Michelle acknowledged that with a nod.

Sarah tried to coax Nick out of his shyness. “Hey bud, want to give Emma her present?”

Nick looked up and handed the little girl in Michelle’s arms a bag.

“Thank you, Nick.” Michelle held the present in front of her little girl. “Emma, you got a present. Want to open it?” Emma stuck her little hand into the bag and pulled out the gift.

Emma showed it to her mom.

Michelle made big eyes at it for Emma’s benefit, then asked Sarah, “What’s this?”

“It’s one of my projects. An electronic children’s book with four stories. Push the button and the story will begin. You can switch it to game mode and the different-shaped buttons will rotate through saying the name of the shapes and the colors, and then it will play a song.”

Luke’s eyes went wide. “Sarah, you did that?”

“I came up with the idea when Jack was a baby. I finished it a few months ago and a toy manufacturer is putting it out at Christmas if I can get all the marketing material ready. This is one of four prototypes I had made. I wrote the stories and it’s my voice on the recording. I hope Emma likes it.”

Nick pointed to Jason and whispered into her ear, “Is he going to leave her alone, too?”

Sarah hugged him tight and looked him in his sad eyes. “Jason is big and strong like Luke. Nothing is going to happen to him. Okay?”

Luke cocked a brow. “What’s this about?”

She kept her voice low so Emma wouldn’t overhear her talk about her dad, even though she was preoccupied playing with her new toy on the couch with her mom.

“He wanted to know if Jason is going to die and leave Emma without a father, too.” She gave Jason a half smile. “I’m sorry. He has a hard time seeing other kids with their dads.” She rubbed her hand up and down Nick’s back. “Not all dads go away,” she assured him.

Luke put his hand on his father’s shoulder. “Hey Nick, this is my dad. He’s been with me and Jason our whole lives. Just like Jason will always be with Emma. And I want to be with you. Okay?”

Nick smiled at Luke. “Okay.”

Luke’s dad poked Nick in the belly. “I hear you’re really good at the race car game. I’m not as good as Luke and Jason, but how about a game?” James’s obvious love for the kids showed in his warm smile, and Nick responded: “I can totally kick your butt.” Nick jumped down from his mother’s arms and raced for Luke’s office with Jack on his heels and James following in the rear.

Jason spun around. “I want in on this.” And off he went to catch up with the boys and his dad.

Sarah shook her head. “I guess I don’t need to worry about the kids for a while.”

Lila tugged on Sarah’s arm. “Come into the kitchen. We’ll get you a glass of wine and get to know each other better.” Lila went ahead.