Page 56 of One Kind Goal

Nia’s eyes grew wide. “Triplets? That’s so cool!” She leaned against Morgan. “Can I see the pictures? Pretty please?”

Sawyer bit back his laugh at his daughter’s power of persuasion. He had no doubt Morgan would cave like a tower of playing cards.

“How about if I show you a current photo of the three of us?” Morgan grabbed her phone and tapped the screen.

“Okay!” Nia leaned over Morgan’s lap, ready to see the photo.

“Nice negotiating,” Sawyer said.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Austin said. “And I’m in awe. I’ve got King of the Dad Glare over here and Let’s Make a Deal Queen over there.” He waved a hand at Morgan.

She ignored her brother and swiped her phone. “Here’s one.” She angled the phone so Nia could see. Pointing to the screen, she said, “That one is Brooke and that one is Claire.”

“You’re all so pretty.” Nia took the phone and showed Charlie. “Aren’t they?”

“Sure are,” Charlie agreed. “They’re even prettier in person.”

“You’ve met all of them?” Nia brought the phone so close to her face, her nose nearly touched the screen.

“Uh-huh,” Charlie said.

“Mikey and Matty at my preschool are twins,” Nia said, “but they don’t look the same. Not like this. Mikey has black hair like me, but Matty’s is blond.”

“That’s called being fraternal twins,” Sawyer said, feeling dad-ish at being able to teach his daughter something new.

“Fraternal,” Nia said slowly. She held the phone up to Morgan. “Do you have more pictures?”

Nodding, Morgan showed her a few more.

“Oh, what a cute doggie!” Nia said at one of the photos.

“That’s Berto,” Morgan said. “Austin’s dog.” She looked around the room. “Where is Berto anyway?”

“He’s in California with Cody,” Austin said. “My agent wanted to use him in a commercial one of his clients was doing.”

“Your dog is an actor too?” Sawyer asked.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Charlie said. “He’s never acted before, but he’s pretty cute so I think he’ll charm everyone working on the shoot and be just fine.”

Sawyer turned his attention back to Morgan and Nia. He enjoyed seeing their two heads huddled together as they swiped through photos.

“Either you or your kid is magic,” Austin said in a low voice, “because the Morgan Rayhill I have known my entire life is not the woman sitting on that couch right now.” He leaned forward and plucked a pizza strip off the closest platter.

“I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure how she’d react to me having a daughter,” Sawyer said, feeling Morgan’s gaze on him even though he wasn’t looking at her. “I haven’t told many people, let alone allowed them to meet her, but Morgan has interacted with Nia as if she—”

“Enjoys it,” Morgan finished, making Sawyer and Austin look her way now. “That’s because I do.”

Charlie and Austin shared a look Sawyer took as approval.

They spent the rest of their visit munching on snacks, taking a tour of the house and Charlie’s helicopter, and eventually, against Morgan’s will, flipping through an old Rayhill family photo album. When Morgan told Nia that her youngest sister, Summer, and her parents had died, Nia immediately threw her arms around Morgan.

“Mommy says when people die, they become angels that watch over us,” Nia said.

Sawyer made a mental note to tell Carina that she was doing an amazing job with Nia. Not only was she a good kid, but she was compassionate too. He’d spent a lot of time being frustrated with Carina over not being able to see Nia. Meanwhile he’d overlooked the awesome parenting she was doing. Singlehandedly. If they could work as a team to raise Nia, wouldn’t that be better?

As if thinking about Carina had summoned her, Sawyer’s phone buzzed with a text.

Carina: How is Nia?