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I nod soberly. “It could happen.”

“But I could get a brother?” he clarifies.

I nod. Owen considers.

“Okay, I think we should do it.”

I chuckle, because this kid is gut-busting hilarious some days. “Worth the gamble, eh?”

“Yeah!” Owen grins.

“What’s worth the gamble?” We both swing our heads to see Faye leaning into the door, arms folded over her chest, looking beautiful.

She always looks beautiful.

“A new baby!” Owen bounces in his bed as he clutches his alligator to his chest. His big eyes are bright with the kind of innocence that only a child can know. It’s an innocence I never want to see die, even as I am honored to watch him grow into the man, he will one day become.

Faye’s brows arch high. “A what-now?”

“I want a little brother,” Owen tells her decidedly. “I want to be a big brother, like Daddy.”

Faye sucks in a sharp breath as the memory of Holt assaults her unexpectedly. “Oh.” She peels herself from the door, tucking her hair behind her ear as she steps into the room. “Well, you know that’s not exactly how that works.”

“I know.” Owen shrugs. “Daddy already told me I might get a sister.”

“It’s a possibility,” Faye says, but there’s a twitch to her lips at the pinched expression Owen wears.

“That’s okay.” Owen sighs, like he doesn’t fully believe his own words. “I guess.”

This kid cracks me up.

Faye smiles softly. “That’s very mature.”

Owen beams under the praise. “Can we do it then? Can we get one?”

Faye laughs softly as her eyes drift to me. “That’s not exactly how it works, either. We can’t just get one.”

“How does it work?” Owen’s brows pull together.

I sit up, leaning in to press a goodnight kiss to his forehead. “That’s for another time, little man.”

“Tomorrow?”

If there’s another child this hungry for information, I’ve never met them.

I shake my head at the hope in his eyes. “Give it another sixteen years.”

“Sixteen!” Faye bumps me with her shoulder. “Isn’t that a little hopeful?”

“Let me live in my delusion,” I mutter, watching as she bends to pull our son into her arms. She hugs him tightly, whispering all her love into his ear before she presses her lips to his temple.

My heart swells, because despite all my fantasies, I never truly imagined this would be my life. It still shocks me even today, that I get to be the man who gets them.

But this is my life.

This sweet, slow life of quiet dreams and tender moments is my life.

“Night, little man,” I say at the door as Owen snuggles his alligator tighter.