“I want chocolate cake,” he said.

She laughed. “Hmm, yesterday it was peanut butter.”

“Grammy M said a peanut butter cake would stick to the roof of my mouth. So chocolate.”

His fourth birthday was still nearly a month away, but Danny took the cake decision very seriously. As this was the first year he’d actually had an opinion, Mia was more than willing to let him pick.

“Chocolate it is,” she said as she kissed the top of his head then set him on the floor. “Okay, big guy. Let’s get you dressed.”

Danny rubbed his eyes, set down his tiger, and tugged at his PJ shirt. He got it over his head, where it got stuck. Mia pulled until he popped free and grinned at her.

She pulled open a drawer and called out colors. “Blue, green, red, or yellow?”

Danny closed his mouth and blew through pursed lips. “Yellow.”

She removed a bright yellow T-shirt with trucks on the front, a pair of dark gray shorts, and cartoon character-covered underwear.

He stepped out of his bottoms and underwear, then reached for the clean pair of little boy briefs. Next were the shorts, which he could pull on himself. She helped him with the T-shirt.

The familiarity of the morning routine allowed her to momentarily forget the sudden appearance of Danny’s father, but she couldn’t ignore Diego…Rafael…any longer.

She tossed the dirty clothes into the hamper and grabbed the hairbrush from the dresser. Danny stood patiently while she smoothed his dark hair. When she’d finished, she looked at the familiar little face and knew he was very much his father’s son.

The shape of their eyes was the same and they had similar smiles. Not that there was any doubt. Mia hadn’t been in a relationship in months when she met Rafael. She’d fallen hard, even though she’d known it was the wrong thing to do.