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“You’ll get to do that,” he said, reaching for her hand. “We’re going to make this right, Dylan. All I need you to do is stop crying so much. You’re soaking all my good shirts.” She burst out laughing, staring at the weathered gray t-shirt. It had a strange logo on it, and she frowned.

“What is that? Is it something to do with Atlantis?” she asked. Ian smiled at the woman.

“No. It’s called a trident. I’m a Navy SEAL. Or at least I am for right now.”

“Are you leaving?”

“I might be retiring,” he said. She looked surprised, and he laughed. “Many men in Special Forces retire early in their careers. It’s a rough life, and it’s brutal on the body. We swim in open waters with sharks, gators, and crocodiles. We jump from planes. We ski across mountains. My joints are older than I am, and that’s not good.”

“I guess I can understand that,” she said, nodding. She took the seat across from him and shook her head. “I don’t remember anything about my parents. I don’t even remember seeing a lot of pictures of them.” Ian frowned, nodding at her.

“Did you ever dig into the plane crash?” he asked. She tilted her head, staring at him.

“No,” she said in a whisper. “That’s odd, isn’t it? Why didn’t I do that?”

“What did Hanz tell you?”

“He just said it was a plane crash while they were on a business trip. I was with the nanny at my parents’ home. He said when he heard, he immediately came and got me. I didn’t have any living relatives. I never questioned any of that.”

“You didn’t have a reason to. You believed he was doing the right thing for all the right reasons. Maybe, initially, he was,” shrugged Ian. “I’m not sure, but I know that we’ll be able to figure it all out.”

“I hope so. I finished the drawings of the house. I’m not much of an artist, but I hope it helps.” Ian nodded at her. “Speaking of, I do have a job here still. I think. I should get over to the cafeteria.”

“Actually, the team is taking care of everything until we get this settled. You just need to focus on you and Joey.” Ian stilled, swallowing as he said the name. “Joey. Is he named for someone?”

“No,” he said, shaking her head. “I just named him Joe because it felt like a strong name to me. Joe William, but I call him Joey.”

“J-Joe William?” repeated Ian.

“Yes. Is something wrong?” she asked.

“No,” he laughed. “I don’t think so. Except if you see a little white-haired elf running around here, let me know. We need to have a conversation.”

“Are you talking about Mama Irene? She’s wonderful!”

“Yes, she’s also very interesting,” he said slowly and carefully. Dylan tilted her head, staring at him. “Dylan, my grandfather’s name is Joe. And my middle name is William.”

“Well,” she said, coughing and shaking her head. “I mean, that’s purely coincidence. Right?”

“One thing you’ll learn here at Belle Fleur is that nothing is a coincidence. Nothing.” He looked down at his phone, seeing the text from the tech team. “Come on. It looks like the nerds have figured a few things out.” She nodded as he opened the front door for her. She stepped outside, then turned and stood on her toes, kissing his cheek.

“Thank you, Ian.”

Ian was still trying to figure out why her using his given name had nearly dropped him to his knees when his father gave a loud whistle, waving him toward the offices. He turned to see his great-grandmother smiling at him, and all he could do was laugh.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Dylan, the drawing you gave us was exceptional,” said Hiro. “You might have had a career as an artist or architect if these damn cookies weren’t so good.” She smiled at the handsome man, nodding.

“Thank you. It was something I learned in culinary school. Nothing beats real butter,” she said with a smile.

“Okay, so given the schematic we worked up, the most likely place for the baby would be here,” said Sly. “He wouldn’t want the baby close to him because if he cried, it would keep him up at night. You said he likes to sleep in. Babies do not like to sleep in.”

“That makes sense,” she said, nodding. “That was my childhood bedroom.”

“We’ve seen an older woman go in and out of the room,” said Sly. He showed the photo, and Dylan nodded at him.

“That was the woman with my baby in the apartment,” she said, shaking. Ian reached over, grabbing her hand. “I’ve never seen her before.”

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