I opened the door to a smiling so much he was nearly laughing Detective Mitch Lawson.

Full on belly whoosh.

“Hey,” I said, standing between the doorframe and the door.

“Hey,” he replied, not standing but moving toward me.

Seeing as I didn’t move, his hand went to my belly at the last minute. He gently shoved me inside as he came inside with me.

“Hey Mitch,” Billy, who’d kept his seat at the bar, called.

“Hey Billy,” Mitch answered, shutting the door behind him. “Did I miss breakfast?” he asked and my lungs seized.

“No!” Billie shouted. “We were just deciding what to have!”

“Eggs,” Mitch decided for everyone and I stood where I was, watching him move into the kitchen. Then I stayed where I was as I watched him move around the kitchen talking to the kids, pouring himself a cup of coffee, opening and closing cupboards, getting stuff out and lastly and most scarily, making himself at home.

Woodenly, I walked to the kitchen, stopped by the end of the counter and asked, “What are you doing?”

He had the eggs, bread and a bowl out and he didn’t even look at me when he replied, “Makin’ breakfast.” I opened my mouth to protest but he kept talking. “Do me a favor, sweetheart, put in some toast.”

My mouth was still open. I started to form words when his beautiful eyes came to me and my breath got caught in my throat.

“What hours do you work today?” he asked.

I blinked then answered, “I’m on late shifts this week. Noon to nine…now, Mitch –”

“I’m takin’ the kids to school,” he announced, cutting me off and looking down at the bowl into which he started cracking eggs. “I gotta talk to the people in the office. I’ll pick them up this afternoon and take them to Ma.”

“Ma?” I breathed and he tossed some eggshells into the sink and looked at me.

“Yeah, my Ma. She works part-time at my sister’s shop. I called her last night. Her schedule is flexible. I’ll pick them up, take them to her place, get them after I’m done at work and I’ll hang here with them until you get home. You’ll need to give me a set of keys.”

I swallowed. Then I whispered, “Keys?”

“Keys,” he nodded, his eyes swept me up and down and then quietly he said, “Baby, toast.”

My body jolted, my gaze slid to the kids who were watching this avidly before I went to the bread, put down my mug and pulled the toaster away from the wall.

Then I pulled myself together and started, “Mitch –”

“You need to talk to your boss,” he told me.

“I know,” I replied. “But Mitch –”

“And friends,” he interrupted. “Child Protective Services are gonna talk to everyone you know. They should have a head’s up. You’ll need to get school runs sorted and have somethin’ set up for afterschool and weekend days you work. I’ll do what I can. Ma said she’d do what she can. LaTanya works only twenty hours a week and she’ll probably pitch in. Bray’s hours are like yours so he can probably help out. But that’s short-term. Long-term, you’re gonna need to get childcare sorted out. With me?”

Wow, he’d thought about this more than me.

“Um…” I mumbled.

“They’ll also inspect this place,” Mitch went on. “You’ll need beds. They’ll talk to you and they’ll set you up with foster parent classes. I’ll stop by the Management Office and see if they got any townhomes open. The kids need more space but you do this, you need to be close to your posse and they got a block of townhomes across the creek.”

“Mitch –”

He dumped the scrambled eggs into the waiting melted butter in the skillet and looked at me. “Get the butter and jelly, baby.”

I moved to the fridge to get the butter and jelly. And I did this mostly because if he told me to throw myself in front of a train, but did it adding the word “baby”, I would have done it. I put the butter and all three jars of jelly on the bar in front of the kids, turned to Mitch and the toast popped up. So I grabbed the butter, slid down the counter to open a drawer and get a knife. I pulled out the toast, put in more bread and started spreading butter.

“Maybe we should talk about this when the kids –” I began.

“They gotta eat and they gotta get to school,” Mitch cut me off again, moving the cooking eggs around the skillet. “You also gotta look into changing their school when all this is formalized. They’ll need to be moved to a school closer to home.”

“Are we movin’ in with you, Auntie Mara?” Billie asked, her tone slightly confused and I turned to her.

Then I pressed my lips together because her face looked slightly confused too and I preferred Billie looking happy and carefree.

“Yeah, honey, I hope so. Your Daddy needs to sort a few things out,” I told her quietly.

She stared at me uncertain and I didn’t like that either.

“I think it’s cool,” Billy put in. “Auntie Mara’s house is clean. Bray and Brent and Derek and LaTanya and Mitch all live close by and she’s always got food.”

Billie’s teeth started worrying her lip as she studied her brother. Then she asked, “But who’s gonna stay with Daddy?”

“Who cares?” Billy asked back and I moved to the counter.

“Billie,” I called and her worried eyes moved to mine. I leaned into my forearms on the counter. “I know you’re worried about your Daddy but he’s an adult so he needs to worry about himself,” I told her. “You’re a kid and that means, while you’re a kid, someone’s supposed to worry about you, take care of you, make sure you have food in your belly and shampoo for your hair.” I got up on my toes and leaned closer to her as my voice dipped quiet. “I love you, baby, and I want that person to be me. I want to make sure you’re always okay and not have to worry that you aren’t eating and your clothes aren’t clean. And the only way for me not to have to worry about that is for me to take care of you myself. If your Daddy gets himself sorted out, we’ll see. But in the meantime will you let me do that for you? Make sure you have shampoo, food and someone to look out for you? Is that okay with you?”