I giggled at the ceiling, my head tilted onto the back of Axel’s extremely comfortable couch. “That’s because she insisted on riding on your shoulders for the past five hours, and she held onto your hair the whole time. It always happens. I take her somewhere, and she’s raring to go, but within a couple of hours, her feet inevitably hurt, and I have to carry her.”

He rolled his head toward me and asked, “You usually do that all by yourself?”

I shrugged. “Sure, whenever I have a day off and Evan is at work. But I’ve had almost five years to get used to it while you, sir, are still a rookie,” I told him, poking him in the shoulder with my finger. I was teasing him, but I couldn’t keep the deep niggling doubts from worming their way into my brain.

Would he start distancing himself now that he knew how much work “one forty-pound little girl” could be? And this was just a day at the zoo. He had yet to experience all the daily tasks that went into raising a child, which could seem like my own personal zoo at times. Waking her up, feeding her, preschool, bath time, bedtime, pediatrician appointments, martial arts lessons, cuddle time, activities, babysitters, shopping for clothes and shoes when she outgrew them every five damn minutes. I was surprised he hadn’t already run away, screaming for mercy, and he’d only had a small taste of parenthood.

I glanced at Axel, and he was smiling up at the ceiling. He lifted his head off the back of the couch and scooted closer to me. “You, sweetheart, are Super Mom. You’re perfect,” he said, leaning over me and cupping my face.

“Ha! I feel like an utter failure at least once a day. I feel so guilty when I have to leave her to go to work, but at least I have a great support system. I’m fortunate that my brother wanted to move back here after he left the navy, so I depend on him and the guys a lot whenever Evan is out of town. In fact, Ev left this afternoon to go back to California, and I have some overnight shifts this week. Carrie stays at Beau’s when that happens. She loves it over there, but I still feel guilty.”

“Don’t. You have raised the most amazing kid I’ve ever met, Blaire. She’s so happy, and you have nothing to feel guilty about. You’re teaching our daughter what a strong woman is supposed to look like.”

Wow. Just… wow.