July 1945

Livy's flight instructor stood on their porch as bold as you please and Ray didn't like him.

He wasn't the kind of man that passed judgment on another man without giving him a fair shake, but if it weren't for him Livy wouldn't have been put in the situation she ended up in. To be fair though, if it weren't for the Lieutenant, Ray Singleton wouldn't have her or Danny in his life.

"How did you know where I was?" Livy's face was turning an ashen gray and Ray thought that she was going to cry.

"From your letters. I found the post office and asked around and they told me that you lived out here with your husband." He said it in a way that Ray thought he believed it wasn't true.

"But why?" She pressed him as she moved closer to Ray. He put a protective arm around her waist and pulled her near.

"I saw your sister when I was on furlough in Denver. She told me that you'd had the baby and that you were still in that godforsaken place, as she put it." He looked around and then laughed. "How can you stand it out in the middle of nowhere?"

"There's a lot more to this place than meets the eye." Ray told him. "You just have to know where to look."

"I'm looking Farmer Fred and I don't see a damn thing." He shook his head and Ray could feel his normal reserve of calm begin to ebb. It was one thing to intrude on Livy's life, but to insult his life and his livelihood was going too far.

"Edward, I've already told you that his name is Ray and I wish you would remember that."

"Sorry, Livy." He apologized with a smirk and Ray really wanted to wipe it off of his face. "So is this the kid you told me about? The one that you tried to blame me for?"

"I never should have sent you those letters; it wasn't right." She sighed and leaned into him.

"Lieutenant, why are you here?" He asked and wanted nothing more than to have that smug fly boy off of his land. "What could be so important that you need to come here and upset my wife?"

"He kind of looks like me doesn't he?" He asked as he looked at the baby in Ray's arms.

"I think he looks like his mama." Ray held Danny close as the baby began to fuss. "If you'll excuse us, it's time to put my son down for his nap."

"We're not done with this Olivia. He's my son and I have the right to see him."

"Would you be here if he had a girl, insisting to see her?" Ray couldn't help but ask and hoped that he and Livy would have a girl when the time came.

"We're not done." The Lieutenant ignored him and stepped off the porch. Without another word he walked to his car and got in. The engine came to life and in a cloud of dust the car gunned down the dirt road.

"Ray."

He heard the panic in her voice and ran a comforting hand across her shoulders. "He doesn't know anything Livy. He just thinks he does."

"Abby must have told him." She said and then she did begin to cry.

He held her close as she buried her face in his shoulder and he spoke softly to her. "Abby doesn't strike me as the type of woman who would do that."

"If it got me away from here she would." Her voice was muffled. "She thinks I deserve better."

"You don't know that."

"I know her better than you do and if she thought it what was best for me, she'd tell him." Livy disagreed before she pulled away from him and rushed up the stairs to the porch and into the house.

"Livy." He followed her inside and saw her round the staircase as she ran up the stairs. "Livy." He called again as he headed up after her and found her in their room. She was curled up on her side of the bed and at first he couldn't tell if she were crying.

"What are we going to do?" She sighed and Ray thought she sounded tired. He already knew that she wasn't sleeping well and this certainly wasn't going to help. He sat down on his side of the bed with Danny in his lap and ran a gentle hand over the baby's head.

"We're going to protect Danny is what we're going to do. He denied you when you told him you were going to have a baby and your father sent you away because of it. But you're my wife and Danny's my son and no one is going to change any of that."

She rolled over and looked as tired as she sounded. "But that's just it. As much as we both want him to be yours he isn't."

His heart tightened in his chest and he felt tears pool in the back of his eyes. "He is mine Livy. I may not have had a hand in creating him, but I've been with the both of you from the beginning. I watched you carry him for over five months and I was with you in this room the afternoon he was born. My sister helped you bring him into the world and while he may not have my blood he does have my heart and the hearts of my family. We named him for my brother and in my mind that makes him a Singleton."

"Ray, I'm sorry that I wrote to him. I knew it was wrong but I couldn't seem to help myself."

"You believed that you were in love with him and I understood that when we were married. Now I'm not saying that I was happy when I found that letter he wrote to you but you were lonely and homesick. The truth is when I saw that letter in our mailbox I got scared because I thought for sure I was going to lose you before you really gave me a chance."

"It was because of that letter that you kissed me." And for the first time since Lieutenant Brown showed up Livy smiled.

He smiled back. "I kissed you because it was something I'd wanted to do since the night that we stood at the bottom of the stairs and you were so beautiful."

"I was so afraid at the time that you would because if you did, I might not have let you go. And I wasn't ready for that yet." Her smile grew wider.

"Well hang on tight to me Livy because I promise that I'll take care of you and Danny."

"I do love you Ray and I know how much you love Danny." She said to him as she rolled on to her back and pushed herself up before she sat against the bedstead. He handed the baby to her and she kissed the top of his head.

"I love you too Livy. I still believe that it was God's Will that brought you here and I won't believe that He brought you and Danny to me just to take you away. He knew that I could take care of you and provide for you. So let's not worry about this any more because there isn't anything we can do about it right now."

He took Danny out of her arms and walked with him to the cradle. Livy uncovered it in the basement before he was born and she sanded and refinished it so that Danny would have a place to sleep. Ray put him down and he dropped off in short order.

"You're such a good father." Livy commented with a sigh as he walked back to the bed and sat down next to her.

"How am I doing as a husband?" He smiled as he put his arms around her.

"You're the kind of husband to me that your father was to your mother." She smiled as he leaned over and kissed her.

"That's all a man can ask for I guess." He answered as he drew her into his arms and showed her how much she meant to him.