Two days after Lieutenant Brown showed up, he returned to talk to Livy and Ray wasn't there. He took Danny with him that morning while he drove to the far end of the property to see to a fence that was in need of repair. He wanted her to sleep in and knew the only way she would be able to do that was if he had the baby with him. When he returned for lunch, she was at the kitchen table in tears.

He took Danny upstairs and put him down for a nap before he headed back down to the kitchen to find out what had upset her so much.

Her forehead rested on her hands as her shoulders shook from the crying. He pulled out a chair to sit down next to her and ran a comforting hand across her shoulders. "Livy, what is it?"

Her shoulders continued to shake and her voice was barely audible. "Edward was here and he wants Danny to have a blood test. He said he wants to see if their blood types match."

Ray sighed and began to fully realize that the Lieutenant wasn't going to give up without a fight, but neither was he. "I'm his father Livy as far as the law is concerned and it can't happen without my consent." And he paused for a moment because what he was thinking could come back to haunt them both. "But if it turns out that Danny has your blood type and not his, he can't prove anything."

"Are you actually suggesting that we do this? What if it turns out that Danny does have his blood type?" She sat up and looked at him with swollen red eyes; she looked so pitiful.

"If he wants to prove who Danny's father is, they'll have to take my blood too. And if the Lieutenant and I have the same blood type, the result is still the same."

She sighed as he pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket and handed it to her. "But if your blood type is different than his than he'll know that he's Danny's father." She dabbed at her eyes and sighed again.

"Let's cross one bridge at a time, all right?"

"Ray if we do this and he and Danny have the same blood type that's different from yours everyone will know that Danny isn't yours." She reasoned.

"When you first came here I told you that I didn't care what people think and I still don't. But if it comes out that Danny isn't my son, they'll learn why you came here and why we got married. People here won't think too kindly of a man who took advantage of someone who was lonely, got her in the family way and then wouldn't take responsibility. Livy, folks around here know how much you love me and how happy we are. You've become a part of us and they know that too."

"I don't want Danny to know anyone else but you as his father. And if it turns out that a blood test proves that Danny is his, it will be too confusing when he gets older."

"Another bridge Liv, we'll cross it if we need to." He took the damp handkerchief out of her trembling hands and dried her eyes. "You sure look a sight." He smiled at her and helped her to her feet. "Why don't you go splash some cold water on your face and check on Danny? I'll throw something together for lunch."

"Ray." She protested but he gave her a gentle nudge toward the door and watched her as she headed up the stairs.

His parents raised Martha, Danny and him never to curse but if he did there were a few choice words that he would have for the Lieutenant. He would never say them out loud of course and tried not to let them even form in his mind but what this stranger was doing was hurting the one woman that he loved most in the world. He knew her better than Brown did because they'd lived together for the last year and brought a baby into the world. The Lieutenant may have been with Livy first, but the first time she was with him it wasn't because of loneliness it was because she loved him. And that was something Ray had that Brown didn't, Livy's heart.

He kept lunch simple because Livy hadn't had much of an appetite lately and Brown sure wasn't helping the situation. Sandwiches and potato salad were on the table and Ray was about to go to the foot of the stairs when the telephone rang and he listened to the rings to hear who the call was for before he picked up the receiver. He had to keep reminding himself, ring, ring, ring was their signal.

Ring, Ring, Ring.

He walked out to the hallway and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Good Afternoon, this is Dr. McCutcheon's office. Is Mrs. Singleton available?" A cheerful voice asked on the other end of the line.

"Yes she is. Just a moment and I'll get her for you." He frowned as he put the receiver down on the table and went upstairs. He found Livy in their room and she was standing next to Danny's cradle, watching him sleep.

He cleared his throat to let her know he was there. "Liv, someone's calling from the doctor's office and they'd like to speak to you."

Her spine went ramrod straight and she spun around, her face pink with a flush. Without a word to him she ran out of the room and he heard her take the stairs at a good clip. He frowned again and began to worry that something was wrong with their son or with her.

He checked to make sure that Danny was still asleep before he followed his wife down the stairs. When he reached her she had a smile on her face and had started to cry again. But these tears were happy tears and he couldn't figure out what it could mean, at first.

Could it be?

"Thank you so much." He heard her say and she hung up the receiver before she launched herself into his arms and kissed him.

He was surprised at her boldness but pleased beyond measure. As he took her arms from around his neck and set her back enough so that he could see her face, he smiled. "That was real nice, what's the occasion?" He joked.

The shade of pink in her cheeks deepened into rose and her eyes seemed to sparkle. "The occasion is that you're going to be a father."

"Liv, I'm already." And before he could complete the sentence the gravity of what she'd just revealed hit him like a broadside. "A father." He finished and a feeling came over him that he couldn't describe. He and Olivia had created a life together and they'd done it out of their love for each other, not out of her loneliness with a near stranger.

"Yes you are and you're going to be again." The tears ran freely down her cheeks and she started to laugh. "Ray, we're going to have a baby all of our own."

He didn't know how to tell her what it was he was feeling so he knew the best way to do that was to show her. He caught her around the waist and lifted her off her feet as he hugged her. "Livy, a baby."

When he set her back on her feet she held on to him and her smile told him how happy she was. "Now we know why I haven't been feeling very well lately."

"It wasn't like this the last time." He said needlessly because Livy already knew that.

She nodded. "That's why it never occurred to me that it could possibly be a baby, but it makes so much sense now."

"How?" He wasn't following her train of thought.

"As much as we love Danny and as happy as we are to have him, he wasn't created in love or in marriage for that matter. But this little one here." And he watched as she laid a hand on her still flat abdomen. "Was created out of our love and because our marriage. I'm beginning to think that it really was God's Will that brought me here because if I hadn't made the mistake of being with Edward I wouldn't have ended up here with you."

He smiled. "And you didn't believe me when I told you that the first night you were here."

"That's because I didn't believe it, but I think I can now."

"I'd like to have a girl, especially if she looks like her mama." He kissed her cheek and held her close.

"I'd like to give you a son." She answered honestly.

"You already have Liv. Even with this one coming, I'll never feel any different about Danny."

"We're so lucky to have you." She replied.

"And I'm lucky to have you."