“Her bed is bigger. My feet hang off the end of your bed.” Stacey stood, clearing away some dishes as she did. “I do wear your clothes when I’m there, though, baby.” She winked.

Kensey put her hands over her mouth and laughed.

“Have you eaten? The fridge is full of stuff left over from yesterday but I can scramble you a few eggs if you’d rather,” Kelly asked him.

His wariness eased away as his smile deepened, took root and made her slightly dizzy. “I’m going to have a doughnut with some coffee and see where I go from there. My parents went home last night but they called me twenty minutes ago and said they were leaving the ranch.”

“They’re welcome here after we handle Maddie’s discharge.” Hopefully for a short period of time. Maddie would need rest and quiet, not a house full of her relatives.

“Much appreciated. I figure everyone can come by here, see that Maddie is safely tucked in and happy and then they’ll all go. I asked my brothers to stay home today. They’d like to visit her this week sometime, but I’ll coordinate that with you first.”

Kelly eyed him carefully. That was pretty thoughtful of him, and of them. “Of course. She loves to see her uncles, you know that. She can’t stop talking about Mary and Damien’s baby and how they’ll have a new cousin to play with.”

Kensey cleared her dishes and danced past her parents. About 70 percent of the time, their youngest child didn’t bother to walk or skip or run to get around; she pranced and leaped; she shimmied and pirouetted. Kensey had been a dancer even before she could walk. “Auntie Stacey, will you fix my hair?”

Stacey nodded. “Yes, that would be awesome.” Hand in hand, the two headed back upstairs, leaving Vaughan and Kelly alone.

* * *

“HOW DO YOU want to do this?” Vaughan asked her. “I’d like it if it could be just you and me at the hospital. Okay?”

“No Sharon and Michael?”

He shook his head. “No Ross, either.”

She gave him a look, suspicion at the edges. “Why?”

“I want to be a little selfish, okay? I want to be the one who carries her in from the car. The one to bring her to her bed so you can tuck her in.” He paused. “Please?” Vaughan knew Ross spent more time with his daughters than he did. But he’d decided the night before to end that. To not only win his family back, but to deserve them, too.

Kelly blew out a breath. “All right. It’s a fair request. As long as it’s just you and I.”

Licking his lips, Vaughan searched for the right words. “I’m sorry about a lot of things. I wasn’t specific yesterday and I can’t really be right now. But I’m working on it. I made so many mistakes. I promise you my mother will behave. But she’ll do it from here. They already promised they wouldn’t stay a long time. They appreciate your being so welcoming to them.”

The rift between his mother and the mother of his children had come from him. It had grown to epic proportions and then settled into painfully precise civility.

He hated knowing Kelly had to be wary of an attack from his mother. Sharon Hurley wanted to protect her family so she’d reacted defensively from the start.

She’d never given Kelly a chance, and their split had only made things worse.

Kelly shook her head. “I don’t want to go into that right now. I have enough to manage at the moment.”

“Fair enough.” Vaughan finished the second doughnut and dusted the sugar from his hands. “One more thing. I know it’s going to take a week to two weeks for Maddie to recover totally. I’d like to be around as she recuperates. I want to be with them both more. I’ve missed a lot. I don’t want to... I’m here and this is what dads should be for. I’ll stay in my place in Portland and commute here. Help with school and stuff. I know you work at your store while the girls are in school so I can be here while you do that. I want, very much, to be a better, more involved father. I want them both to count on me to make things better.”

He wanted her to have that, too.

Vaughan took in the way the sun hit her back, the gold in her hair gleaming in the light. She wore it up in a ponytail. Not wearing much makeup, she was casual in jeans and a bright blue shirt and sandals. And yet she made it elegant. Something about her always made him think about expensive champagne. She seemed to sizzle on his tongue and then wisp away.

He knew she smelled of the same perfume she’d worn since he met her. Chanel No. 5.

Their daughters had her tall, blonde looks. Blue eyes, though closer to the green of Vaughan’s than their mother’s deep ocean blue. They had the same grace Kelly carried herself with.

Kelly spoke again, catching his attention. “Maddie would really love that. Both girls would love having you around more. But your condo is nearly as far away—given traffic—as your place at the ranch is.” She twisted her ring a moment. “If you really want to do this, I have a guest room with a bathroom attached. You can stay there for the next few weeks.”

“Really?” Being here would put him close to them. He wouldn’t go to bed every night in another place, hoping for a phone call to update him. He’d be there for them. All three of them. He could help and get to know Kelly all over again and hopefully prove that he’d changed while he was at it.

“Yeah, of course.” She nodded.

“That would be great. Thank you so much. Really. This means a lot.”