The Firefighter Daddy. Margaret Daley

did, although sometimes he wished she didn’t, especially when she would point out that he wasn’t her dad. He’d tried not to let those words hurt him, but they did.

      “I like to be on time, too,” Katie said right behind him.

      “We have that in common, then.” In the mirror he smiled at the six-year-old, who was missing one of her front teeth.

      Why couldn’t Madison be more like Katie? Earlier, when she hadn’t wanted to give Gabe back to Sarah, had been one of the first times she had been difficult. The sisters argued all the time, but Katie hadn’t argued with him. In fact, when he’d arrived to be their guardian, she’d latched onto him and had hardly left his side for the first month.

      The main gate to the Remington Ranch came into view. Another car disappeared through it. Good, he wasn’t the only one running late. As he turned into the ranch, a truck drove up behind him.

      “It looks like others are late, too.” He followed the Jeep in front of him, the road winding in an S with tall pecan trees on each side lining their path.

      As they emerged from the green canopy, a large white house appeared, a veranda running the length of the front.

      Madison whistled. “This is a big house.”

      “We’re having a picnic out back, and then the kids can ride horses.”

      The sounds of cheers and claps filled the car.

      “I guess you all want to ride?”

      “Yes,” they both said together.

      Liam parked next to a white SUV and grabbed the food.

      The girls hopped out before he had a chance to open his door and raced toward a group of kids. The last time they’d discovered several friends from school, so he’d hardly seen them the whole evening.

      At a slower pace, he walked toward the food table.

      Brandon came up behind him. “Macaroni and cheese?”

      Liam set his dish with the others. “Nope. Didn’t have time. The owner of the dog we found the other day showed up for him.”

      “How did the girls take it?”

      “Considering they thought the Lab would be theirs forever, not bad. But I have a feeling they’ll be bugging me every day about getting a new dog.”

      Brandon clapped him on the back. “Welcome to the club. My oldest son has had a string of pets over the years. If I let him, he’d open a zoo at our house.”

      Liam scanned the kids for Brandon’s eleven-year-old son. “Where is Seth?”

      He waved toward the rancher surrounded by six of the children. “He’s bugging Colt to let the kids ride before dinner. I see your nieces found their friends.”

      Madison and Katie were in the middle of a group of girls. Colt’s nine-year-old daughter stood next to Madison. The girl with Down syndrome grinned and nodded.

      Colt stuck two fingers into his mouth and whistled. The loud sound caught everyone’s attention. “I told the kids we’ll eat right now, so the ones who want to ride can afterward.” When a few children ran toward the food table, he added, “Let’s say grace first.” The three boys halted and bowed their heads as Colt blessed the dinner, ending with, “Give us the knowledge to do what is right, Lord. Amen.”

      When Colt finished the prayer, all the children hurried for the food, juggling for their places in line behind the fathers of the younger ones who went first to fix plates for their toddlers.

      Fifteen minutes later the kids sat at a long table, the older ones a buddy for the young children. The dads settled in lawn chairs, close enough to make sure everything went all right while far enough away to talk freely about any problems they needed help with. Liam was between Colt and Brandon.

      “Who wants the floor first?” Colt, the founder of the Single Dads’ Club, asked the group. When no one said anything for a long minute, he smiled. “I’m not afraid to get this started. I freely admit I don’t have all the answers, but I hope between us—” his gaze skimmed the faces of all eleven men present “—we can figure out what to do. Beth came home the other day crying. There was a birthday party last weekend, and everyone in her class was invited but her. It’s hard seeing your little girl’s heart broken.”

      “Confront the parents of the kid with the birthday,” a man across from Colt said.

      “No, you shouldn’t do that. Have Beth ignore the child,” another suggested.

      For the next ten minutes different options were voiced. Liam listened to the men talk over a wide range of solutions, some he would never have thought of. “What did you do, Colt?”

      “I held her then tried to take her mind off the birthday party. I’m not sure that worked. But y’all have given me something to think about. Anyone else have something they want to discuss?”

      At the first meeting Brandon had told Liam about Colt’s wife walking out on their marriage not a year after Beth was born. She couldn’t handle their daughter having special needs. She’d disappeared with their son.

      Liam was at least thankful he hadn’t had children when his wife divorced him, but then, that was the reason why she ended their marriage. The last he’d heard, she was married and had a baby on the way. That was what she’d always wanted, but it hurt knowing he hadn’t been enough for her.

      “I feel out of my depth with two girls.” Liam finally said what he’d been feeling for the past six months. “They’re different from boys. Do you find that a problem for you?”

      Michael Taylor, a dad with two boys and one girl, chuckled. “Like day and night. What’s going on at your house?”

      “They insist on keeping their hair long. But you should see me trying to get it untangled in the morning before school. I suggested cutting it, but you would have thought the world was coming to an end. They were tardy for school that day.”

      “Do you have a detangle brush?” Nathan asked.

      “I guess not. I don’t know what that is. Where do you get it?”

      “In the hair product section of the supermart. It was a lifesaver for me. Another dad with two daughters told me about it.”

      More problems and solutions were tossed back and forth until the children stood around looking at them because they couldn’t go to the barn without their dads.

      Colt rose. “I guess that’s all for tonight. Feel free to call any one of us for help.”

      Suggestions for different situations filled Liam’s mind. The first time he’d attended a meeting, he’d left numb with so much discussed and debated. This time hope bloomed inside him as though he might have a chance to make them into a real family.

      All he needed was time and patience.

      * * *

      At noon on Saturday, Liam stuck the chicken casserole in the oven at the station house, set the timer for forty-five minutes and then refilled his cup with freshly brewed coffee. He headed for the patio behind the building to sit and enjoy his drink after a hectic morning.

      When he’d returned from that multiple car wreck on the highway, he’d immediately started lunch while some of the guys had finished up cleaning the equipment and trucks. He’d become the cook on his shift after the others realized he knew how to prepare not just an edible meal but a delicious one, too.

      Two other firefighters were outside on the patio. Brandon was stretched out in a lounge chair, catching some sun, while Lieutenant Richie Dickerson worked a crossword puzzle at the picnic table. He looked up as the door closing disrupted the quiet.

      Liam took a seat across from Richie. “After we eat, I’ll need to go to the store to stock up for next week. Earlier you said something about coming along, too.”

      The