The party went very well, and Jacob's mother, who seemed to really take to Cassandra, had insisted on taking the twins for the night.

The fact that she'd done so with a wink caused her only son to groan but he'd said nothing until after the guests had all finally gone. Eve and Flynn had shooed Cassandra out of the kitchen and it was more spotless now then it was when she got there this morning. He found her in there, searching his fridge.

"What are you looking for?"

"Looking for something with caffeine in it," she laughed, "My goodness that was exhausting and that was a birthday party for an adult! I remember there was some Coke in here before the party started."

"I think I have a bottle of Coke in the beer fridge in the den. I try not to let the kids have too much of that stuff, but sometimes I need it. So I lock it up with the beer. Which I feel like havin' right now so c'mon, I'll get you one."

They were settled on the leather sofa in the den, Cassandra with a Coke, Jake with a beer. Her legs were draped over his lap.

"Aside from the exhaustion factor, I think it went really well. Your mom seemed to really like me. And your dad did too, though he's quiet. It's too bad your other sister couldn't make it."

"Mary's got four kids and it's hard for her to get away with all the stuff they're into in the summers. I do miss seeing her though, Eve and I are real close, but Mary's more like me than Eve is. "

"So you and Mary take after your mom? I saw a lot of Eve in your dad, though Eve is way more social."

"Pretty much. Where Eve gets the social thing, none of us know." Jake laughed. "But she should have been the one to take over the ranch in all honesty. That's the kind of thing that makes her happy, that and Flynn, and teaching chemistry to teenagers."

Cassandra smiled. "What was that with your mom when she left?"

Jake rolled his eyes, "that was Mama, not being subtle at all. She says she'll take them for the night, said it was her gift to me, then the woman winked at me! Winked! Like I'm a teenager."

Cassandra burst into laughter. "She doesn't know that we're taking that slow."

"Still! My mama!"

"Well," Cassandra giggled. "Maybe she meant that it was a gift that you won't have to spend the night trying to put to bed two children that ate as much cake as those two did today."

Jake's eyes widened. "You have a point. By the way, I want to thank you for that. Eve said there were some tough moments and you handled them like a champ."

"They were excited and they wanted to do something nice for you. I have to admit I had to do a little counting to ten sometimes, but we made it through."

"I have to count to ten a lot, sometimes twenty. You're gettin' a hang of this parentin' thing, darlin'."

She shook her head, "I don't know about that. I think I let Matt walk all over Maggie . . . ."

He kissed the side of her head, "You'll figure it out. Trust me it's a hell of a learnin' curve. Some days I come down here and wonder what the hell I'm doin' myself. And I can't say that May would have been any better. It's like anythin' else, honey, one day at a time. You just get back up on the horse every day."

"Good pep talk," Cassandra giggled and he laughed.

"So how does 35 feel?" She asked, deciding to change the subject. "Do you still feel like you're a 100 some days?"

"Not right now, but I probably will." Jake fell silent for a moment. "Can I ask you somethin'? I can't believe I never asked this. But when is your birthday? And how old are you?"

Cassandra smiled, "It was April 2 and I turned 30. Worried you were robbing the cradle?" She giggled.

"No, I figured you were younger than me, but not by much and I was right."

"Not too much no. Can I ask you something? How old were you when you and May got married?"

"22," Jake sighed. "May was six months younger than me, so she was still 21. We got married a few weeks after graduation, went straight to grad school."

They fell silent for a few moments, Cassandra feeling like she'd asked the wrong thing. She moved the arm she'd had over the back of the sofa and put her hand on the back of his neck, massaging slightly. He let out a pleased sort of a grunt, so she continued, until she could feel the muscles relax and he was pretty much melting against her.

"You were tense, I'm sorry I said anything."

"It's . . .sweetheart you gotta stop apologizin' for askin' questions about May. I mean, it's got to be hard enough for ya livin' with her ghost if you don't know anything about her. It shouldn't bother me to talk about her to you. In fact, I feel like I need to talk about her. Maggie's worried she's losing what memory she has of her mama. I don't want to put you off, but I need to talk about her more to them."

"It's not putting me off. She was important to them and to you. Believe me . . .my mother talked about my father all of the time. To everyone but me. When I brought him up she would shut her mouth and walk out of the room. She used to claim it was because she didn't want to hurt me." Cassandra shrugged. "But honestly? It was because I knew who he really was and she didn't want to go there. Not with the perfect myth of their relationship she was telling everyone else. He wasn't a perfect man, but he did love me and I miss him every day. And I wish she'd talked with me about him. So talk to your kids about their mama, take down those scrapbooks, show them. I'd love to see them too. I bet they were adorable babies."

He smiled at her, his eyes crinkling up, "I'm really glad I have you in my life, Cassandra. Thank you, I really didn't think about it from their perspective. And they're too young to really put it in a way I'd understand."

"I wish I didn't know from experience and I really wish they didn't."

Jake didn't say anything, just moved forward and kissed her. They stayed that way for several minutes, just enjoying the feeling of soft sweet kisses and gentle touches. Jake could tell that Cassandra was tired, so he kept everything soft and soothing, just enjoying being with her.

Then she pulled away and he could tell from the furrow of her brow that a headache was coming on.

"Your head?"

She nodded, apologetic.

"You had a long day and the noise and the sugar probably didn't help. I shouldn't have kissed you, actually, I'm starting to be able to tell when they're coming on."

"No, never apologize for kissing me! That actually kept me distracted for a bit. But I realize I have a problem. Eve brought me here and you've had a few beers. I could call my friend Ezekiel and see if he can take me home. Or try Uber."

"You could stay here. I can have you home before my mama gets back with the kids."

"Jake . . . ."

"Sweetheart, c'mon, you're in no condition for that anyway. If you don't feel comfortable in my bed, I have a guest room. It's a wee bit dusty, but we can put new sheets on the bed."

Cassandra thought about things for a moment, then she asked softly, "Your bed is it . . . ."

Jake tilted his head not quite sure what she was asking, especially when she blushed. But before she could clarify, he realized. "Oh, no, it's not the bed May and I . . . this was her house, yes, but last year I got a new mattress and a new bed too."

"Then okay," Cassandra nodded, "I'd rather spend the night in your arms. I was hoping for different circumstances for that though."

He gently kissed her forehead, "We'll have that, another night. Let's get you lying down before that head gets worse."

They weren't that much different in height, which made finding her something to sleep in difficult. His tee shirts weren't long enough and it was too hot for sweats.

"Hang on a minute, somewhere in here," he dug in a drawer, "I have a package of boxers that I haven't opened. How the . . . there they are. Why I threw them in the drawer instead of opening them right away, I don't know. But they'll do right?"

She nodded, with the elastic and the longest tee shirt he had, it would be enough to preserve modesty and still be comfortable.

"I throw the toothbrushes from the dentist in the top drawer in the bathroom. And you can feel free to use my soap or whatever."

He'd already changed for bed when she came back in, and he could tell she was in pain, as soon as he got her into bed, he turned off the light.

"Gonna brush my teeth and I'll be right back."

"It's early," she muttered when he came back, sliding in next to her and curling an arm around her waist. "I took a pill, I'll be asleep in minutes."

"Then I'll hold you until you fall asleep and if I'm still awake I'll go downstairs."

"Okay," she murmured. She turned so that her back rested comfortably against his chest. "Could you stroke my head? That helps sometimes."

"Anything you want, darlin'."

He gently stroked across her forehead and through her hair until he could tell she was asleep. He had considered getting up and coming back later. But he was so comfortable where he was that he felt his own eyelids getting heavy. So instead he settled her more comfortably against him and followed her off to dreamland.

Jake wasn't used to sharing a bed, it had been a couple of years since Hope and even then they rarely spent the whole night together. The kids had mostly grown out of the need to crawl into bed with him during thunderstorms or after nightmares, though it happened from time to time.

He'd woken up a few times during the night, once he'd had to reluctantly roll away from Cassandra. It was simply too hot to stay cuddled. She hadn't woken, but she seemed uncomfortable, the way her forehead was scrunched up and her tee shirt was damp from sweat. He figured the drug was probably the only thing keeping her under. It was just as well, she needed her sleep to feel better.

Still as warm as it was, he hadn't been able to fall back asleep until he reached out a hand and laid it gently on her back. It was oddly comforting and made him think of when he'd had to put a hand on Matt's back when he was a baby to get him to sleep.

He didn't wake again until morning, when he found that he'd shifted on to his back. Cassandra had turned over and was now laying with her head on his chest. He blinked toward the clock, 9am. Well, Mama would take the twins to church and it wouldn't hurt him to miss a service. Knowing his mother, she'd take them to breakfast afterward and they wouldn't be back until at least noon.

He kissed the side of Cassandra's head and she woke up with a soft little moan.

"Hey," he said softly, "your head feelin' any better?"

She blinked and raised her head up off his chest. "I think so," she winced. "Ugh, I hate taking that one. It puts me to sleep but I feel so groggy. Mmm, was it hot in here last night?"

"Yeah, too hot to cuddle but we ended up doing it anyway, even after I rolled away." Jake shrugged. "I don't expect the kids to be back until at least noon. So why don't you sleep a little longer? I'm gonna take a shower and then see what I have for breakfast."

"Mkay," Cassandra looked like she was about to fall back asleep on him, so he gently moved her over on to the pillow. Then he slid out of bed.

By the time he'd showered, dressed and come back from starting the coffee maker, Cassandra was sitting up in bed. She looked a little more alert than a half an hour ago when he'd left her.

"Better?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you."

"Feel free to use the shower. The towels on the shelf are clean. You can throw the clothes and the towel in the hamper in there when you're done. Not much is girly unfortunately unless you want to go to the kid's bathroom and use Maggie's strawberry soap."

Cassandra giggled, "I think your stuff will be fine for the day."

"Do you like waffles? I figured I'd take advantage of what little flour is left and the milk and eggs you bought us. What happened with the flour anyway?"

She laughed again, "I'll tell you over breakfast. And waffles sound wonderful."

He was pouring the last of the batter into the maker when she walked into the room. Yesterday she'd been wearing a sleeveless blue cotton sundress over a white tee shirt and a pair of blue tights with white roses on them. The sundress was back, but she was wearing it over one of his tee shirts, an old gray one that was now a little too small for him, the tights were gone, in their place were a pair of pink and blue striped knee high socks.

"I borrowed a shirt, I hope you don't mind. I seemed to have spilled on mine last night."

He grinned, "it's okay, that shirt's old. How did you even find it?"

"I remembered where you pulled the tee shirt you gave me to sleep in from and went looking for the smallest one you had."

He nodded, "makes sense. But where did you find the socks?"

"Oh, I keep a pair of socks in my purse in case I rip my tights."

"Why do I ask women questions like that? At least you didn't give me that 'you dumb male' look that Eve gives me when she pulls something odd out of her purse."

Cassandra smirked. "Those smell wonderful, anything I can do to help?"

"There's some blueberries in the fridge if you could wash them. I made orange vanilla waffles, so I think the blueberries will work well on top of them. I already cut the rest of the orange up."

A few minutes later, they were digging into the waffles. Cassandra was so impressed by how good they were.

"I think you need to make me breakfast more often!" She exclaimed savoring a mouthful.

"I think I do too," and Jacob's eyes were dark over the edge of his coffee mug as he watched her. She blushed and ducked her head.

"I'm sorry about last night."

"Don't be. It's not your fault you weren't feeling well. And I wasn't planning on you stayin' last night. But it was nice. It's been a while since I've even shared a bed with anyone."

"Did you sleep okay? I know I was out of it."

"I did, mostly, woke up a few times but I feel fine this morning so I must have gotten a decent amount of sleep. Now were you gonna tell me about the flour?"

So Cassandra launched into a story about the baking of the cake and by the end, Jake was laughing so hard tears were coming out.

"It's funny now, but there were times. . . ." Cassandra chuckled.

"That's all part of this parentin' thing, Cassie. You have to laugh about it later or you'll cry then. And sometimes they do the damnedest things and it's so hard not to laugh when you need to be serious with them."

"That happens sometimes at work too, glad it's not just me."

They finished up breakfast and Cassandra insisted on washing the dishes before Jake took her home. He walked her up to her apartment and kissed her at her front door.

"Did you have a good birthday?" She asked.

"The best one I've had in a long time, Cassandra," he gently caressed her cheek. "My children, my sister and my girlfriend made me this great cake full of love. My friends and family came to celebrate. And despite the circumstances, I got to wake up with you in my arms. I've said this before, but I'm really glad you're in my life, sweetheart. You've made it better in ways I can't even begin to tell you."

"I feel the same way about you, Jake. This month has been almost magical. And I hope it gets even better. But you need to get home. Go be Daddy."

He kissed her once more time and told her to keep the tee-shirt. She giggled and sent him on his way. Then she went into her apartment where she was greeted by a demanding and hungry feline.

"Yes, yes, yes Sparky, even though you still have food in your bowl, you silly cat."