Ed pursed his lips, but Christian just narrowed his eyes.

“Depends. You got a kid you didn’t know about?”

Christian laughed. “Not that I know. How far back can you go?”

“If it’s further than ten years, we have to order up charts. What’s this about?”

Ed didn’t like this, but there was something about wanting to know himself that kept him from stopping Christian.

“Darcy came to Nashville to find her birth parents. She was born in Nashville General.”

“Really?”

“What can you do?”

Curtis shrugged. “I could look her up. What’s her full name and birthdate?”

Ed winced before he spoke. “Darcy Ann McCary.”

“And her parents were here when she was born? They are the ones on her birth certificate?”

“Yes.”

Curtis reached into the pocket of his jacket and took out a note pad. He wrote down her name. “What are her parents’ names?”

“George and Francis McCary.”

Curtis nodded. “What date?”

“August twenty-first. Twenty-five years ago.”

Curtis stopped writing. “Really?”

“Yeah, why?”

He shook his head. “No reason.” He tucked the note pad back into his coat. “I can’t even start to get this processed until Monday. And my ass is on the line if I give you the info. So as far as you know, you don’t know. Got it?”

Both Ed and Christian nodded.

“But if the mother died in child birth then I don’t really see a problem. You might have the information by Tuesday, if you were looking at giving it to her for her birthday.”

Christian grinned. “Yep. I thought that would be the perfect present.”

Ed wasn’t so sure.

Darcy had been asleep when Ed had crawled into bed with her. She was so comfortable with him around her that it never fazed her when she heard him come in.

This would be what it was like, she thought as morning broke and the deep breaths of the man she loved were the only sounds. It would be them, in their bed, waking as man and wife. She wondered when he would actually ask her to marry him. He’d hinted to it enough. There was time, she reminded herself as she moved closer into Ed’s sleeping embrace.

By ten o’clock, Ed had finally stumbled out of the bedroom. He raked his fingers through his thick hair.

“What are you doing?” he asked as he looked down at Darcy, who was now sitting on the floor surrounded by boxes.

“I’m going through all the stuff my father sent me home with. My mother saved all of this for me, and now I have to decide what to do with it.”

“What is it?”

“I would assume this is my hope chest.”

Ed rubbed the back of his neck. “As in someday you hope to get married and here are things for your house?”

“Yep. There are tea-towels that my grandmother, whom I never met, cross-stitched. Some silver spoons. No forks, just silver spoons. Linens, table cloths, and a box of mismatched china plates.”

Ed nodded. “Can’t beat eclectic.”

Darcy laughed. Eclectic. That word seemed to sum up her life. Not only had her past been an eclectic tide of military-base houses, schools and friends, but now she was becoming part of a family, which in its own right was eclectic.

When she thought about his family, she thought about the tattoo they were going to get for her.

“Do you think that tattoo place is open now?”

Ed shrugged. “I don’t know. But how about I run home, get a shower and some clean clothes, and I’ll pick you up for lunch and we can go after.”

Darcy smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

Three hours later, Darcy was having second thoughts. She was seated in the tattoo parlor with her arm stretched out. They had already drawn the outline that the man, bald and tattooed on every part of his body, had put down. Ed held tight to her other hand as the whir of the tattoo pen started.

The moment the pen touched her arm, she gritted her teeth and gripped tighter to Ed’s hand. She’d never felt such pain. Tears welled in her eyes, and she squeezed them shut. This pain would be over soon, but the precious meaning behind the tattoo would last forever.

“You’re doing great,” Ed said as the word family was formed on her arm.

“Why do people do this?” she whispered as she winced.

“To make it forever.”

His voice was soft over the whir of the pen, and suddenly, it didn’t hurt anymore. The pain was nothing in comparison to the meaning.

It seemed like it had been hours, but in no time, she was marked for life. The dark ink against the red swollen skin was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

“I can’t believe I did that. My mother is probably giving God an earful right now.”

Ed laughed. “I think it looks wonderful. I can’t wait for my mother to see it.”

“Why?”

“This design was all her idea. Just like shaving our heads, I don’t think she thought we’d all follow suit.”

Darcy held her arm, as if she’d smudge the art work under the loose piece of gauze, as they left the parlor. She looked at him. “What did you mean you shaved your head?”

Ed opened the door to his truck and helped her in. Then he walked around to the other side before he answered. “When Mom started losing her hair, my dad shaved it off. Then he told her to shave his. She wouldn’t do it. So he took the clippers down the center of his head.”

Darcy laughed out loud. “He did not.”

“Yep. Then he told her she had to finish it.”

“Oh,” the tears began to fall, “that is beautiful.”

Ed started the truck and pulled out of the lot. “We all got home as they were in the bathroom laughing. So I sat down and made her shave my head.”

Darcy reached over and placed her hand on his arm. “That is precious.”

“Well, Clara and Christian chickened out.”

She laughed. “Christian did? I wouldn’t think that was his style.”

“Back then it was.” He turned the corner. “Anyway, it was when Dad was engaged to Kathy. She was not impressed, but I’m glad he did it. It meant the world to Mom.”

“And that was why you all got that tattoo?”

Ed smiled. “Yeah. She said she was going to do it, and we all showed up. She cried the whole time.”