“It’s all thanks to you. We don’t give the sperm donor any credit.”

Sarah laughed the way he hoped she would. “No, we don’t.”

“Have a good time tonight. I’ll see you later.”

“See you.”

Owen left his mother rocking on the front porch and stepped into the cool lobby, where one of the young women they’d hired to help during the summer managed the front desk. She smiled at him as he went by with Holden.

He went up the stairs to the third-floor apartment he shared with Laura and Holden. They were going to have to find a bigger place before the two new babies arrived early next year, but for now, their rooms at the hotel suited them. In truth, Owen would be sad to move out of the apartment where he’d fallen in love with Laura and lived so happily with her and Holden.

He used his key in the door and moved quietly inside the apartment, where Laura was enjoying an afternoon nap. She’d been so tired during her first trimester with the twins. As with Holden, she’d also suffered from horrible morning sickness that tended to go on for most of the day. That was another reason Owen wanted her to stay home when he went to Virginia.

Owen deposited Holden into his crib and pulled the lightweight blanket over him that his mother had crocheted. Sarah fussed over the baby like a proud grandmother. It didn’t matter to her, any more than it mattered to Owen, that another man had fathered him. Holden was his, and he was Sarah’s, too. There was nothing either of them wouldn’t do for him.

Before he left the baby to sleep, Owen bent over the crib to kiss his soft head. Closing the door behind him, he went into the bedroom he shared with Laura, who was curled up on her side, her blonde hair spread out on the pillow. Moving slowly so he wouldn’t disturb her, he stretched out next to her on the bed and tried to force himself to relax. However, relaxation of any kind would be all but impossible until they got through the trial that had been hanging over them for almost a year now.

He tried not to think about the worst-case scenario—that his father might actually be acquitted. But even if that unlikely outcome occurred, at least his mother had finally left him once and for all. Owen and his siblings had spent years pleading with her to leave, but she had always gone back—until this most recent blowup, after which she had finally ended the marriage for good. His father was now out of all their lives, or he would be before much longer.

Without opening her eyes, Laura reached out to him, her hand landing on his chest. “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing much. Just taking a break next to my favorite girl.”