Page 71 of The Refiner

It was a Halloween night I would never forget.

“It looked like you had a lot of fun out there tonight.”

We’re headed back to Vance and Halle’s to pick up Tatum-Bug.

“I did. Thank you for taking me. It was a Halloween like no other.”

Astor, still in his overalls, cuts me this ridiculous grin that if I wasn’t on birth control would have me ending up pregnant. “The kids really liked you.”

“They liked you more.” The nurses and parents too. Astor looking like a real-life video game hero, running up and down the halls like a big kid was straight-up mommy-porn.

“Nah. I bribed them with extra candy.”

He lies. This saint of a man is lying. You can tell he loves children. “It’s funny to me that it took you so long to actually knock up a woman.” I chuckle. “Clearly you love kids.”

Astor’s smile fades. I’m not sure which part of what I said upset him. I’ve always joked about him knocking up Piper. What’s changed?

“I just never met the right woman, I guess.”

Until my sister.

But I don’t say that. Astor doesn’t seem to be in a teasing mood about his accidental pregnancy, which, if I’m being honest, is played out. Shit happens. Astor and Piper probably were at some boring conference and passed the time playing with each other. Who could blame them?

“Well, you’d do the world a disservice, Dr. Potter, if you stopped with Tatum.”

He flashes me a smile but I can tell it’s forced. “I’ll keep that in mind as I approach forty.”

“In three years,” I remind him.

He grins. “Tatum might need a puppy just in case.”

And a mommy, but neither of us mention that as we pull into Vance’s driveway.

“You up for one more house?”

Astor puts the car in park and hops out, coming around in nearly a sprint to open my door. “You’re in hero mode again,” I remind him. Though, I’m starting think Astor’s hero mode is really just Astor’s normal play mode. The man is just otherworldly. “But yes, I’m up for one more house.”

“Good, because it’s not this house.” He snatches me from the car and flips me over his shoulder like some kind of firefighter.

“I thought we were getting Tatum?”

“Nope.” He swats my ass. “We are kissing Tatum goodnight while she stays with Uncle Vance and Aunt Halle for the night.”

“What? No. She’s too little to be away from us.”

Astor tightens his hold on my legs. “She’ll be fine. We’ll come back first thing in the morning.”

We get to the front door and Astor rings the bell.

“What if she cries?” I ask while we wait.

“Then they’ll feed her.”

I hate that he sounds so confident.

“What if the bottle doesn’t stop her crying? What if something goes wrong?”

Astor shifts me on his shoulder. “Then my brother, who’s also a physician, will assess her and call me.”

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