Proving that he was no actor, both girls’ smiles faded and they looked at each other for a beat and then back at him. Sam pushed his hair off his forehead in a very tender gesture. “Daddy, are you sad?”

The breath backed up in his throat. “Little bit, pumpkin. But it’s nothing for either of you to worry about.”

Sam slipped her hand in his. “I like that you live with us all in the same place now.”

At this, he found a real smile. “I like living with you.”

“Are you sad ’cuz Lanie’s leaving? I heard Grandma telling Auntie Alyssa.”

He wasn’t sure what to say to that. He wasn’t just sad, he was decimated, when he hadn’t realized he could even be decimated.

Sam crawled into his lap, followed by Sierra.

“We want to hug you,” Sam whispered. “’Kay?”

He felt the sharp sting of emotion behind his eyes and in his throat. “Very okay.”

They wrapped their little arms around his neck and squeezed the air out of him, and he was nearly undone as he pressed his face into their hair.

Just then, Delaney let loose with a wail that said she was starving or wet or both, and she was going to bring the house down if someone didn’t get to her right away. He pulled the covers down and waited while Sam and Sierra slid beneath. Standing up, he kissed them each. “Good night,” he said softly. “You’ve been to the bathroom, you’ve got water, you’ve had a story, so I don’t expect the pitter-patter of little feet until morning. Got me?”

“Got you,” Samantha said.

“Good. Love you,” he said and headed for the door, stopping short when not the usual one voice but two little voices said “Love you, Daddy” in unison.

He whipped back around and stared at Sierra. “Did you just . . .”

She smiled shyly and he felt his heart squeeze tight and his eyes burn as he strode back to the bed, yanked her out from beneath the covers, and hugged her to him, pressing his face into her hair, hoping like hell he didn’t start crying like Delaney. Then Samantha jumped at him as well and he squeezed the hell out of them both for as long as he could before they squirmed to be free. And since Delaney was still screaming, he shut the bedroom door. And if for a beat he leaned back on the wood, eyes closed, trying to compose himself, no one was the wiser.

He knew Lanie had left the hospital and River’s bedside reluctantly, and only because River had made her go, to be with the baby. The baby she’d told Lanie was hers if anything happened to her.

Mark would like to say he didn’t know how that felt, but he’d ended up raising his two girls without a mom, so he did know. He knew the fear, the panic, and the dead certainty that you were going to fuck it all up without a backup.

Except he did have backup. He had his family at his back, always.

Lanie didn’t have that. Or rather, didn’t want it, since she’d cut him and his entire family loose.

He could only hope that she wouldn’t run from Delaney like she had from him.

He entered the small upstairs den, which his mom had turned into a temporary nursery. Delaney was pissed off, red in the face, and waving her fists. Scooping her up, he brought her in close to share his body heat. “Hey, munchkin,” he murmured and just as his girls had always done, she stopped crying to hear him better.

“I’m guessing you’re wet and hungry and pissed off at the world,” he said. “Yeah?”

“Neither,” his mom said softly, coming in behind him. “I changed and fed her a few minutes ago.”

“Lanie?”

“Since she looked like death walking, I sent her to bed, told her I’d watch over the baby for a few hours.”

So she hadn’t left. At least not yet. The amount of relief that sent through him was ridiculous. “You look like death walking too,” he said. “I’ve got her, Mom.”

His mom kissed him on the cheek and left.

He carefully set Delaney back into her bassinet and sat in the rocking chair in the dark corner of the room, where he tipped his head back and closed his eyes. He was still there an hour later when soft footsteps coming into the room woke him.

Lanie.

Not seeing him in the corner, she went straight to the baby bassinet. “Hey,” she said softly. “Look at you, you’re awake and being so good.”

The baby must have given her some reaction because she laughed softly, the sound tugging at Mark’s heart. He began to stand to let her know he was there, but she dragged a chair close and sat, leaning in to put her hand inside the bassinet.

She was as exhausted as the rest of them, he knew, or she’d have certainly noticed him in the corner. “If you can’t be with your mama right now,” she said quietly, “you should know that you’re in the best possible place. The Capriottis are . . . wonderful. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they’re nosy as hell and they’re going to be all up in your business all the time, but they . . .” She shook her head. “They work hard and they love even harder. All of them. They’ve been good to me, all of them, but especially Mark.”

The baby cooed at her.

“I know,” Lanie said on what sounded like a soggy laugh. “He’s smart and strong, inside and out. He’s a cop and was a soldier, so he’s also pretty badass— Wait, scratch that! That’s a bad word and I’m going to try real hard not to teach any of those to you.” She sighed. “He’s tough as nails on the outside; he’s had to be. But on the inside . . .” She shook her head. “He’s guarded. At first I thought we were alike there, but it turns out that he knows when to let down that guard and show what he’s made of. He’s steady, the calm in the storm . . . and he never lets a situation dictate his actions. He’s taught me so much,” she murmured. “And you probably think that this story is going one way, but it’s not. See, I imploded my whole life, my relationship with him included. I was so stupid. But you’re not going to be stupid, okay? You’re going to listen to all my mistakes and do better than me, right?”

The baby cooed again and she laughed softly. “Is it wrong of me to admit that I’m relieved that you look like your mama? Not that I’m ever going to talk bad about your daddy to you, that wouldn’t be right, but . . . I’m just glad you look like . . . well, you.”

The baby made another soft sound, like she was listening intently and trying to talk.

“I envy you, you know,” Lanie said. “Well, not that you still have to face middle and high school, but that you have a clean slate. You haven’t screwed up your life. You’ve got it all out in front of you with a mama who’s going to love and accept you, no matter what. Because that’s how she rolls, Delaney. She’s not going to spend your impressionable years resenting your presence. You’ll grow up cherished and adored, and that’s how it should be. And then someday you’ll let the right people in because you’ll know how. You’ll have great friends and family, and maybe you’ll even fall in love. And if you’re lucky, which you will be, that person will fall in love with you too. Not that you’ll need that love to complete your life. No, it’ll be more like . . . icing on the cake.”