received a single call. Something about thinking you’re going to die before you ever really got the chance to live did something to a guy’s sense of adventure. He still loved doing the outdoor exploits he and his brothers were known for, but now that he had a fiancée and daughter to think about, he took his safety much more seriously than he used to. That was especially true knowing how Dani had lost the baby’s father in a tragic accident when she was pregnant with Savvy.
Since he met Dani and Savvy and fell in love with both of them, Lucas had everything to live for. At home, he ran up the two flights of stairs to their cozy third-floor apartment and used his key in the door he insisted she keep locked when he wasn’t home, even though the crime rate in Butler was extremely low. He slept better at the firehouse when he knew they were locked in.
Savvy let out a scream when she saw him and came toddling over to him on unsteady legs. She’d started walking right before her first birthday in November and, like his niece Callie, had advanced quickly to running. The Christmas tree in the corner was decorated only above where she could reach, which was one of many things about her that delighted him.
Lucas scooped her up and gave her a squeeze.
“Lu, Lu, Lu.”
“Hi, baby.” One of his favorite things ever was the way she recoiled in horror from his identical twin brother. Nothing amused him more than the way she reacted to Landon as she tried to figure out how it was possible that someone else looked almost exactly like her beloved Lu. He kissed her ticklish neck until she screamed with laughter.
“If you rile her up, you own her,” Dani said from her perch on the sofa, where she was folding a load of laundry.
He was forever telling her to just stop, take a break and breathe, everything would get done. She was constantly doing something unless he managed to distract her, which he was very good at doing.
Sitting next to her on the sofa, he put Savvy down to toddle about and play with her toys for a few more minutes before bedtime and leaned in to kiss his love.
“Thought you weren’t coming home tonight.”
“I wasn’t going to, but I needed a Dani-and-Savvy fix.”
“We’re always happy to see you. You know that.”
“Did you have a nice dinner with your folks?”
“We did. It’s so great having them here.”
“Maybe by next year we’ll have a place big enough for them to stay with us.”
“Maybe.” She took a closer look at him. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Except one thing.”
“What’s that?”
While she continued to fold clothes, he told her the story his dad had shared earlier. By the time he was finished, she’d stopped folding and was staring at him. “What’s he going to do?”
“He’s going to Philly tomorrow to see him, and we’re all going with him.”
“Good,” she said, nodding. “You guys should go. He’ll need you there with him.”
“That was Hunter’s thought, and everyone agreed.”
“You agree, don’t you?”
“I do. Of course I do, but I hate that I have to go without you and my little girl.”
“We’ll be fine. Go support your dad and hurry home to us. We’ll be waiting for you.”
“I’m counting on that, baby.”
* * *
After a late-afternoon shift at the tree farm that had brought in only a few last-minute stragglers, Landon arrived home to a dark house and tried to remember what Amanda and Stella had planned for the afternoon. He was greeted by Matilda, the yellow Lab puppy Dude had given Stella when she moved in with them, and let the puppy out in the yard, keeping an eye on her as she did her business and then came bounding back in for dinner.
She bounced with happiness at the sight of her full bowl and dove in, making a huge mess, like she did every time she ate. Thankfully, she also cleaned up after herself.
He went to the dry-erase calendar Amanda kept on the wall of the kitchen to see where his girls were. Dance class in St. Johnsbury at five p.m. They should be back soon, he thought, even as he tried not to think about them driving the dark, winding, icy roads between here and there.
Those roads gave him nightmares because he’d seen—far too often—what happened when cars lost control on the curves, especially at this time of year. He’d insisted Amanda