“Do you feel that your husband will make a good father for your son?”

“I never would have dated, least of all married him, if I didn’t believe that Pesh would be a good and loving father to Mason.”

“So the fact that he is a wealthy doctor had nothing to do with it?”

“How dare you!” Megan cried. When Pesh grabbed her arm to silence her, she slung him away. “You’ve known us for two minutes and you’re making assumptions about me, my husband, and my marriage? If this were about money, I could have used his father for child support considering he is a wealthy NFL player. But I would have sacrificed everything to ensure that my son had a good father!”

“Mrs. Nadeen, I will ask that you control yourself, or I will have to hold you in contempt,” the judge said sternly.

Pesh wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her against him. “Easy,” he murmured.

Although she hated to do it, she said, “I’m sorry, your honor.”

When he smiled at her, she gasped in surprise. “And I am sorry for rattling you, Mrs. Nadeen. I often say or do unorthodox things to see the true nature of the people who come before me.”

“You mean, you said that to get a reaction from me?”

“Yes, I did. And you unwaveringly rose to my challenge. I can see that you are truly concerned with the wellbeing of your son.”

Still reeling from the judge’s behavior, Megan mumbled, “Thank you.”

Peering down over the bench, the judge surmised Mason. “Son, do you know why you’re here today?”

“I gettin’ ‘dopted,” Mason replied.

The judge smiled. “Yes, you are. Do you want Pesh to be your daddy?”

“Uh, huh.”

“Do you want anyone else to be your daddy?”

“No,” Mason replied quickly, shaking his head back and forth.

“Then come up here while I sign the paperwork.”

Mason happily ran around the side of the bench to the judge. He climbed up onto the judge’s lap. After signing several sets of papers, the judge handed Mason his gavel. “Once you bang that gavel, Pesh is officially your daddy, and you are Mason Nadeen.”

With a broad grin, Mason brought the gavel down. Tears stung Megan’s eyes, and she gladly let Pesh pull her into his arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she murmured.

“I love you,” he replied, squeezing her tight.

“I love you, too.”

Their attention was drawn to where Mason kept banging the gavel. The judge chuckled. “Okay, I think that is enough. Why don’t you go to your mommy and daddy now?”

“Tell the judge thank you,” Megan instructed.

“Tank you,” Mason replied, before he hopped off the judge’s lap and came running to them. “I ‘dopted! I ‘dopted!”

Pesh bent down to pick him up. “That’s right, buddy. You’re my son for now and always.”

Megan smiled and patted Mason’s back as they started out of the courtroom. “Come on. Let’s go to Papa’s. We’ve got a big party for you there.”

Mason’s face lit up. “Ice cweam?

“Oh yes, there’s lots of ice cream just for you.”

“Yay!” he cried.

When they drove up at Patrick’s, Megan did a double take at the sight of an inflatable bouncy castle out on the lawn. John, Percy, and Georgie were already making good use of it. “Emma, the Party Planning Monster has struck again,” she mused.

Pesh chuckled as he got out of the car. He went to get Mason while she started into the house. Balloons and flowers filled the foyer and living room. Over the dining room archway, there was a giant CONGRATULATIONS MASON sign.

When she got to the kitchen, she sucked in a breath at the sight of all the catering pans. “Emma Fitzgerald, what have you done?” she questioned.

At the sound of Megan’s voice, Emma jumped. Clutching her chest, she whirled around. “Okay, so maybe I found a really excellent deal on the bouncy castle. Like ridiculously cheap.”

Megan crossed her arms over her chest. “The food? I thought Mom and my aunts were cooking.”

Holding up one hand, Emma replied, “Just Williamson Brothers BBQ. Nothing fancy.”

“Anything else I need to know about? Live band or celebrity bursting out of a cake?”

Emma giggled. “Nope. That’s it.”

Megan watched Emma bustle around the kitchen, setting up the plates and cutlery. “Um, is there anything I can do? I mean, I feel pretty shitty considering this is my son’s adoption party,” Megan said, with a smile.

Pink tinged Emma’s cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

Megan threw her arms around Emma and squeezed her tight. “Don’t be sorry. You’re amazing to do all of this for us.”

Emma smiled. “You’re more than welcome. I’m so happy for you and Pesh and for Mason.”

“Thank you.”

When Megan pulled away, Emma said, “Oh, there is something you can do. Go tell Aidan we’re about to start. He went to get Caroline up from her nap.”

“Sure. I’ll be happy to.” As Megan started down the familiar hallway, she stopped outside of Aidan’s boyhood bedroom. Through the crack in the door, she could see him walking around the room, bouncing Caroline in his arms. At the sound of his singing, she had to stifle a laugh. Ankle was many things, but a singer wasn’t one of them.

“Sweet Caroline, dum, dum, dum. Good times never seemed so good,” he crooned off-key.

When Megan pushed open the door, Aidan jumped. “Um, hey,” he said, a flush entering his cheeks.

“I never really pictured you as a Neil Diamond fan,” she said, with a smile.

“Yeah, well, Sweet Caroline seems like the right thing to sing to her.” He cleared his throat. “What are you doing in here?”

“Emma wanted me to come get you.”

“Oh,” he said. In his arms, Caroline began to whimper, her little fists flailed. “Shh, it’s okay, sweet pea. Where was I?”

“I’ve been inclined,” Megan answered him.

“Right,” he said, over Caroline’s cries.

When he picked back up with the song, Megan said, “That’s really unfair to torture her like that.”

As Aidan scowled at Megan, Caroline began to quiet. Aidan’s expression then turned triumphant. “See? She likes it when I sing to her.”

“But you can’t sing,” Megan protested.