Chapter 2

I'd been listening to the same track for the last couple of hours. Frankie and I recorded it a couple of days earlier. It was for the new album, but something… Something was off in it.

Using the dials, I minimized my part of the song and just listened to Frankie's lyrics. Her voice was as strong and capable as ever. The softness in her alto didn't rob it of an ounce of its power. The velvety lyrical nature was exactly what the song needed.

Switching over to my own lyric track, I dialed her down and listened to me. Even with the headset on, I always sounded different to myself. I got it, but it also afforded me a good chance to step outside of myself.

It wasn't the song. The song was good. The lyrics were strong. They were emotional…

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I hit pause before I popped off the headphones. Jake's name popped up on the screen so I swiped to answer it on speaker. It was just me in the studio.

"Hey, I thought you and Archie were going to be stress testing the new engine…"

It was something Archie wanted done before we got back from the tour. Booking a smaller tour had annoyed our manager. He had this huge plan to do a slow ramp up to a full tour over the summer and into the following autumn.

While I didn't tell him Frankie was pregnant, we weren't announcing it until after she was through the first trimester, I didn't really care what they wanted.

The tour was going to be smaller, and more intimate. We'd do more social media splashes and keep it lowkey. Traveling would be stressful enough cause she'd have to leave the kids for a couple of weeks at a time.

It worked when we did the tour while she was pregnant with Charlie, two weeks on, one week off. No more than two weeks away from the kids or the guys. They either met us somewhere or we came home.

Period.

"…are you even listening to me?" The dry note in Jake's voice snapped me out of the reverie.

"No, sorry. Got distracted. What's up?" I scrubbed a hand over my face. The bristle on my cheeks reminded me I hadn't shaved that morning. I was debating letting it grow out.

"You've been doing that a lot lately, new album giving you that much trouble?" The change in subject had me shaking my head.

It must have been bad if Jake was worrying about me. "No, it's not giving me that much trouble. It's just…I dunno, I'm probably overthinking it. But it feels like something is missing. I just can't tell if it's the music itself or how we're performing it. But I'll figure it out. "

"Good, cause you guys are leaving for that first set of dates to soft launch, right?" Jake coughed once, like he was clearing his throat.

"Not until October. As long as everything goes to plan, we're doing the soft launch the weekend after Coop's birthday and we'll be back before Archie's and Halloween."

"Good. Then November, two weeks out and a week back?"

"That's the plan. No holidays missed. If this is anything like last time, she's going to be miserable by the end of week two, so it's about as long as we can go before she has to see the kids." It was adorable in its own way. Her emotions were all over the place when she was pregnant. The poised woman we'd married could turn into an absolute fountain and cry over the fact that her danish tasted like cardboard.

The constant crying would sometimes frustrate my angel. I would just have to keep reminding her that it was just another demonstration of her huge heart. It was why we took great care to protect that heart by making sure she could see her kids.

"Sounds good. She sees the OB next week, right?"

I frowned and flipped through my phone for the family calendar. We color coded it so it was easy to skim. Two kids in school and a toddler meant there were a lot of activities to track.

"Yeah, which you can check. What's up?" Cause this was a weird call.

"Archie's losing his mind," Jake said, sounding utterly reasonable.

"Define losing his mind?" I stripped the headset fully off and stretched as I stood.

"I keep catching him sketching new equipment for the play yard, and new designs for safety features for a car." Amusement filled his voice. So this was something funny and not something to worry about. "Then I mentioned the tour and he pretty much just left to go see her."

Leaning back in the chair, I stared up at the ceiling. "Frankie's in Manhattan handling meetings today." Charlie was with Jeremy and I would take over when he went to get the kids.

"I know," Jake said. "Tried to tell him, but he's heading to the house. Left about fifteen minutes ago."

I didn't laugh. Fuck, it was hard not to laugh. Scrubbing a hand over my face, I shook my head. "I'll take care of it."

"I figured. You had to sit me down and then later Coop."

I snorted. "Why didn't you sit him down?"

"I would have tried but I didn't even realize what was happening until he was in the car and pulling out at speed." Jake huffed a laugh. "I mean, he was a little bit of a space cadet, but he has been since she told us. He's waited a long time and he never said it bothered him…"

"No," I said. "Didn't bother you or Coop that I was first either. Fucked with my head a little but…"

"You handled it. I don't remember anyone sitting you down." Jake blew out a breath. "Lucky bastard."

Yeah, he didn't remember it ‘cause it hadn't been them who had to do it. Jeremy did it. My dad did it. Hank had done it. In all their own ways, the dads had stepped up and they each offered some useful bit of advice.

It had helped.

"Work on the engine, you know when he catches his breath, he's gonna be all over that." I saved where I was at and then shut down the sound board. I'd have to listen later.

Right now, I needed to grab some lunch and get ready for Hurricane Archie to arrive. I left the studio, locking it up behind me and then circled the swimming pool and crossed to the patio leading into the house.

"Da!" Charlie said as I came inside. He hustled away from Jeremy and Miss Abigail at speed. I caught him racing forward, head first. He was as bad as Josh at charging at things.

"Hey, little man," I said, setting him on my hip as I gave him an inspection. "You're a mess."

"Paint with Gandpa." He showed me his fingers. It looked like he'd dipped each one into a different color. There were flakes drying on his cheeks and more than a little in his hair.

"So, who was doing the painting, you or Grandpa Jere?"

Jeremy snorted softly. "I'm afraid young Mr. Charlie took to finger painting so well, he thought it would be better to be foot painting." The amusement in his droll voice softened any kind of reprimand. "I was going to put him in the bath and see if we could scrub him up before his nap."

Charlie hugged my neck. "No bah!"

"Yes, bath," I told him. "Grandpa is right and you should listen." I tickled his foot after I caught it to check the layers of paint on them. "Where is this masterpiece?"

"Thankfully, in the garage. I'd thought we'd experiment away from anything that could be permanently stained." Jeremy crossed to me. "Come along, Mr. Charlie. Bath time."

"No bah." Charlie pouted and gave me the most soulful look. While he had his mother's eyes, he absolutely had his father's playfulness and he could not hold that expression for long. "Pwease?"

"Bath first. We'll play more later, but you have to be good for Grandpa."

With a huff of a complaint, Charlie went to Jeremy, who carried him up the stairs with Miss Abigail following. Speaking of dogs, I went over to check the yard. Maxie and Murray were snoozing in the sun.

Might take them out for a run with Archie when he got here. It would do all of us some good. For now, I got lunch put together. Jeremy always fixed something if Frankie was home. Since I didn't necessarily eat on a schedule when I had studio time, I just grabbed a sandwich or reheated leftovers.

The first time I'd done that, Jeremy had seemed pretty cross. The second, he'd given me the longest stare before excusing himself. On the third occasion, we had a chat about it. It had nothing to do with liking or disliking his food, I loved it.

But when I was in the space to write or work, I pretty much focused on that to the exclusion of all else. It was just easier for me to breeze in, grab food and breeze out again. When it came to Frankie or the kids, I made time, otherwise…

With all of that in mind, I pulled out the sandwich makings and built two subs. Even if Archie didn't eat his, Frankie might like it for a midnight snack. I chuckled, those hadn't started yet. But they were coming.

The fact Jeremy had already begun to restock the frozen yogurt pops she loved told me he was getting ready for it too. I'd just put the food on the table and gotten out a couple of sodas when the door from the garage opened and then shut.

"Frankie…" Archie called as he strode through the living room. I tracked the sound of his path before he stuck his head in the dining room where I was sitting just off the kitchen. "Hey Bubba, I need to talk to Frankie. Be right back."

I opened my mouth then closed it again as he took off. Jake wasn't wrong. I'd seen that panic before. I'd seen it in Jake's and Coop's eyes and I'd seen it in my own. Our love for the kids did not rest on whose genetics they carried. At the same time, there seemed to be a special kind of hell for those of us who were the biological father.

Granted, my panic came closer to the end of the second trimester. So had Coop's and Jake's… Made sense, we hadn't gotten the test results until then. We did the genetic testing just to be on the safe side for everyone. If there was a chance of something being wrong with the babies, we wanted to know.

This was the first time we were certain without a test. Archie had been the only one not using a condom and we had been actively trying to go for one more. We were going to vote after this pregnancy whether we wanted to do more or not.

I felt for the guy. No wonder he was panicking now. I'd just finished a bite of my sandwich and popped open the can when he reappeared in the doorway. Still dressed in his overalls for working on the engine and in work boots, Archie looked about as blue collar as he ever could.

"She's not here…"

"Nope." I saluted him with the soda. "Made you lunch."

"Where the hell is she? Is something wrong?" He was patting his pockets. "I'll call her…"

"Arch," I said his name a little more firmly. "Come sit down. She's at Standish in meetings all day with your dad and the accountants and the board of the foundation. They are getting ready to do this year's awards."

One hand on his breast pocket and the other on his back, Archie stared at me. His mouth opened then closed, before it popped open again.

"It's all good, man. Come sit down. Eat, have a drink, and we'll talk." I kept everything as calm and soothing as possible. It was kind of like dealing with a wild animal, there was still a lot of white on display around his eyes.

"You're talking to me like I'm freaking out." He managed to sound worried and a little insulted at the same time. "Why?"

"Because you're freaking out." I leaned back in the chair and let him chew on that.

"I'm not freaking out." Now he was all insult. "I don't freak out. I'm very good at not freaking out." His tone grew a little more strained.

"True," I said. "Normally. But, ask yourself, why are you still in your work overalls with greasy hands and you drove all the way here from Brooklyn without double-checking where she is. She told us her plans at breakfast."

I took another sip of the soda as Archie turned those words over in his head. I could practically hear the gears and wheels kicking in his brain.

He sat down abruptly, like someone had cut his strings and stared at his hands, then the food, then stood up again. "Oh shit. I am freaking out, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but it's all good man. Happens to the best of us."

"Clearly," Archie said, a hint of arrogance in his smirk. "It's happening to me."

I chuckled. "Go wash your hands and lose the work boots before Jeremy sees you."

He moved like a scalded cat. The water kicked on in the kitchen and he scrubbed up. He disappeared back to the garage before returning in socked feet without his overalls. The jeans and t-shirt were much better and far less greasy.

"Why does it look like someone exploded paint all over the inside of the garage?"

Was it that bad? "Charlie and Jeremy were working on a project."

"Right." Archie shook his head and dragged out the chair. Instead of eating, he just stared at the food. I gave him a minute. The panic might be subsiding, but he still needed to get all the wheels back on the track. "Isn't Charlie a little young for working with paint like that?"

"Probably why it looks like an explosion."

"Point," he said with a slow nod before he reached over to crack open his soda. "She's with Dad today. They're handling the funding…"

"Yep." I raised my sandwich.

"I knew that."

"Yep." I took a bite and chewed it as Archie downed some of the soda.

"I'm losing my mind."

I grinned at him. "Yep."

His expression soured and he gave me a dirty look. "You could have warned a guy."

"You saw it happen to Coop and to Jake. I know you were worried when it happened to me."

"But were you really panicking or just overthinking stuff?" The challenge was a fair one.

"Both. The point is, it hits all of us. It's not fun, when you get hit with the sudden feeling of hope and terror and they spin around inside of you like a top."

Leaning back in the chair, Archie stared up at the ceiling. "It's like—all I can do is think about everything that could go wrong. With me. With her. With you guys. With the kids. Jake and I were talking about the tour and how we needed to balance out our work schedules for those few weeks so one of us is around. Charlie is not going to like the separation, even if it's good for him."

We shared a grimace. Yes, the time apart would be good. He needed to learn to share his mother more and to not panic when she wasn't there. Newborns were one hundred percent dependent and Frankie had nursed them all. She'd been so thrilled that she could and I would never get tired of the look on her face when she cradled one of the babies to her breast.

Never.

"Then it hit you that she was going to be miles away and you wouldn't be seeing her regularly either. Different cities. Traveling. Stress…"

"Yeah," Archie said slowly, then scrubbed a hand over his face again. "Crap. I can't just lock her up in a padded room, right?"

"Nope. If you try, you're going to be missing your balls or end up in a padded room of your own." To be fair, we were all overprotective. "Here's the thing, take a breath and remember, this isn't our first."

With Izzy, everything had been new. While Josh and Charlie had both been different pregnancies, we at least had an idea of what to expect.

"We've done this before. She's toured before. We'll be home before the third trimester. She hasn't been as sick with this one, thankfully."

"All good things," Archie agreed and then he looked at his sandwich again as if finally registering it was there. "She has her big visit to the OB next week."

"Ultrasound." Yep.

"Taking the day off." Archie made a face. "I probably shouldn't, she gets annoyed when we hover."

"She also gets annoyed when we don't let her help." Something I was just as guilty of as the rest of them. "You're scared and you're going through all the possibilities. Talk to her. Let her help you."

"But you're right, she has done this before. Technically, we all have. This isn't different and yet…"

"No, it's different. I love Josh and Charlie. No one will ever tell me they aren't mine. But Izzy was different after I found out. It was like—every choice I've ever made cycled through my head. What if the drinking we did in sophomore year has some kind of lasting effect? What if… What if… What if…"

"Frankie worried about her mother," Archie said abruptly and I nodded. "With Izzy, she worried she'd turn into Maddy."

"Yeah, but Coop was the one who figured out she was worried that Maddy's narcissism and psychosis might be genetic. There's nothing we can do about that if it is, except support the kid in all the ways we can."

Something we'd all accepted. So far, all of our fears proved unfounded.

"I can't believe I just—ditched out on Jake." Archie shook his head.

"He gets it. You're just getting all of this early cause we didn't have to do paternity tests this time."

"True," Archie admitted, then picked up the sandwich. "This is all me, so I get to torture myself longer than you guys did."

"Sounds about right," I told him. "You are always overachieving."

That earned me a dirty look and then a laugh. "Well, you aren't lying."

No, I wasn't. "Now eat the sandwich and take a breather. I need to get back out to the studio, but we can also take the dogs for a run so you can burn off that manic energy before Frankie gets home."

"Sounds like a plan," Archie said. "But—can you promise me something?"

"Anything," I told him.

"If you think Frankie needs me—for anything—when you're on the road…"

"You're my first call."

Archie nodded. "Thanks."

"Just remember," I said. "Midnight cravings are your job this time around."

He paused with the sandwich on its way to his mouth then eyed me. "It occurs to me, her sex drive surges in the second trimester. You're gonna need one of us on the road."

Not an unfair thought. "Pretty much another solid reason to come home as often as we can."

A real laugh escaped him and some of the tension eased from his expression. "We're having another baby. Think it'll be a girl or a boy?"

"I think they'll be perfect," I said. "Perfect for us."

He finally took a bite and then nodded. "I like that," he said after swallowing. "I like that a lot."

"Just remember the next time you start to freak out… talk to one of us. We've all been there."

"Check. Next time I freak out, talk to someone and don't drive home like a zombie speed demon and risk freaking her out."

"And?" I prompted.

"And talk to Frankie. Let her help."

I saluted him with the soda. "Good man."

"Bubba?"

"Hmm."

"Thanks."

I grinned, "Like I said, anytime."