The look on his face was dumbfounded. “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I had.”

“Well, you were wrong. I had nothing to do with that gallery until this morning. I can’t believe you would think that I wouldn’t tell you something like that.”

“Really?” I said as I cocked my head and pursed my lips.

“Right. Point taken,” he said while nodding his head.

After we ate our hot dogs and Julia had fallen asleep, Connor and I lay down on the blanket. I snuggled up against him as he put his arm around me, and we looked up at the sky.

“This is a perfect day,” he said as he kissed my head.

“Every day is perfect when we’re together.” I smiled.

“I’ll never forget the day I found you lying here, in the rain. You were so sick, and I was so scared. You broke my heart that day, baby.”

“How?” I whispered.

“By telling me you were lying here so that no one would know you were crying. You have no idea how that killed me inside to hear you say that.”

I lifted up my head and looked at him. “I’m sorry. My life was so different then. You saved me from myself.”

He looked down at me and his lips brushed against mine. “We saved each other.”

Even though I wanted to stay in this spot forever, our heartfelt moment was soon interrupted by Julia’s cry. We both smiled as we got up and Connor took her from the stroller.

“I think it’s time we head home,” I said as I started packing up.

“I think you’re right.”

After kissing Julia on both cheeks, Connor put her in the stroller and pulled out his phone.

“Who are you calling?” I asked.

“Denny. I’m telling him to come pick us up.”

“Tell Denny I said hi!” I smiled as I took the stroller and started walking.

“Ellery Rose Black! Come back here with that baby!” he said rather loudly.

I turned my head and looked at him with a big smile on my face. “Have fun in the limo by yourself, Mr. Black! My baby and I are walking home.”

Before long, Connor was right behind me. “You are so stubborn.”

“I know, and that’s one of the reasons why you love me.”

“Just one of a million, baby. Just one of a million,” he said as he put his arm around me.

Ellery had been working hard on her paintings. The opening was next month and she still had two more pictures to paint. Mason had gone to California for a week with Landon, so I helped out as much as I could with Julia so Ellery wouldn’t worry about taking care of her. I had given Claire the day off to take her husband to the doctor, and Peyton was out of town with Henry. I had planned to stay home and work, but my attention was needed at the office. I tried to call my family for help, forgetting they were all out of town as well. Ellery had just left for the studio and Phil called, stating that I needed to be at the office for a meeting regarding the new Chicago building, and today was the only day it could be done. I looked at Julia as she sat in her bouncy seat.

“Listen, Julia. Daddy is going to take you to the office and I need you to be extra good. Okay?”

As she smiled at me, she screeched. She thought it was funny that I asked her to be extra good. I put her in her car seat, grabbed the diaper bag, and stepped into the elevator. Today was Denny’s day off, so I would have to drive the Range Rover to work. I stopped by Ellery’s studio to let her know that I was taking Julia with me. As I walked through the door, she turned around and looked at me.

“Hey, honey, what’s up?” she asked as she walked over and kissed me.

“I’m taking Julia to the office. I have a few things that I need to do.”

“By yourself?”

“Yes, by myself. Do you think I’m not capable of spending the day with my daughter alone?”

“No, I think you’re capable. Good luck, sweetie.” She smiled as she bent down and kissed Julia’s head.

I put my hand on the knob, turned it, and opened the door. Turning around and looking at her, I said, “Was that good luck for me or for Julia?” I asked in confusion.

“It was for both of you.” She laughed.

As I put Julia in the back and buckled the car seat, she started to cry. Shit, I thought to myself, and I was already running late for the meeting. She had just eaten so I knew she wasn’t hungry, and I had just changed her diaper before we left. I reached in the diaper bag and pulled out her pacifier. Ellery wasn’t too keen on her having it, but this was an emergency. When I put it in her mouth, she stopped crying. I let out a sigh of relief as I climbed in the driver’s side and headed to the office. Traffic was horrible, and Julia started crying again. I looked in the rearview mirror and her pacifier had fallen out of her mouth. Her screams grew louder as I tried to reach back and grab it. After I finally found it, I put it back in her mouth, but she didn’t want it. She spit it out and started screaming. I didn’t want to call Ellery because I didn’t want her to worry, so I dialed the next best person: Mason.

“Hel—Connor, why is the princess crying like that?”

“Mason, I need your help. I’m taking Julia to the office.”

“By yourself?” he interrupted.

“Yes. I’m stuck in traffic, and she won’t stop screaming. She won’t take the pacifier either.”

“You gave her the pacifier? Does Ellery know this?”

“No, and you’re not going to tell her either. Help me; I don’t know what to do.”

“Do you have any classical music with you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Look in the diaper bag. There may be a CD in there.”

Reaching in the back, I grabbed a hold of the diaper bag and, as I was bringing it up to the front, items started falling out onto the floor. Julia was still screaming, and I was about to have a nervous breakdown.

“There’s no fucking CD in here!” I screamed into the phone.

“Connor, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing you can do until you get to the office.”

After hanging up, I looked at my phone and had an idea. Still stuck in traffic, I downloaded some classical music onto my phone. Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” was the first song on the list. I hit play and turned the volume up as loud as it would go. I held the phone towards the back and closer to Julia. She didn’t stop crying right away, but the noise was becoming softer. As traffic started moving, Julia fell asleep, and I felt like I could breathe again. Finally, we arrived at Black Enterprises. I pulled into the parking garage and parked in my spot. As I looked behind me, I saw that Julia was still asleep, and I needed her to stay that way. I carefully opened the door and started picking up all the things from the diaper bag that fell on the floor. As I gently unbuckled the car seat, Julia’s eyes opened, and I froze. Grabbing the pacifier that was sitting next to her, I put in her mouth and her eyes slowly closed. I started to sweat at the thought of her screaming bloody murder again.

Stepping off the back elevator that led to my office, I was instantly surrounded by a flock of women who wanted to see Julia. When I walked down the hallway to my office, I realized that Valerie wasn’t sitting at her desk. Shit, her vacation started today, I remembered as I was counting on her to keep an eye on Julia. Opening the door to my office, I set the car seat on my desk, while I gathered some files for the meeting.

“Whoa, Connor! Why is Julia here?” Phil asked in shock.

“Because I didn’t have anyone to watch her, Phil,” I replied with irritation.

“Don’t you have a manny or nanny or whatever?”

“He’s on vacation, and Ellery is working on her paintings.”

“You can’t bring a baby to a meeting,” he said.

Glaring at his stupidity, I calmly said, “Have you forgotten that Black Enterprises is my company and I can do whatever the hell I want? If I want to bring my daughter to the meeting, then I’ll damn well do it!”