Ranger and Stephanie still belong to Janet.

The temperature where we're headed is a comfortable seventy-eight degrees, and as much as we'd like to take Olivia on a tour, there's too much business to take care of. As we were in the air on our way to Key West, my Caribbean source called to tell me they have something I might be interested in. I reiterated that this is a family matter to me, and to not approach the ship unless Tipple had picked up a passenger. I want to take out the bastard myself.

When we landed, Kane had a plan of his own. "Harp has always wanted to see the Keys, so we'll hang here and clean up this part of the mess, and you and the Missus can go onto Long Island as planned. We'll meet you there. Hopefully by then, you'll have Tipple in 'custody' so I can have a few minutes alone with him."

"Not on my watch, honey," Harper warned him. "And you know I'm always watching you."

"Are you sure you want to stay behind?" Steph asked them.

"This has gone way beyond Leo being an asshole for cheating on a pretty amazing woman ... and truthfully, the less details I hear now the better. So as long as the temperature is above hyperthermic-range where we are," Harper told us, "I'm happy. I'm even happier to have my husband back with me."

Steph grinned. "You're thinking of having a second honeymoon before the baby comes, right? I remember that feeling."

"You'll have something similar in the Bahamas if you capture Tipple quickly. Aubrey is the one who suggested Kane and I take a few days off. She won't say it, but she's worried that if I'm too stressed during the pregnancy, the baby will come out of the womb ready for action like his or her daddy. I argued of course, but she's currently being smothered by family ..."

"We can help her by getting this wrapped up, and then we can enjoy some alone-time before our own family grows," Kane finished.

"That's what we're going to do," Steph said, "except ours already grew. And we're taking some extra family along with us."

"It's obvious that you're not suffering because you have a kid," he said, "so I'm really looking forward to the addition now instead of questioning how I'm going to deal with it."

"You both will be great parents," I added.

We were about to part ways for a few days when Harper nudged Kane.

"Ah, Sweetie?" She said to him.

"Yeah?"

"Before we go, aren't you forgetting something?"

"I don't think so. I don't have to kiss you goodbye, or call to tell you I'm going somewhere, since you're coming with me and I can kiss you all I want."

Her sigh was almost as well-honed as Steph's, and her smile is clearly as infatuated with her husband as Stephanie is with hers.

"What did you see the other day that reminded you of little Olivia?" Harper pressed.

"Damn, that's right." He hunkered down to dig through his carry-on. "Heads up," he said, tossing a box in Steph's direction.

I caught it one-handed and passed it to Steph before Olive could get her vise-like grip on it.

Harper not-so-gently pinched and twisted a chunk of skin on her husband's rib cage. "I told you to hand things to people, not chuck it at their heads."

"Sorry," he said to the women. "Since Princess here liked playing with my cross, and for some reason you keep calling that beautiful baby girl 'Olive', I saw this when I was buying Harp an 'I missed you like f-ing crazy' present."

"That's so sweet," Steph said at the same time Harper asked ... "Isn't he sweet?"

"It was ... and yeah I am," Kane replied. "Now let's drop it so you can open that. You can wear it for her until she's big enough to have it on without choking herself. I just wanted her to know that she has another honorary uncle, and you have another well-trained, but sometimes annoying guy who will always have your backs."

Steph glanced at me. "If I kiss his cheek, will you shoot him?"

"Yes, but only in the knee."

"I like Kane's legs the way they are," Harper said, "so we'll call this a kiss by proxy."

She kissed her husband's cheek and my wife did the same to me before taking the top off the jewelry box. Her eyes got shiny as she looked at the silver necklace. Connecting the two sides of the chain is a small, intricately sculpted branch containing leaves and four small olives. Kane is someone who fixates on details and he would be sure there is proper representation of everyone in my family, including Julie, with the number of silver olives the branch held.

"Not only is it a nod to little 'Olive' here, olive branches are a symbol of peace," Kane was saying to Steph and my daughter, who is already reaching for her new necklace, "and that's what you've given the man I've been lucky to be able to call my friend."