Page 128 of Yours and Mine (Friends with Benefits)

“And how is our little one?” He rubbed my belly, then crouched, kissing it though my dress. The baby kicked, and he smiled.

“He’s up.”

This baby was the exact opposite of Mackenzie. He’d started kicking two weeks ago and slept during the night, for which I was grateful, and was more active during the day. I dated our conception to the day of the fire, when I first made love to Nick after his return. He’d been excited about the pregnancy since we first found out. Actually, Nick was over the moon in love with my belly — he wanted to feel the baby’s every kick and had fulfilled every single one of my pickle cravings. We had jars of these, courtesy of Mrs. Clark, who could not stop thanking Nick for saving Carter. If he could have, he’d have gotten up in the middle of the night to pee for me as well.

I in turn would never be able to express my gratitude enough to Carter, who had saved our daughter.

I kissed Nick’s expectant lips when he stood back up, then pulled my finger over Mackenzie’sWelcome Homedrawing. She was now adding finishing touches on the flowers and butterflies she’d drawn. Carter was coming home today, and we’d planned a huge “welcome back” party at the Clark house. I’d had a special wooden plaque made for him from the only piece of unburnt wood that I’d found in the rubble, inscribed, “No fire can burn hot enough to destroy our family.”

“Do you think he’ll like it?” I asked Nick, pointing to the package.

“He’ll love it. And I found something else in the rubble as well.” Nick pulled out a rock from his pocket: his rock, with the scratched out “N.”

“What? How?”

“I went back after the investigation. It took a while to find it, but I did.” He set it on the table in front of Mackenzie.

“Daddy, this is our rock.”

“Yes, it is.”

“We should frame it.”

“I have a better idea. Why don’t we go to Pebble Beach and skip it? I think it’s time for this little stone to hit some new records.”

I couldn’t remember the last time we went stone skipping, and with the few days that we had left of this beautiful fall weather, I was looking forward to making use of it before the party.

“Maybe I should change out of this dress. It feels too fancy,” I said. Last week, I’d gone shopping in the city with Marge, and she’d insisted on buying the white summer dress for me. It had beautiful white floral patterns and right now, at least, it fit perfectly.

“You look beautiful, and it’s a special occasion, isn’t it? Carter’s finally coming back.”

“Yes, you’re right. It is special.”

“And if he wants to move in here for a while, he’s very welcome to. Our home is his home.”

“Thank you for saying that, but last I heard, Molly was taking him into her house. She finished her residency.”

“Is she really giving up the hospital for him?” After becoming a nurse, Molly had decided to be a doctor.

“She said she’s gaining much more by moving back. And Doctor Burke will be retiring soon, so she’ll be the only other doctor in town.”

“Come on, Mackenzie, put your dress on as well.” Nick winked to her and she winked back. I’d never seen them do that before. Nick then leaned into me, whispering, “I hope you don’t mind, but I bought a special dress for her as well.”

“You bought a dress?”

“Yes. Mom helped.”

On any normal day, I would have questioned the gesture, but given that we’d lost all of our possessions in the fire, we’d been slowly catching up each week with clothes, toys and other items that we still needed for the house.

When Mackenzie came downstairs, she was glowing. Her smile stretched wide, just like her father’s when he smiled.

“Looks like Daddy is good at picking dresses. Uncle Carter’s not going to recognize this big girl.”

“It’s a special dress.”

“Yes, it is. Come on, let’s get going.”

“Daddy, can I pick some flowers for Uncle Carter?” Mackenzie asked, and winked at him again. It looked like this was a new thing between the two of them. Seeing the growing bond fused the broken pieces of my heart like crazy glue.

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