A Family Come True. Kris Fletcher

back. “Easy, girl. Everything’s fine.”

      She continued to glare at Xander. A fraction of the rigidness eased from her stance, but she didn’t move. No doubt she was waiting for some sort of signal. In that case Xander was screwed, because Ian was pretty sure that the only messages Lulu might pick up from him were ones of frustrated protectiveness.

      Unless...

      Unless maybe he gave Lulu a reason to think that she could stand down because he was stepping up.

      He straightened slowly and caught Darcy’s attention—not difficult, as she seemed transfixed by the dog. Certain he couldn’t be seen by Xander behind him, Ian tapped his chest.

      Trust me, he mouthed.

      She didn’t nod or move, but like Lulu, some of the tension seeped from her shoulders. Message received.

      He petted Lulu again, gave her a “good girl” and then—slowly, deliberately—pushed runaway cinnamon curls behind Darcy’s ear.

      Behind him, he was pretty sure he heard Xander choke.

      Darcy’s eyes flickered to meet his gaze, her expression changing from confusion to acceptance in the literal blink of an eye.

      Lulu dropped to her haunches.

      Encouraged, Ian shifted to face Xander while taking a step back and sliding his arm around Darcy’s waist. She barely hesitated before snuggling against his side, soft and warm and a whole lot more pliant than was good for his long-deprived body.

      Damn. This might not have been such a smart idea after all.

      But Lulu had stopped glaring, and Xander’s jaw seemed about ready to hit the pavement, so Ian counted this as a win.

      “Wait a minute.” Xander’s laugh brimmed with disbelief. “Are you telling me that the two of you...?”

      “I don’t know why you seem so surprised.” Ian placed a possessive hand on Cady’s arm.

      “But you said...”

      Ian was well aware of what he had said when Xander asked him two summers ago if Ian had any designs on his landlady. Ian’s “Are you out of your tree?” had been equal parts She’s involved with someone else and I just got dumped by my fiancée, dumbass.

      “Yeah, well, that was then. This is now.”

      Darcy set Cady on the ground, straightened, then reached around his back and hooked her thumb ever-so-casually in the waistband of his jeans. His pulse spiked. Oh, hell.

      She tilted her head to rest against his shoulder. “I didn’t have a lot of experience with babies, and Ian had helped with his niece so he kind of taught me what to do, and I started relying on him more and more, and the next thing you know he was spending more time in the house with me than in his apartment over the garage. And then it was like— Well, I guess I don’t need to spell it all out.”

      All true, but damn. When she said it with that little laugh in her voice he could almost believe it himself.

      “Yeah. I guess so.” Xander shook his head. “Look, it’s been a hell of a day, and I’ve already been here longer than I planned.”

      That’s right, Xander. Leave. Now.

      “But I...” Xander glanced at Ian and Darcy once more, and then shifted his focus to Cady pulling herself upright on Ian’s leg.

      “Could I hold her?”

      Ian glanced at Darcy, who bit her lip but gave a quick nod.

      Damn it. Why did Xander have to come back and put her through this?

      “If she fusses don’t take it personally,” she said as Ian pried Cady from his calf and handed her to Xander. “She doesn’t meet too many new people, so she’s kind of shy with strangers.”

      Xander held Cady at arm’s length for a breath or two before pulling her closer. His elbows stuck out at an awkward angle, his knees seemed frozen in position and his face held a mix of terror and reverence.

      “But I’m not a stranger,” he said, directing the words to Cady. “I’m your dad.”

      Ian reached for Darcy’s hand, lacing his fingers through her clammy ones. Her smile was determined but he saw the fear in her eyes.

      Cady reared back, staring at Xander’s face without blinking. A hint of a smile lit his face.

      “You look like my little sister,” he said softly. “Bethie. I guess she’s your aunt Bethie.”

      Ian hid his wince. Darcy—no doubt motivated by her own status as a lonely only child—had mentioned more than once that she wished Cady had a big extended family to dote on her and shower her with frilly pink things and make her feel as though she was the most amazing thing on the planet. Still, he was pretty sure this wasn’t the way she would have chosen to add to Cady’s relative count.

      “So, does she talk?” Xander asked. “Or walk or...? I don’t know much about babies, either. Nothing, really.” His laugh was a little stronger, if rueful. “Maybe you’ll need to teach me, too, Ian.”

      Darcy opened her mouth, but no words came out. Ian rubbed the small of her back. This had to be killing her.

      Ian had been still digging himself out of the mess his own life had become when he’d realized she was pregnant. He hadn’t had a lot left over to focus on anyone else’s problems.

      But then it had become obvious that Jonathan—the supposed father—wasn’t in the picture. And Darcy’s own mother had reluctantly agreed that pregnancy and a baby were not compatible with the work she needed Darcy to do. Darcy had put on a brave front while slowly developing a crease in her forehead that had rivaled her belly for size.

      Still, it wasn’t until after Cady’s birth that he’d put it all together. He’d come home from work one hot afternoon in late June and found Darcy huddled under the umbrella he’d installed, shaking with silent sobs while Cady slept in her arms. For the first time it had hit him how alone she was, how lost and scared she must have felt.

      He had taken the baby and ordered Darcy to get some sleep. And somewhere in the year that followed, he’d figured out that Darcy wasn’t the only one who had benefited from his involvement.

      His issues didn’t matter at this moment. Right now his job was to step up and get them through this. The rest could wait.

      “Oh, Cady isn’t shy about letting anyone know what she can do,” he said to Xander. “She doesn’t walk by herself yet, but she pulls up on furniture—”

      “And legs,” Darcy added softly.

      “And then she cruises. You know, pulls herself sideways,” he added in response to Xander’s blank look. “She can crawl faster than Lulu can run, though she’s letting up on that.”

      “She has a couple of words.” Darcy’s voice shook a little, but there was an underlying determination that made him want to cheer for her. “She says Mum mum, and Eeeee, which I—we—think means Ian. And Ru for Lulu, though we don’t know if she’s trying to say her name or imitate the sound of barking.”

      “You sound like a smart one, Cadence Joy.”

      The pride and wonder in Xander’s voice made Ian pull Darcy tighter against his side. She molded herself to him. He was pretty sure that this time she wasn’t seeking to deceive Xander as much as to hold herself up. Didn’t matter to him. As long as he was helping he didn’t much care about the details.

      But he couldn’t help but notice how perfectly she fit against him.

       Absolutely normal. Proof you’re over Taylor. Biology reminding you that you’re still alive.

      It had been hard enough to make himself swallow that line the past few months, noticing Darcy from a distance.