Sonny’s chuckle came from down deep in his chest. “Aren’t they all? I’ve got a feeling this is more about you than it is about Stevie.”

Cody nodded. “Dad, am I too old to think about starting a family? I’m almost forty.”

“I thought that might be what was worrying you,” Sonny said. “I wondered the same thing when we adopted you and Lucas, and it was for nothing. I wasn’t a young whippersnapper when we got you boys. Sometimes a little age comes with a lot of wisdom when it comes to raisin’ kids.”

“Well, us three boys sure had a good role model, so I hope you are right,” Cody said and closed the door.

When he had showered, shaved, and gotten dressed in fresh jeans and a plaid shirt, he came out of the bathroom to find Sonny leaning on his cane.

“I thought maybe you’d drowned in there, son,” he said. “Now I see you were just primping for Stevie.”

“Maybe I was hoping for a beautiful nurse at the doctor’s office where we’re going,” Cody teased.

“Son, it don’t take a genius to see that since you and Stevie were stranded you’ve got blinders on when it comes to any other woman,” Sonny told him. “I’ve gathered up all my stuff. Get yours together, and we won’t have to come back up here when we finish breakfast.”

“Yes, sir,” Cody saluted.

Sonny shook a finger at him. “Don’t be a smart-ass, or I’ll whoop on you with this cane.”

“You haven’t lost your sense of humor,” Cody said as he put all his things in his duffel bag, and then picked up his father’s small suitcase.

“Who says I’m teasing?” Sonny’s old eyes sparkled.

*  *  *

Stevie awoke on Thursday morning after dreaming about kangaroos and emus all night. Her roommate in college had told her that dreams were an omen of things to come. As she put on a pot of coffee and unwrapped a miniature Mr. Goodbar that morning, she wondered if the omen was telling her that she should go, or if it was warning her to stay in Texas. She had binge-watched McLeod’s Daughters after her mother’s death, and remembered an episode about emus—or was it another bird something like them?—that invaded the countryside every so often. Were her dreams telling her to stay away from Australia?