“Possibly,” she answered with a nod. Riley smiled at her. Her dark hair and blue eyes reminded him a little of Jack, and Riley, not for the first time, admitted to himself that he’d probably chosen Rebecca for her coloring at first. He wanted little Jacks. A boy or girl with Jack’s hair and eyes and a love of the land and horses.

They talked idly about random things, getting to know each other better. Jack took the girls and Peter outside to the horses, and Riley went through to the bedroom to grab the camera. When he walked through the kitchen, he caught Donna and Rebecca in a hug and the tail end of a thank you. Jack was lucky to have Donna. Not that Sandra hadn’t been interested in the whole surrogacy issue, it was just that Riley’s mom was a lot less obvious, for want of a better word, in her affection. Riley knew which he preferred and gathered both women in for another embrace.

“Group hug,” he laughed. Then he offered Rebecca an arm and Max a hand, and together they walked toward the barns.

The day passed quickly. Max went from standing way back with Riley to sitting up on a saddle with Peter behind him. The girls had long since disappeared in with Rebecca to use the pool, and Jack and Max were dealing with the horses while Riley leaned against the fence with Peter.

“Will you adopt Max?” Riley asked. He was probably overstepping the boundaries by asking, but there was something in Max’s huge eyes that spoke to him.

“Probably not,” Peter said. Then he turned to look at Riley. “Does that shock you?”

Riley considered his reaction. Yes, he guessed, in a way that was a shock. He’d imagined Max would be settled with the Henderson family. Who would have him? They said no one wanted to adopt a child with learning difficulties. That couldn’t be right, there must be a family out there who wanted to care. His opinion of Peter and Rebecca wavered. If Max was happy with them shouldn’t he stay there forever? He didn’t want to doubt them, not when Rebecca was pregnant with their children.

“I should explain.” Peter turned against the fence to face Riley.

“You don’t have to.”

Peter smiled sadly. “I do, you know. Rebecca and I were blessed with three wonderful girls. They’re our family, our unit. Doesn’t mean we didn’t love the kids we fostered over the years, but we wanted to help a lot of kids, and Rebecca also wanted to do the surrogacy thing for gay couples. Every day Max is with us we will love him and look after him, encourage him, and try to instill our values, but when it comes down to it, Max needs a family he can call his own and we need to move on in our lives to the next stage, our own daughters at college and into their lives.”

“Okay.” Riley tried to sound like he understood but at the end of it he didn’t really. Rebecca was so good with Max and Max seemed so settled and happy.

Peter sighed. “I wish I had a better way of explaining this to you.”

Riley held up a hand. “No. I understand what you’re saying, and I respect that. Hell, what Rebecca is doing for us, what she has done for others, and she told me you’ve short-term fostered eight kids, is that right?”

“Max is our ninth.”

“So the search is on for a good family for Max. Has anyone showed any interest?” A thought scratched at the base of his brain. He could be Max’s family maybe, him and Jack? He pushed the thought away. They were having twins soon; that should be their focus. But Max was such a good kid. Quirky. Sweet. Big-hearted.

Peter shook his head. “Max has issues. He was born very early, twenty-six weeks. You know that he has some developmental issues, especially language development and understanding. In a way he has traits of a child on the autistic spectrum. His social skills are stilted, and as much as I’d like to say it’s because he only lasted a few months at previous foster homes, I think the core of it is that he will experience difficulties all his life.”

“We never contemplated adoption,” Riley mused out loud. “We always wanted surrogacy as our solution to having a family.”

“Every person has their own way,” Peter offered gently. “Adoption isn’t always the best way forward, then sometimes it is the only way forward and the absolute best decision for all included.”

Jack emerged from the barn and Max walked beside him with Jack’s Stetson pulled on his head. It looked a little large on Max’s small body, but he was so damn cute. Jack was chatting away to Max and Max was listening. He looked up and stared right at Jack and he listened. There was a connection between the two of them that Riley could see as plain as the nose on his face.

“Is it difficult to adopt?” Riley asked softly. Jack stopped in his path and crouched down next to Max, looking like the two of them were discussing something important. How he wished he was closer so he could hear what they were saying.

“For a same-sex couple in Texas, yeah,” Peter said bluntly. “For a millionaire with a legal team at his disposal and near unlimited funds? No.”

Riley shot Peter a sharp glance. Was Peter trying to criticize or just give Riley the heads-up that it wouldn’t be difficult to adopt with the backing and resources that Riley’s money could buy? Riley thought the latter, so he didn’t get offended. Peter held out his arms and after a momentary hesitation Max allowed himself to be swung up and held.

“We need to go, little man.”

“Horses,” Max murmured. He stared right at Jack with something akin to adoration in his face. His chubby cheeks were flushed, and his blue eyes were bright with excitement. “Love.” He held his Thomas out to Jack and Riley almost said for Jack not to take it. Then Jack did exactly what Max wanted him to. He touched it gently.

“Bye, Thomas,” he said. “And bye, Max.”

Max copied the action to Riley and Riley repeated what Jack said. The two men watched the Henderson family climb into their large people carrier and stood silently until the car was nothing more than dust on the horizon.

“Rebecca looked really good,” Riley commented. Emotions churned inside him, and he hugged himself across his stomach.

“You okay, babe?” Jack asked solicitously. He placed an arm around Riley at hip level and tugged him close.

“Max,” Riley began. Then stopped. What did he say? How did he phrase something like adoption when they were in the middle of having their own babies? “Peter said that he and Rebecca aren’t adopting him. That he’ll need to find a family.”

“Yeah, we should look into adoption,” Jack said simply. Like it was a done deal.

Riley twisted in Jack’s hold. “You mean that? You would do that? Look into adopting Max?”

“That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Is it what you want?”

“Yes.”

“Wow,” Riley said on a noisy exhale. “Guess I’d better call Dad.”

* * * * *

The last week of February held a very important day. The twenty-fourth was scan day, and there was every chance, given Rebecca was now twelve weeks, that Riley and Jack could hear the heartbeat.

They met Rebecca and Peter in the waiting room and began talking like old friends. She still didn’t look pregnant, but the way she held herself was different, including the way she had a hand placed over her stomach protectively.

“I’d like it if Peter can come into this appointment.”

Riley felt instantly defensive and stiffened next to Jack. “Is that what usually happens?” he asked instantly. Their first appointment had just been them, why did Peter, even if he was a good guy, have to go in with them?

Rebecca grinned and didn’t appear to take offense. “Peter will be looking after me at home. He needs firsthand knowledge of any complications or issues and to be able to ask questions. We’ll understand if you say no.”

Riley was oddly protective of his and Jack’s experiences in this pregnancy, but he could see the sense in what she was saying.