Devin held little Lydia, their oldest, against his shoulder and patted her back. Grace had already fed her, and he had been given the job of burping her.
Quentin’s mention of Grace’s parents stirred the realization within him that he needed to tell his own of their expanded family.
Lydia burped much louder than seemed possible from such a tiny being, and Devin looked over at Grace to see her amusement.
Awed both by his sudden fatherhood and by his wife’s reaction to his return, Devin settled down in the rocking chair beside Grace’s bed.
Lydia scrunched her little body, and he kept her firmly against him until she snuggled into him and her breathing grew steady.
“I think you’re a natural.” Grace moved Madeline to her shoulder to burp her as well.
“Hardly. This is the first time I’ve ever been around babies.”
“You’re about to make up for lost time.”
His eyes locked on hers. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Someone knocked at the room next door, and Lydia tensed. Devin patted her on the back again until she calmed.
“I was just thinking I should probably call my parents and tell them about our daughters.”
“Lydia’s asleep. Why don’t you put her in her bassinet and call now,” Grace suggested. “You’ll feel better when you get it over with.”
“You know me too well.”
Devin put his hand against the back of Lydia’s head and positioned himself by her bassinet. Gently he lowered her into it, not daring to breathe until he was certain she wasn’t going to wake back up.
Not wanting any more secrets between them, he looked down at Grace. “You should know that my parents think we broke up.”
“Did you tell them that?”
“No, but I let my dad think it,” Devin said. “Our work paths crossed, and I needed to be able to talk to him without our relationship clouding his judgment.”
“What are you going to tell them now?”
“The truth.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket to find he hadn’t turned it on after his flight from Sedona. He waited for it to power up and tried to rehearse the upcoming conversation in his mind. Realizing that thinking about it would only make it worse, he dialed his father’s phone number.
“Hello?” Boyd answered.
“Dad, it’s me.”
“Devin. We’ve been worried about you. I haven’t heard from you since I saw you in Tokyo.”
“I know it’s been awhile, but I have some great news to share.”
“You already got a promotion?”
“Even better.” Devin didn’t give him the chance to offer a second guess. “You and Mom are grandparents. Grace delivered twin girls today.”
Silence stretched over the line for a moment. “Was child support outlined in your divorce decree?”
“Well, here’s the thing, Dad. Grace and I are still married, and we intend to stay that way,” Devin said, taking care to be firm without crossing the line into confrontational. “We both hope you and Mom will want to be part of our lives and our children’s lives.”
“I see,” Boyd said tightly. Devin could hear his mother saying something in the background and some whispered response from his father. When his dad came back on the line, he said, “Your mom wants to talk to you.”
Devin could hear the phone being handed off.
“Devin, did your father just say Grace had a baby?”
“Actually, she had twins. Madeline Rose and Lydia Catherine,” Devin said.
“Lydia Catherine?”
“Yes. We hope you don’t mind that we named her after you.”
She took a moment to respond, and when she did, Devin could hear the tears in her voice. “Of course I don’t mind.” She sniffled. “Where are you? When can we see you and the babies?”
A huge weight lifted off his shoulders. “We’re staying with Grace’s grandfather right now. I got back right before the babies were born, so it will probably be a few weeks before we’re up for visitors or trying to travel, but we’ll send you pictures.”
“Make sure you tell us which baby is which,” his mother insisted. “I can’t wait to meet them.”
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear you say that.”
“Hold on a second,” she said, and once again Devin could hear his parents speaking in the background. “Sorry, but I have to go. Your dad has some business he has to take care of.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Oh, before you go, is this your new phone number?” his mom asked.
“Yes.” Devin’s eyebrows knit together. “Didn’t Maureen give it to you?”
“No. When did you talk to her?”
“I stopped by yesterday morning.”
“She didn’t mention it, but I don’t think I’ve seen her since then. She probably left a note on your father’s desk, and he forgot to tell me.”
“You’re probably right. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay. I love you.”
Surprised by the declaration his mother rarely spoke, he responded automatically, “I love you too.”
After Devin hung up, Grace said, “That sounded like it went better than you anticipated.”
“Yeah. Who would have known my mother would be excited about becoming a grandma?”
“If you want to invite them up for a visit, I’m sure my grandpa would be okay with it. There’s a guest room in the house that isn’t being used.”
“Thanks, but I don’t want to take any chances that someone might follow them up here looking for me.”
Devin saw Grace’s concern and reached out to put his hand on her shoulder. “Almost all the people who were threatening us are in custody.”
“Almost?”
“We believe there’s one more.” Devin couldn’t bring himself to voice the likelihood of Jun’s involvement. “We’re hoping the man we captured a couple days ago will help us find her.”
“What happens then?”
“Then we decide what we want to do with the rest of our lives,” Devin said. “I already put my job first once. I’m not going to do that again.”
“Are you going to quit?”
He reclaimed his seat beside her and put his hand on hers. “I need to know what you want for your future before I make any decisions about my own.”
“Did you like the work you were doing?”
Devin considered the question. “I loved the analysis side of it, but I would never want to go undercover again.”
“Are there other options for you there?”
Devin nodded. “A few. I would have the most opportunities to advance if I took a job at headquarters, but I also might be able to convince my employer to lend me out to another agency.”
“Why would you do that?”
“If you want to stay here in Colorado, I can see if the Air Force Academy needs any language instructors. Or if we want to try for California, I could try to teach at the Defense Language Institute.”
“I would love to stay close to Grandpa.”
“I thought you would.” Devin looked down at the sleeping infant in Grace’s arms. “Here. Let me put her in her bassinet. You should try to get some sleep while you can.”
“You’re right.” Grace handed Madeline over to him and shifted in her bed to get more comfortable. “Maybe you should go to the ranch and try to get some sleep yourself.”
“I’ll sleep here.” Devin pointed at the chair in the corner that converted to a bed before turning his attention back to her. “I wasn’t able to help you through your pregnancy. The least I can do is make sure I’m here now.”
“I really missed you, you know.”
Devin leaned closer and kissed her gently. “I missed you too.”