The two of them walked out the bedroom door together, Easton’s big hand engulfing her small one. Heath stared at me momentarily, and I feared he saw too much with those old eyes of his. Without a word, he trailed out the door after them.

My stomach clenched into a tight knot. Only then did I recognize the emotion sliding through me like a snake through the grass.

I was afraid of losing my kids to their father.

~~Easton~~

I didn’t stay long, ever mindful of taking my relationship with my kids one step at a time and navigating the minefield of dealing with Caro. She’d turned cold again when I’d gone back to the living room. Fuck if I knew what I’d done this time to piss her off.

I might as well not agonize over her feelings since I couldn’t please her anyway. This was about me and my kids. Not her. Worrying about her feelings would only get in the way of what I wanted for the twins and me, as it was obvious Caro didn’t want it.

I played one game with chatty Hailey while Heath stayed in the background, never saying a word and always watching. I learned Hailey loved the color pink—no surprise there—wanted a pony in the worst way, was able to read to herself, hated Brussels sprouts—that we had in common—and loved to ice-skate. She was working on her spins. She was all girl, but she had my competitive spirit.

My attempts to draw Heath into the conversation failed miserably. He would shrug and say nothing. A glance at their hovering mother indicated she didn’t have any better luck than me. In fact, I recalled she’d mentioned he’d been noncommunicative since his father died, except for when he was playing hockey.

Yeah, they were my kids. Genetics played a much larger role in our personalities than humans cared to admit. The twins hadn’t been raised around me, yet each of them had aspects of my personality, for example, their love of all things skating.

I let myself into my condo. Kaden was sprawled on one side of the sectional couch, eating as usual and watching the Food Channel. He had his phone in one hand as he popped buffalo wings into his mouth with the other. Steele was on his laptop, oblivious to the rest of the world.

They both looked up as I walked in and threw myself down on the middle piece of the huge sectional. I was grinning from ear to ear. I couldn’t help myself. I’d spent time, however brief, with my kids—my flesh and blood.

“Must’ve gone well?” Kaden licked his fingers and wiped them on a paper towel. He held the bowl of wings out to me, and I gladly snagged a few.

“Fucking incredible. I’m a dad. Guys, I’m a dad.” With a chicken wing in each hand, I used them to punctuate every syllable.

“I find that scary as shit, but I’m happy for you. If one of my ladies told me I had a baby, I’d be freaking out,” Kaden said.