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“No, Princess, that’s just it. You did everything right. He’s never shown an interest in bananas in his pancakes before, and he refuses to eat apples if they aren’t sliced.” Smiling, he pulled her into his arms wrapping one around her shoulder; she cuddled into his chest.

For the first time in years, he felt content. Like everything was lining up the way it was supposed to. His son was infatuated with the woman he planned to make his, and she adored the single most important person in his life. Life couldn’t get better than this.

Until Case came crashing through the back door.

Six

Jumping nearly a foot in the air from fright, Deidre was glad Dom had his arm around her or she might have fallen. “Jesus, Case,” Dom laughed at his antics.

Leaning up to his ear, she asked, “Is this normal?”

“Princess, there ain’t nothing normal about head Case here.” He laughed leading her towards the table to sit with Jaxson.

“Hey! I resent that,” Casey grumbled.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping or something?” Dom teased him.

“Wellll, ideally yes. But then I thought to myself, “Hey Case, there’s a woman around now, maybe she’ll cook! Turns out she does!”

“Pincess’s panpakes are for me,” Jax told him smugly.

“That so, kid? You don’t wanna share with Uncle Casey even a little bit?” Casey whined.

“Ummm….”

“You gonna let me starve, kid?”

“Oh, I ‘pose not,” Jax told him mournfully, eyeing the stack of pancakes in the middle of the table. “But my pincess first,” he said sternly as Casey went to grab some, making them all laugh.

“Oh, sweet man, it’s okay. Uncle Casey can go ahead. I ate while I cooked.”

“Are you sure, pincess?” Nodding her head, he let Casey start eating.

Wh

ispering in Dom’s ear she told him, “He’s adorable.”

Once breakfast was finished and she and Jax got the dishes cleaned up—that was a chore in itself—they went out back where he was showing her all the animals they had.

In the barn were a beautiful golden mare and her colt. “Dat’s Goldie and her baby, Honey. Daddy let me name them,” Jax told her proudly.

“What breed is this horse?” she wondered aloud, not really expecting him to know.

“A ‘merican coter horse.”

Thinking his words through, she practically had to transcribe them before it hit her. “American Quarter Horse?”

“Yup, dat’s what I said.”

“Do you ride?” she asked him.

“Only wiff Daddy or Unca Casey. You would wook wike a real pincess riding Goldie,” he told her in awe.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. I like my feet firmly on the ground.” Watching the new mother and her foal interact was an experience she wouldn’t soon forget. Everything the mother did for her baby was out of protection. She watched the young with eagle eyes, making sure she never stumbled. Nudged her in the right direction with her long face when she got too wobbly.

A loud bang a few stalls over got their attention. Walking slowly and holding tightly to Jax’s hand, they came upon a beautiful black horse. He was huge and magnificent.

“What’s his name?” she asked in a low voice so as not to spook the animal, knowing instinctively it was a male and had to be Dominic’s horse.