on my mood.

Violet wants ice cream and Mark and Riley offer to take her.

When we arrive at the hotel, Chase doesn’t give me a second.

“Tell me,” he demands.

I drop my head to study my fingernails. “It’s just I don’t know where home is anymore.”

The idea pains me so, I feel tears prick the back of my eyes. He forces me to face him.

“My home is with you, no matter where in the world we are. You, me, Violet are a unit.”

I nod. “So we stay here.”

“Fletcher’s going to training camp. He’s offered his house,” he says, taking me by surprise.

He’s obviously already thought about this.

“What about Cassie?”

“She’s taking the baby and bunking with him. She has someone else handling her practice for another few months.”

“Then what?”

He’s my home too, and I’m willing to go wherever he wants. I’ve taken too much away from him as it is.

He shrugs. “Chicago?”

I stare at him, agape. “For what?”

“You have a place there.”

My heart bursts for this man. How could I have ever given him up? “No, the next time I go to Chicago is to pack up. I want to know when we have to go back to Italy.”

It’s his turn to stare at me with wonder.

“We don’t have to. I had Max secretly looking at potential contracts in the U.S.”

“When?” I ask, yet again amazed.

He stares at me a second and runs a hand through his hair. “Before I went to Chicago that first time to find you. I decided then that you were more important than any career.” As I just stand there stupefied, he says, “You have to know it’s only ever been you for me since that first kiss we shared. It doesn’t matter where I play as long as we are together.”

I lift onto my toes to meet him halfway for a kiss. Before I do, I say, “I’ll go wherever you want to play. You are my home too.” The kiss that ensues scorches the carpet below our feet. I cup his face as I back us toward the bed.

“You are my sunshine, Andi. Every day has been cloudy without you in it.”

Then we are falling in a tangle of naked limbs. He eases his way on top of me. Every kiss from my lips to my clit leaves me breathless and melting. His tongue is everywhere, swirling and making me boneless. Gentle suction, probing and thrusting fingers take me to the edge. But before I can come, he stops, leaving me aching and silently protesting with fisted hands in sheets. His sly smile grows as he slides his hands between my legs and parts my thighs. When he enters me in one powerful thrust, I detonate around him, unable to hold it off.

Things don’t end there. He knows how to get me to rise to the occasion again. The pads of his fingers slip down to stroke my sensitive nub, awakening a growing storm inside me once again. I grind myself against him, needing to be closer, needing more of him. He rotates his hips, hitting that spot deep inside until I cry out with release, but I’m not the only one as he roars his pleasure.

As we lie cocooned in one another, sweat cooling off our skin, I ask, “So where will we live?”

“Are you sure you’re okay with Italy?”

I bite my lip and smile up at him. “Italy, France, Germany, London, wherever you want to be. It’s your career.”

“And your career. You love being a neonatal nurse.”

I lift my shoulders. “I can do that anywhere. Once we decide a place where we’re going to be, I can look into that.”

Then I close my mouth, not sure if I should voice my other thoughts.

“What is it?” he asks knowingly.

I meet his gaze. “It’s just I kind of like being a mom. This whole thing reminds me what I would have regretted missing. I’m hopeful Violet is fine …” I bite off my next words as the possibility of losing her still haunts me. He only stares at me, waiting for me to finish. “But if …” I don’t finish that thought. Instead, I say, “For now, I’d be happy just being at home with her.”

“I’ll support you no matter what you decide. You can always change your mind.”

He strokes my back and I fall asleep. I wake at the sound of a phone ringing. Chase answers.

“Dinner?” he says into the phone.

The one word has me launching out of the bed and making a dash for the bathroom. I barely make it before the muffin and dredges of coffee I’d had that morning all come up.

Chase is there, moving my hair out of the way with concern etched on his face.

“I think I got the stomach bug,” I say once the heaves of my stomach die down. Our nurse had told us about the emergency room being packed with people with the bug. I hope I have the twenty-four hour kind.

“I guess dinner is out? That was Mark.”

That word again sends me to gag again. When I can finally sit on my butt in the bathroom, ignoring that it is a hotel, I say, “You should go. I can’t see Violet until this runs its course.”

His lips purse, but he nods. “You’re right, but I can’t go either.” He grins. “I’ve been swapping spit with you, thus I’m infected as well.”

His wink draws out a half-smile from me. “I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head. “There’s no one I rather be quarantined with.”

After talking with the moms, they decide to drive Violet home so she can get home-cooked meals. Plus, they bring up the fact that if the bug is in the area, it is best to not have Violet exposed to people in restaurants. Mark and Riley plan to bunk at Fletcher’s until we can come and keep her overnight since that’s where we’ll be staying. Everyone thinks it’s best to get Violet in a routine. The moms will trade time spending with her.

It’s a few days of nausea and vomiting before I feel well enough to possibly go home.

“Maybe I should stay and you go,” I tell Chase.

He never caught it. Lucky bastard.

He shakes his head. “Doc thinks you’re not contagious anymore and Violet misses her mom.”

“And her dad,” I add.

We pack up and drive, but I make a stop at a drugstore before we pull up to Fletcher’s. Mark is outside with Violet and he has to stop her from running to the car when she sees us. I have the same problem. I’ve missed her like crazy. When Chase finally stops the car, I’m out like lightning. I wrap my arms around her and she feels so small in my embrace. She has lost some weight, but I close my eyes, running a hand through her still bald head.

“Mama, silly.” She points at my face. “Mask?”

I’d gotten those sterile masks, not wanting to take a chance that she’d catch anything from me. I’d even used hand sanitizer before getting out of the car.

“To make sure you aren’t sick.”

Then Chase is there. He scoops her up.

Mark comes over and pulls me aside. “This probably isn’t the right time, but I imagine you are going to spend a lot of time with Violet.” I nod. “I asked Riley to marry me.” I gasp and hug my brother.

“Congratulations. I assume she said yes.”

“She did. She wants to get married on Valentine’s Day next year.” More hugs. “I made everyone promise not to spill the beans until I could tell you myself.”

“I’m so happy for you.”

His face turns serious. “Now it’s time for you to put Chase out of his misery and marry him.”

“What? Misery?”

His brow arches. “As long as I can remember, Chase has been hung up on one girl.”

“How do you know?” He gives me a duh expression. “Fletcher?”

“We didn’t know who she was. He wouldn’t tell us.”

I laugh. “We couldn’t. You would have kicked his ass.”

“I would have.”

“See, then Fletcher would have kicked yours.”

His eyes narrow. “Fletcher can’t kick my ass.”

“Keep telling yourself that, big brother.”

“Anyway, now I know it was you. If you take my advice, know that there isn’t another guy in the world I would approve of more than him.”

I launch myself in his arms again, thinking how lucky I am to be surrounded by the people in my life. Silently, I thank my parents for giving me up. Though I would have loved to know them, they had given me the greatest gift.

When he lets me go, Chase is there, hand outstretched. Mark pats my arm and I move forward to take Chase’s hand. We walk up to the modern farmhouse with a wraparound porch. Fletcher built a one-bedroom suite with kitchen and bath and its own front side entrance, though you can access it through the house as well. Fletcher says it is for guests, but we all know he built it in mind for his brother coming into town. Now we are using it.

Walking inside, I remember Chase’s words about our family unit. Though there is something niggling at me. Something I need to figure out.

One thing I’m certain of is Chase. I love him more than life, always have, always will.