ONE YEAR LATER

Cadee pushed her bowl away, "I don't want it." She whined, "it's cold."

"Of course it is, you took forever to come downstairs." Hailey was fed up with her daughter's attitude, she was fed up with a lot these days.

"I don't want it." Cadence pouted, "I want daddy."

There it was, Hailey was wondering when she would ask for her daddy. She knew she had to keep her emotions in check, Cadence was struggling with not seeing Donovan. Cadence was too young to understand what was going on and she needed to remember that and not take her outbursts personally.

Easier said than done. If she were being truthful with herself, she wanted Donovan just as much. She kept reminding herself that this was the best option for all of them, they couldn't live like this any longer.

She hadn't come to her decision lightly, she had agonized over it for weeks but in her gut she knew this was the right move.

Cadence was starting to ask questions, Hailey had seen the way the other mothers looked at her or the hushed conversations. Hailey's biggest fear was that Cadence would be shunned because of her father's choices.

The straw that broke the camel's back was when Donovan had gotten into trouble and had his sentence extended, and then the speculation that favors where called in on Donovan's behalf to keep him from being charged for his role in Cassie's death.

Hailey had no idea if there as any truth to it but it didn't matter. She could no longer live in limbo, she couldn't spend two weekends a month visiting a federal prison.

Cadence deserved more.

"I'm sorry, Cadence. I'm really sorry, I know how much you love your daddy and he loves you." Hailey took hold of her hand, "You can write to daddy and we are trying to figure out a way for you to FaceTime with him but we won't go to visit him."

"I want to." Cadee whined, "FaceTime isn't the same, I can't hug him."

"I know, sweetie. I'm sorry." Hailey welcomed Cadee into her arms and held on tight as she cried. She pulled away, "How about when it's your birthday we go and visit daddy?"

Cadence's face lit up, "Yes! I want too! That'd be the best birthday ever!"

Hailey smiled, "I will make it happen." It broke her heart that Cadence viewed visiting her father in prison as the best birthday ever.

Hailey sent out one last text, a Hail Mary of sorts. She had tried numerous times and numerous people and each time it was rejected.

She knew she had done it to herself but it didn't make it any easier to swallow.

Donovan slumped against the wall, the letter at his feet.

His worst fears had come to fruition.

Hailey had filed for divorce and would no longer bring Cadee to visit him, she had enough. She couldn't live in limbo any longer. She was furious with him for getting into trouble, he had kept his nose clean for the vast majority of the time.

She had promised him that she would visit soon, and that they'd discuss it. He knew her mind had been made up and there was nothing he could do about it.

He fucked up one time and it cost him everything.

He had lost everything he held dear.

Kim was exhausted.

They had hit what she had coined the 'witching hour'.

Once it hit six o'clock her children lost their minds, it was bizarre as hell and it never failed it didn't matter what was they had going on or where they were.

Oscar became grouchy as hell, which Adam liked to blame on his name. He joked that they had set themselves up for such behavior, with a name like Oscar he was bound to be a grouch.

Even their sweet little baby got in on the act, the baby was easy to appease. As long as Kim held the baby everything was good, which annoyed Oscar and caused him to ramp up his game.

Kim was stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place.

Did she let the baby scream or did she give in to Oscar and his demand for attention? It was always easier to deal with the baby first.

The baby was definitely the squeaky wheel in this situation.

Their baby had come into the world without much fanfare, it had been a textbook delivery.

They wanted to wait until the baby was born to learn its gender and they were both overjoyed to welcome a little girl into the world.

Evelyn Marie was breathtakingly beautiful, she was a chunky thing tipping the scales at nearly nine pounds and was as bald as could be. Evelyn or Evie as she was often called was named after Kim's beloved grandmother, and her middle name was in honor of Cassie.

Adam was overcome with emotion the first time he held his baby girl and it broke Kim's heart to hear him crying. The medical staff that remained in the room had assumed his tears were happy ones, but Kim knew better.

He was happy, incredibly happy but it wasn't the reason for his tears. Not entirely anyway. It was a bittersweet moment and Kim wrapped her arms around him as best she could and leaned her cheek against his back and held on as he cried.

Kim had decided early on that they'd keep the visitors to a minimum when the baby was born, allowing them all a minute to breathe before the chaos of visitors started. She was thankful to have had made that call as Adam had been an emotional mess, having a day to themselves was exactly what they needed.

Nicole had kept Oscar for them and she had been allowed a quick visit with Evelyn while Adam took Oscar down to the gift shop to buy a gift for the baby.

Oscar wasn't sure what to make of his new sister and seemed to be more concerned about watching something on Adam's phone,

The next few weeks were a blur.

Evie was three months old and they couldn't remember what their lives were like without her.

Except now, Kim could remember their lives were quieter.

She unbuckled Evie and lifted her from the seat, "Come on little one..settle down for mommy." She spoke in hushed tones and kissed Evie's cheek softly, "I need you to go to sleep so I can spend some time with Oscar."

Kim could see Oscar in her peripheral vision and he was already pouting, his bottom lip formed the cutest little sad face, but it was the crocodile tears welling in his eyes that pulled on her heartstrings.

He was her baby boy and the bond she had with him was strong, he was very much a 'mama's boy' and she hated that he felt pushed aside because of Evie.

They had done their best to keep that from happening but it was unavoidable, Evie required more from them and sometimes Oscar would have to wait. They did their best to explain it to Oscar but he didn't completely understand and he had the occasional outburst.

Right now was one of those moments, Kim knew it was pointless to speak to Oscar about it, he was clearly pissed off. She focused on getting Evie to sleep and then she'd deal with Oscar.

Kim carefully backed out of the nursery and closed the door softly, Evie was a light sleeper and even the faintest of sounds and Evie would wake up. There had been a few times Kim had wanted to strangle Adam, he struggled with being quiet although he was getting better.

Oscar sat on the floor in the living surrounded by his trucks, building blocks, and his dinosaurs, he was in the process of having a T-Rex destroy anything in its path.

Kim sat down beside him, "Can I play?"

"Where's Evie?" Oscar kept his focus on the dinosaur in his hand.

"She's sleeping." Kim grabbed a dinosaur, "what kind is this guy?" She was still in awe over his knowledge of dinosaurs, he knew their names and what they ate. He couldn't quit pronounce them all but he did a better job than most adults. He loved going to the museum to see their dinosaur exhibit, they had already been a half dozen times.

"He's a brachiosaurus." Oscar replied, "He's a herbivore. That's why his neck is so long. So he can reach the leaves on the trees."

"You're the smartest three year old I know." Kim tousled his hair.

"I'm four soon, right?"

"Yes, soon." He still had a few months to go before his birthday but she knew that before she knew it he'd be four, the days were so very long but the years were short.

"After four I will get to be five and then I can go to big kid school." Oscar couldn't wait to go to 'big kid' school, he currently attended a preschool that had come highly recommended and he loved that the school had an after school group and that he often got to hang out with the 'big kids'.

"Yes when you are five years old you can go to big kid school. How about we just enjoy being three years old for now?"

"Okay." Oscar shrugged his shoulders, he searched his bucket of dinosaurs he pulled one out and handed it to Kim, "You can be the mommy dinosaur. I'm the son one, but not a little son a big son and you're an old mommy, I protect you."

"You're so sweet Oscar" Kim pulled him into her lap and held him tight. "I love you so much."

"I love you too mommy."

Going out for drinks after work was a rarity, Adam had Kim and the kids, Kevin was in a serious relationship and while he had yet to propose to her, it was headed in that direction. Jay had even found someone and for the first time in a long time he was happy and felt secure in their relationship.

They had solved their case and needed to unwind a bit, Adam had insisted on it. It had been a rough one and grabbing a few beers was just what they needed.

He had made it clear he was in for two rounds and then he was heading home, he was returning with round two when he noticed Jay glaring at his cell phone.

"What's up?" Adam asked, "you need to go?"

"Nah, just a text. A blast from the past."Jay shrugged, as he debated if he should respond.

"Sounds ominous." Adam handed him a beer, "Can I ask who it is?"

"Hailey." Jay waited with bated breath, she wasn't one of Adam's favorite subjects.

"What the hell does she want?" Adam was perplexed. He hadn't heard from her since shortly after Cassie's death. They spoke briefly around the first anniversary of Cassie's death but that had been it.

Jay had heard from her a few times over the last six months or so, they had exchanged a handful of texts, and met up for a drinks once. She had filled him in on what she had been through and he felt bad for her.

"She okay?" Adam asked.

"She's filing for divorce." Jay quickly corrected himself, "I don't know all the details. I don't want to know to them."

Adam knew the dickhead had been as dirty as the day was long and that he was rotting away in a federal prison, and he couldn't think of someone more deserving. He didn't feel for the kid though, she was Cassie's sister and he knew it had to be hard for her.

"It's about time." Adam replied, never understood how Hailey was able to stay with him. "She sniffing around you?"

"No."

"You've got a good woman. One who isn't a cop, one who doesn't have baggage and for some reason she's into you..don't fuck it up."

"Not happening." Jay finished his beer, "I'm calling it a night, I wanna get home to that good woman of mine." He grabbed ahold of Adam's shoulder, "We are lucky men, Adam."

"Indeed we are." Adam nodded his head in agreement.

Kim promised Oscar that he could fall asleep on the couch and as soon as Adam got home he would carry him to bed. As Oscar slept, Evie sat content in her seat and gnawed on her fist while Kim worked on her current case and made sure she had all her ducks in a row for court.

She was so immersed in the file that she didn't hear Adam come in, and was startled when she felt his warm breath on her neck, "Jesus...you scared me." She leaned into him as he kissed her neck, "I missed you."

"I missed you too." He came around the couch and leaned in for a proper kiss, "How's your day gone?" He flicked the corner of the file in her hand, "Work crazy?"

"Not really. Evie was fussy, Oscar was grumpy. I put it off until they were asleep. I'm almost done, I have court in the morning."

Adam got up and went to Evie and lifted her from her seat, "Fun." He detested court, "We closed our case." He sat beside Kim and cradled Evie in the crook of his arm, he could watch her for hours on end, "She's so cute, and happy." She smiled every time he spoke.

"She's lucky she's cute. She's wasn't smiling a few hours ago, she was pissed off." Kim closed the file and set in on the end table, she moved to sit closer to Adam almost melting into his side.

"She gets that temper from her mommy." Adam teased.

"I'm going to ignore that. How're the boys?" Kim asked, she didn't get to see Kevin and Jay as much as she'd like. It was hard getting all of their schedules to align so they could grab dinner together as a group.

She loved Kevin's girlfriend Lacey, they had hit it off from the start and she had a good vibe when it came to Jay's girlfriend Amy. She was happy both guys had found someone special, they both deserved happiness.

"Kev's good. He's happy as a pig in shit. Jay's good too." Adam laughed as Evie scrunched her face up, "he's got some drama going on though, but he's on top of it."

"Drama?" Kim asked.

"Yeah." Adam shifted Evie in his arms, "Don't worry, he didn't cause it. Hailey has been texting him. She's getting divorced."

Kim pinched the bridge of her nose, "What did Jay say?"

"Nothing really. He didn't even respond to her text." Adam explained, "I'm glad Hailey's cutting that dick loose, she never should've married him. I don't know how she could stand the sight of him." He could feel himself getting angry, he knew that anger would never go away nor would it diminish, he just knew how to keep it at bay for the most part.

Kim could feel him tense up, she knew she needed to shift the topic of conversation before Adam was consumed by rage and hatred.

"Adam baby, don't let them in your head." She took Evie from him, "She's ready for bed. I will put her down. I promised Oscar that you'd carry him to his room and that you'd tuck him in." She rubbed his back, "then I'd luck for you to tuck me in..."

"I like the sound of that."Adam kissed her, "I'll definitely tuck you in."

Kim watched as he went to Oscar and gingerly picked him up, she loved how gentle Adam was the kids. He gave them everything he had, he loved them beyond words and made sure they knew it.

He made the most out of everyday, every moment. He knew all to well that life was short, he knew that it everything he held near and dear could be ripped from him without warning.

Cadence had fallen asleep on the couch during the movie, Hailey carefully carried her to her bedroom. She sat on the edge of the bed and watched as she slept, kissing her forehead before leaving.

She had resisted the urge to check her phone while Cadence was awake and finally found the courage to check it. She felt her stomach sink when she hadn't received a reply, she didn't know why she kept doing this to herself. She couldn't deny it anymore, that part of her life was over. She needed to let it go, she needed to let them go.

They had all moved on, she needed to do the same. She scrolled through her contacts and deleted their numbers.

It was in that moment she realized that she needed to leave her past behind her and focus on the future and it terrified her.

Kim lazily ran her hand across Adam's bare chest, "Adam..."

"Kim..." He grabbed her hand and kissed.

"I'm happy." She looked up at him, "I'm so very happy."

"I am too, darlin'. I never thought I'd be happy again. You, Oscar, and Evie are my everything. My heart will always ache for Cassie that will never change, but my life has meaning again. You've given me that. I love you, I will always love you."

Seems all I do is apologize, this took longer than it should have as well but it's finally finished. Thank you all so much for reading, commenting, and following my 'stories' it's been a fun ride for sure.