“You must miss her very much.” Michelle touched his arm, bringing her eyes to his. “I know you’re not a hugger, but I never thought I’d see my daughter again and you brought her back to me, and you have no mother to tell you how remarkable of a man you are.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Can I please just—”

Diesel gathered her in his arms and embraced her.

“Thank you,” Michelle said through her tears, holding him tight. “Thank you for bringing my baby back.”

Diesel steeled himself against the emotions swamping him.

“So you are a hugger after all,” Tony said as Michelle stepped out of Diesel’s arms. “A selective hugger. Good timing, my friend. Good timing.”

They could thank Tracey for that.

“Hey, you guys! Come play with us!” Malia hollered, waving them out to the grass.

“Dad’s got steaks to grill,” Tony called out. “They ran me ragged, practicing this afternoon.”

“I’ll play! If you gentlemen will excuse me.” Michelle ran toward the girls.

“How about you, Unleaded?” Anna shouted, and the girls cracked up.

Tracey mouthed, Sorry, grinning like she was on top of the world.

Diesel chuckled and shook his head. “I think I’ll help grill those steaks.”

“Maybe later, then!” Malia ran off with Tracey and the others.

“She’s not going to let up,” Tony said.

“I’m not a soccer player.”

“She doesn’t care. When Malia wants something, she has a way of worming her way into your heart until you can’t help but give in.”

He looked at Tracey running around with her mother and stepsisters, laughing and teasing each other, and he couldn’t look away. “She reminds me of another special girl I know.”

MUCH LATER THAT night, after a wonderful dinner and an evening spent getting reacquainted with her mother and learning all there was to know about her new family, Tracey lay with Diesel in his bed at the clubhouse, basking in the aftermath of their lovemaking. The window was open, night sounds whispering through the curtains as she scrolled through the pictures she’d taken at her mother’s house. She was wearing Diesel’s shirt, but a gentle breeze chilled her bare legs, and she snuggled closer to her personal heater, clad only in his boxer briefs.

He kissed her head. “I’m going to start leaving the window open more often.”

“Sounds good to me.” She came to a picture of her mother and Tony sitting on the patio behind their house, holding hands. “Look how happy she is. She seems so much more relaxed than she used to be. I know a lot of that is because my father is gone and she’s no longer scared. But I think it’s also because of Tony and the girls. They’re good for her.”