Clare gasped. “What are you doing here?” Had anyone ever looked so good?

“Jill called me. I got here as fast as I could.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Tell me she’s okay.”

Clare clung to him, wallowing in the familiar scent of sawdust and cologne. “She will be.” As she said the words, she felt the tension ebb from his big frame.

He released a ragged sigh. “That was the longest five hours ever,” he said, still holding her close to him.

“I can’t believe you’re here. I’ve missed you so much.”

“Me, too.” He brushed a light kiss over her lips. “Can I see Maggie?”

Clare looked into Maggie’s room, where the nurses were settling her against fresh pillows. “In a minute. They’re almost done.”

“I have stuff I need to tell you.”

“What kind of stuff?”

He shook his head in dismay at the sight of Maggie with the big casts and the pale face. “I realized something in the last five hours when I didn’t know if that little girl I love so much would be alive when I got here.”

Clare couldn’t take her eyes off him. “What did you realize?”

“I’m already a father.” His eyes were riveted to Maggie as he spoke. “Maybe it’s just a stepfather, but I can’t imagine any father could’ve been more scared than I was when I heard about what happened to her. You and those girls of yours are already mine.”

Clare’s eyes stung with tears. “Aidan.”

“You were right, Clare,” he said, focused now on her. “I do have it in me. I’m sorry I was such a fool and that it took something like this for me to see it.”

She tugged him down and kissed him hard. “Do you remember the question you asked me that last night at your house?”

Wincing at the memory, he nodded.

“I’d like to change my answer.”

Epilogue

“Aidan, hurry up,” Clare called up the stairs. “It’s on!”

“We’re coming,” he said from upstairs.

Clare put out a big bowl of popcorn, opened a Sam Adams for Aidan and a light beer for herself. The TV was tuned to the Academy of Country Music Awards on Country Music Television.

Aidan came downstairs carrying their son, Max. “Someone didn’t want to get out of the tub.”

“Give me that boy.” Clare held out her arms and breathed in the scent of baby shampoo coming from Max’s soft coffee-colored skin and curly dark hair. His big brown eyes danced when she tickled him.

Max pointed to the television. “Kate!” he squealed. He was almost three and smart, funny, and so full of joy.

“There she is!” Aidan said with a big smile as they watched Kate alight from a limo with Buddy and Taylor. “She looks amazing.”