“They probably will, but we’ll deal with it. Their anger or hurt won’t last forever. They’ll forgive us. You’re a great father, and any child would be lucky to have you in their life.”

“I could say the same about you. Let’s do this.”

I slid off the bed and held out my hand to him. He took a moment to survey my naked body with a naughty smile.

“What is it we’re doing?” he joked, easing the tension slightly. I swatted at him. He caught my hand in his and kissed my knuckles.

I pulled away. “No more good stuff until we’re done with the not-so-good stuff.”

He sighed and stood, stretching his magnificent body and reaching for his clothes.

We showered and dressed. As hard as it was not to linger in the shower, we didn’t. We had a mission, and we were both committed to our mission.

The kids didn’t bat an eye when Easton and I walked out of the bedroom that morning. I’m not sure they understood what was going on, but they seemed okay with it. Junie was making breakfast, and the smell of bacon made my stomach growl.

After breakfast, we sat the kids down at the dining room table. Junie, guessing something big was going on, made herself scarce.

Heath sipped his juice and studied us with a solemn face, too serious for a kid his age. Hailey jabbered away, talking about her riding lessons, the pony she rode, her figure-skating routine, and a kid in her daycare she didn’t like.

I held up a hand and smiled gently at her. “Hailey, honey, I need to you to be quiet and listen for a moment. Easton and I have something very important to tell you.”

Hailey stopped in mid-sentence, her mouth forming a big O. She clasped her hands on the table in front of her and nodded, also serious for once.

I met Easton’s gaze, and he squeezed my hand under the table. Turning back to my babies, I drew a deep breath and dived in. “There’s no easy way to tell you this. Your dad, Mark, was a really good dad, and I never want to take that away from you, but the truth is that you have another dad.” I paused, trying to find the words that six-year-olds would understand and coming up short. Both children stared at me with twin expressions of confusion.

“Like Julie at school has two dads? One is her stepdad, whatever that means,” Hailey asked.

“No, not exactly. Easton is your father, your biological father. Mark was my husband and was also your father because of love, but not physically.” I didn’t know if what I was saying was over their heads or not.

“If Easton is our real father, why didn’t we know until now?” Heath scowled and his eyes narrowed as he glared at me. My son was not happy.

Oh, God, this was difficult. “Easton and I knew each other years ago. I thought Mark was your biological father, but after he died, we did tests, and I found out Easton was.”