Lucas shook hands with the six committee members at his interview in Cleveland. He wanted to bolt out of there and catch the next plane home. Jamie was six weeks old now and Elizabeth still struggled with emotions some days but for the most part she was fine. He missed Aria and Elizabeth and Jamie. He missed rocking Jamie and holding Elizabeth at night and waking up next to her.

"So, drinks, Dr. Bouchard?"

"Absolutely," he said with a nod. His flight was the next morning. He didn't have anything tonight until his phone call home in two hours. He wanted to call now though.

"Can you send me the address, please? I just need to call home and I'll meet you there."

"Its downstairs, Lucas," one of the committee members told him.

"Oh, well, if I could have a few moments, I need to make a call. I'll meet you gentlemen there."

He walked away before they could convince him otherwise.

"Hi, babe," Elizabeth answered. "I miss you."

"I miss you. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Aria is working on homework, Jamie is asleep. I miss your face," she said with a sigh.

"Hang on."

He hung up and immediately FaceTimed her. "Hi! I was hoping you would do that. Good grief, you're handsome."

He chuckled. "I miss your face too. Sweetheart, I can't wait until I can kiss those soft lips of yours."

Lucas blushed along with Elizabeth, but his blush was mostly because a committee member had walked up and he hadn't noticed.

"Sir?" he asked, pulling his phone towards his chest.

"Sorry to interrupt your call but we are also going to be getting dinner. Our table should be ready in about 20 minutes."

"Thank you."

Elizabeth was giggling on the line and as soon as the guy left the hallway, Lucas started laughing too.

"You are adorable, honey," she told him. "I can't wait until you're home. How did the interview go?"

…….

Lucas took an Uber home from the airport the next day. He essentially ran up to the door, vowing never to be away from his family for longer than one day again. He hoped he could keep that vow.

"Beth? Honey?" he called, walking in the door.

"Kitchen."

Then he heard Jamie start to cry. "I'll get Jamie," he told her, hurrying into the kitchen to give her that kiss they'd been waiting thirty six hours for before heading upstairs.

He leaned her back against the counter and gripped her hips to keep her in his space while his lips took their time in exploring hers.

She pulled back and smiled. "Hi." Then she handed him a prepared bottle. "Will you feed him so I can take a shower?"

"Yep." He ran upstairs and walked into the master. "Hi, buddy. Daddy's home and I have 'Mommy juice' for you."

"Mommy juice, huh?" Elizabeth laughed, walking in the room.

"Yep, breakfast of champions."

"Come talk to me while I shower," she suggested, grabbing clothes from the dresser.

"Mmm, I think we will stay out here."

She walked over to him as he rocked Jamie and gave him a kiss. "Sorry. We are six weeks from me being healed enough, babe. We've made it halfway."

He nodded. "I can be patient."

"I appreciate your patience."

He could but it would absolutely be the longest six weeks ever.

….

Over the next two weeks, Lucas went back to Cincinnati one more time for a second interview and then he did a third interview over zoom.

Then around the end of October, Helen decided to show up with her boyfriend.

"Nana!" Aria yelled, running to her grandmother, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"Aria May, look how tall you are!"

"I'm growing up, Nana!"

"You certainly are."

"Mom?" Lucas said, giving her a hug while cradling Jamie in his arms. "What are you doing here? Its good to see you."

"I…we are going on our trip to Switzerland next week so we thought we'd stop here so you and Campbell can meet."

Lucas looked over at the well-dressed man next to his mom. Silver hair, a smile on his face, a gentle hand holding Helen's. "Campbell? I'm Lucas. Its good to meet you. Why don't we all go sit down?"

"Good to meet you finally, Lucas. I feel like I know you as much as Helen talks about you. And this is Aria and this must be little Jamison."

Lucas already liked the man. He was very grandfatherly and that was a great thing if his mom was serious about him. Which she seemed to be, still holding his hand and dating him for six months.

"Where's Beth?" Helen wondered.

"She is out with her sisters for a girl's day."

"I don't understand why I couldn't go, Dad," Aria said, a sassy look on her face.

"She explained, Aria May. You know why."

"But I'm a girl!"

"Aria…"

"Fine, Dad," she said, turning and running upstairs. Then of course, because that's how his day was going, Jamie started crying, likely hungry for the bottle Lucas abandoned to answer the door.

"He's hungry. Why don't you have a seat in the living room and I'll make some coffee?"

"I'll take him, Lucas," Helen offered. Lucas handed him over and hurried to the kitchen for the bottle.

A few minutes later, everyone had coffee and Jamie had his Mommy juice and Aria was reading a book in Elizabeth's rocking chair.

"Aria, why don't you tell Nana and her friend about school?"

"School is boring," she muttered. Lucas knew what his daughter was doing. She was acting out and she seemed to do that more and more lately. Since her brother came along actually.

"Aria, do you play any sports?" Campbell asked.

"Nope."

"Aria May Bouchard…" Lucas scolded softly.

She looked up from her book at her dad and then sighed, putting the book down. "I'm sorry. No, sir. I don't play sports. I want to play soccer though."

"You do?" Lucas asked. That was news to him.

"Yeah. Mommy knows."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you are always working."

Lucas had been working a lot lately, trying to wrap things up because he could feel a move coming up. Which they hadn't told Aria about yet. He could only imagine how she would react.

Jamie started squawking so Helen put him on her shoulder to burp him.

"I'm sorry it feels like that, sweetie."

"Its not fair! I want to spend time with you."

Lucas walked over to her, picked up her gangly self and sat down with her on his lap. "I'm here right now and Nana and Campbell have Jamie. Tell me what's going on, baby."

She curled into a ball and hugged his chest. "Daddy, I just miss you and I feel like you guys forgot about me after Jamie was born."

"I can assure you we didn't forget but it is hard sometimes to juggle things. I will try harder, alright?"

"Can we read stories like we used to? And go for ice cream?"

"Sure, we can do that."

"Can I play soccer?"

"Mom and I will chat first about it, alright? If we can make it work, then you can."

Lucas and Aria rocked for a bit. Lucas let his eyes drift to his mom and Campbell. Campbell's arm was around Helen's shoulder, and they were talking quietly as Jamie continued eating meal. The look in his mom's eye was absolutely a look of love.

He assumed they'd be getting married soon and he was okay with that. She was happy and that's all he wanted to know.

"Lucas, I'd love to go out to dinner or drinks this week while we're here," Campbell said.

"You're staying a week?"

"Not here in your house. We're staying at a bed and breakfast. I just meant not in California. What do you think?"

"Sure. Sounds good." He had a hunch about what Campbell wanted to chat about.

….

Lucas sat on the edge of the bed, thinking. Elizabeth was feeding Jamie his bottle behind him.

"Babe? What's on your mind?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell what, Lucas?"

"Aria wants to play soccer."

"I haven't seen you for more than ten minutes since she told me. She told me last night while I tucked her in. You got home after I was asleep and this morning I left early."

He nodded. "She says I'm always working and she feels like we forgot about her. Of course she brings it up in front of Mom and Campbell. I feel like a failure. Plus I'm pretty sure Campbell's going to ask me for my blessing on marrying Mom and I'm not sure how I really feel about that."

He sighed, got up and put a t-shirt on over his boxers and started to leave.

"Luke?"

"I just need a minute."

He walked downstairs and got a drink of water.

"Luke?" Elizabeth said from behind him.

"I miss you. More than I ever thought possible. I'm beginning to question how patient I actually am."

"Not much longer. Ten days and I have my appointment and then everything can get back to normal."

"If we move, I'm not sure the amount I work will change. I don't know if it makes sense to start something that will keep me away from home."

"You're really carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, aren't you, love?"

"I guess."

"Give some of it to me. I'll help you carry it." He turned and wrapped his arms around her, forcing himself to be satisfied with only holding her. "I love you, Lucas. You're never alone and you never have to handle things alone."

"I love you too, Beth." He tucked her hair behind her ears and kissed her forehead and then leaving a soft trail of kisses across her eyelids, nose and cheeks, he finally settled on her mouth. "Thank you," he told her between kisses. What a wonderful partner in life he had.

….

Tribeca, restaurant downtown Fall River

Lucas sat in a booth across from who he assumed was his soon-to-be step-father.

Campbell Pratt had a very calm presence. He sat relaxed, his button down shirt open at the collar but immaculately pressed. His hair, perfectly styled. A pleasant expression on his face. He could see that the man was exactly what his mom liked.

After ordering drinks, Lucas started the conversation. "Mom said you were a cardiologist?".

"Yes. I did that for thirty years and after having a health scare of my own, I figured out I needed to retire."

"Health scare?"

"I passed out at work one evening and hit my head. One of my nurses found me. Turns out my blood sugar was too low. I had skipped lunch and dinner and worked too long and too hard. My primary doctor did some tests and it turns out I'm diabetic."

"Wow."

Jamie let out a whimper from next to him in the booth. He had been sleeping but Lucas assumed he was hungry.

"Hi, bud," Lucas said softly, unbuckling Jamie from his seat. He lifted his tiny, snuggly body into his arms and cradled him, slipping the bottle into his mouth.

Lucas smiled as his son immediately started eating. "There you go."

"You're a good dad, Lucas. Better than I was, that's for sure."

"You have children?"

"Had. One daughter. She would have been twenty seven about a month ago."

"Would have been?" Lucas watched Campbell's eyes fill up with tears.

"She enlisted in the military after high school. Deployed to Afghanistan and never came home. I have so many regrets. I wish I had been more accepting of her decision to enlist. I wish I had been more supportive. I wish I had told her I loved her no matter what.…well, it doesn't matter now."

"I'm sorry, Campbell. I can't imagine your loss."

"When we got word…it was the last straw in my marriage to her mother. Basically I lost everything in that year."

He shook his head and blinked away his tears. "I've learned since then to never take any moments for granted that I have with the ones I love and I love your mother with all my heart. I don't deserve this amazing second chance I have and honestly she is so much more than I deserve. But, Lucas, I brought you here to ask for your blessing. I want to marry her."

Lucas stared down at his son. His mind went back to losing Clara, how much his heart broke. He then recalled how his mother grieved for his dad, how she grieved over Clara, how she helped him with Aria. She deserved a second chance too.

"Of course you have my blessing. Welcome to the family, Campbell."