Three

      If you’d told Aidan six months ago that he’d be half-naked in Violet’s apartment today, he would’ve laughed. Then again, back then he hadn’t known about his new son or factored in how far the boy could projectile vomit applesauce.

      “I just put your shirt in the dryer, so you should be able to wear it home,” Violet said as she came back into the room with Knox on her hip.

      After the applesauce incident, Aidan and Knox had played while Violet cleaned up and threw their clothes in the washer. She’d quickly changed the baby into a little outfit with a train embroidered on the chest.

      “I don’t really have anything in the house that would fit you.” Violet’s gaze ran over his bare chest, then shifted quickly to the art on the wall over his shoulder. “I’m sorry about the mess. Having an infant has been hard on my drive for perfection.”

      “It’s my fault,” Aidan admitted. “I should know better than to bounce a baby if I’m not sure how long it’s been since he’s eaten last.”

      “I suppose you’ll always remember the first time you held your son, now,” she said with a chuckle.

      “How could I forget? Even without the spit up it’s a pretty momentous event.”

      Aidan noted that his words brought a shadow across Violet’s face, stealing the light humor from her words. Her gaze dropped to the floor in contemplation. Suddenly she seemed sad, although he wasn’t sure if it was because he’d missed out on the first few months of his son’s life, or because he’d finally caught up with her. His unexpected arrival had to be a complication to her life.

      Aidan took the moment to study Violet. He hadn’t really had the chance to do that in a long time. When she’d shared his bed, he’d lain beside her and tried to memorize every line and curve of her face. The delicate arch of her dark eyebrows, the thick fringe of her lashes against her cheeks as she slept...

      Today she looked different than before. Like that night at Murphy’s, she was still dressed flawlessly from head to toe with styled hair and a full face of makeup. This time, she had on impeccably tailored plum slacks and a silk blouse with a collar embroidered with tiny flowers. But something wasn’t quite right. She looked less peaceful than she’d been sleeping in his arms all those months ago. More at the mercy of life’s stresses, with lines around the edges of her eyes and etched into her forehead. Despite having been pregnant, she seemed thinner than before the baby. Almost hollow. Drained. The last year and a half had clearly been hard on Violet.

      Although you wouldn’t know it to look at him, it had been hard on Aidan, too. Losing his father three years ago had turned his life upside down, but it hadn’t been unexpected. He’d bounced back. Murphy’s was doing good business again and although he wasn’t a hotshot advertising executive anymore, he’d been happy with where he was in life.

      Then his mother got sick.

      Owning their own business, they’d never had medical insurance growing up and health care reform had done little to help where she was concerned. She’d had the cheapest catastrophic plan, all she could afford, but it hadn’t been enough once she got sick. The best treatments, the latest and greatest advancements in Europe, were well out of their reach. The big pharmaceutical industries were charging thousands of dollars for a single dose of medication that could’ve worked wonders for his mother. They had to recoup what they spent on research and development, they argued. But that argument couldn’t keep his mother from succumbing to her illness.

      Aidan had never felt more helpless in his life as he had watching her waste away in a state-run hospital. His father had killed himself with alcohol, but his mother hadn’t done anything but be too poor to afford the treatment that could have saved her.

      Before she passed, his mother did leave him with one task he could control—the halfway house. It had been her idea, one she couldn’t see through to the end. But Aidan could, and he would do it with the help of Violet’s foundation. Life had come full circle in a strange way.

      Violet turned to look at Knox as he yawned. “I think it’s naptime for this little guy. Would you like to help me put him down?”

      He looked up at Violet and Knox and smiled. “Sure,” he said and accepted the baby into his arms.

      The clean, babbling ginger baby went contentedly to Aidan. He hadn’t been around many babies but those he had tried to hold had never been too happy about it. He was thankful his son felt differently. He liked holding his son just as much as Knox liked being held. He smelled like baby shampoo and talc, a combination Aidan wasn’t used to but found soothing somehow. Knox curled contentedly against Aidan’s bare chest and shoved his fist into his mouth.

      “Be careful he doesn’t get ahold of that chest hair,” Violet warned. “Come this way and I’ll show you his nursery.”

      Looking anxiously at the chest hair he wanted to keep, Aidan fell in step behind Violet. He followed her upstairs and down a hallway to a door that opened up to a spacious and beautiful room for a baby. It was decorated in a gray-and-white chevron pattern with pops of bright yellow and dark blue. There were elephants on the curtains and a large stuffed elephant in the corner of the room. He couldn’t imagine a more perfect nursery.

      Violet stopped in front of the large white crib with elephants on the bedding. Aidan watched as she turned the switch on the mobile overhead, making the matching menagerie of elephants in different colors and sizes dance around in a circle to soft music.

      “You can just lay him down there,” she said. “He’ll be out cold in minutes.”

      Aidan eased his son into the crib, knowing he needed his nap and yet not ready to let go just yet. He had to remind himself that he would see Knox again.

      The baby squirmed for a moment, then reached out to snatch a pacifier from Violet. He sucked contentedly as his eyes fluttered closed.

      “Told you,” she said. “He loves his naps.”

      “Like father, like son,” Aidan replied with a smile.

      Violet grinned. “Let’s go.”

      They crept quietly out of the nursery, and Violet shut the door behind him. Instead of heading into the living room again, however, Violet crossed the