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Gabe looked at Lori to check she was okay, and Lori waved her away. “Go. Fix your friend. We’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” Gabe headed to the back of the house where she found Solo in a black tux, pacing around their playpens. “You’re looking sharp.”

Solo turned around briefly before focusing back on the babies. “You’re early. Still on Army time?”

“Nope, this is all Lori,” Gabe said. “What’re you doing in here? Your wife is dressed to kill, and you haven’t told her how amazing she looks. Is a divorce really what you want?”

“Huh?” Solo spun around. “Is that what she said? Fuck.” She looked to the door and then back to the babies and then back to the door.

Gabe grabbed Solo’s shoulder. “Hey, I was just kidding. What’s going on?”

“Are you sure you’re going to be all right?” Solo’s eyes darted from Gabe to the triplets. “Should we just stay in and order takeout?”

“Lori’s here to help me, and she’s already in the kitchen getting ready to cook. So, yes, we’re going to be fine, and you need to take your beautiful wife to the theater. What are you going to watch?”

“Medea: Priestess, Princess, Witch. You know what that’s about? A mother who kills her kids.”

“Well, maybe she doesn’t in this version, and I promise you I won’t either. Your girls are going to be fine.” Gabe gave Solo a firm shake. “Come on, buddy. What’s the problem? You’ve been leaving the babies every day for a few hours. This is no different.”

“This will be the first time I haven’t put them to bed.” Solo stuffed her hands in her pockets. “I like that I’m the last thing they see before they go to sleep.”

“What about when you went out with me? You were out all night.”

“Yeah, but I’d put them to bed and read their favorite stories before I came out.”

“Is this why you’ve been in a hurry to leave the shop every day?” Gabe asked as Solo’s recent behavior and this new information formed the full picture. She’d assumed Solo was in a hurry to get home to her gorgeous wife, which she could understand. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that Solo had been missing her kids.

Solo shrugged and didn’t meet Gabe’s eyes. “I know, I’m a sap. Sorry.”

Gabe shook her head. “Sorry for what? Loving your kids? I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t apologize for that.” She was powerless not to draw the comparison to her own parents and their lack of love. “I think it’s kind of sweet to see you like this.”

Solo snapped her head up and frowned. “You’re fudging with me.”

Gabe laughed. “Fudging?”

“If a curse is one of their first words, Janie will kill me. Seriously though, since when do you think anything is sweet?”

Gabe held up her hands. “What can I say? What worked for me in the Army doesn’t work out here in the real world. I’m learning to be a different person, I guess. Like you did. You’ve changed so much since coming out of the service that it’s sometimes hard to recognize you.”

Solo finally smiled. “And I suppose your changes are nothing to do with your friend in our kitchen?”

“Lori is part of it, yeah, but so are you and Janie…and the girls,” she said, gesturing to the relatively cute-looking triplets, though they’d probably transform to gremlins the moment their moms left the house. “The business is a big part of it too. It’s everything, not just one thing. You should know that; you’ve been through it and come out great on the other side.” The thought of other Army buddies who hadn’t navigated the change dropped like an engine block in her gut. “Not everyone does.”

Solo nodded and cast her eyes downward again, but this time in respect. It didn’t need to be said out loud. Every veteran felt it. Every soldier who survived their tours and civilian life never forgot the thousands who didn’t.

Gabe grasped Solo’s shoulder again. “Say goodbye to your girls, go to the kitchen and look at your wife, then go out and have a great time. Okay?”

Solo slung her arm around Gabe’s shoulder and pulled her into a bro hug. “Thanks, Gabe.”

She jutted her chin in acknowledgment of Solo’s use of her actual name instead of yet another play on her last name. “I could get used to that.”

Solo tilted her head. “I guess I could too as long as it doesn’t have to go both ways.”

“It doesn’t.” After Solo had kissed each of her kids goodnight, Gabe shoved Solo out the door.

Back in the kitchen, it looked like Janie had just finished going through a long list of dos and don’ts and was showing Lori a video monitor.

“It’s linked to every room, so you just cycle through to the playroom or the babies’ bedroom, and you can keep an eye on them from wherever you are,” Janie said.