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forgive your gender-bashing given your chivalry.”
    Seth winked at JT. “See, Mom was right—show a lady some courtesy and you can get away with almost anything.”
    Laura mocked slugged his arm. “Maybe I take it back.”
    â€œYou two sound like kids,” JT scolded, though she was still grinning and obviously delighted.
    Seth suddenly grew serious. “We may sound like kids, but we’re both adults who are worried about you, JT. Remember we’re here. You can talk to either of us, anytime, about anything.”
    JT eyed the earnest lieutenant, then nodded. “That’s nice, but I’m fine. See you tomorrow, Ms. Watson.” She walked them to the front door. “Bye,” JT said before she shut the door.
    Laura looked at the door. “I hope that helped.”
    Seth nodded. “I think she knows you care. Sometimes that alone can make all the difference. Believe me, kids know when they’re totally on their own, and it hurts.”
    Laura wanted to ask what he meant, but Seth’s expression said he already regretted what he’d said. Hurriedly he added, “Maybe having at least one teacher believe in her will be enough.”
    â€œAnd maybe having a cop believe in her helps, too. I wonder about her mother, though. She doesn’t seem to be around much.” Laura shook her head. “How could any mother leave a child on their own so much?”
    She thought about magic, her baby, and how she’d lost Jay, but still had this piece of him. Yes, that was magic.
    Suddenly, she felt excited about painting the baby’s room this weekend.
    No matter what—this baby was her family.
    â€œAs for Saturday, could you use another hand?”
    Laura looked at the tall cop. “Pardon?”
    â€œI thought maybe I’d come help JT on Saturday, if you don’t mind.”
    â€œNo, I guess I don’t, but—” They reached the truck and Seth got the door for her.
    â€œOh.” Laura had never had a man hold a door for her before. Jay hadn’t done it, and she’d never expected him to. She was sure Seth was doing it simply because she was pregnant and needed help to climb into his monster of a truck.
    â€œYou’re a good man, Charlie Brown,” she said as she got in the car.
    Â 
    S ETH SAW L AURA’S SURPRISE . He might have blamed his mother for his good manners, but in reality, he didn’t mind doing things like opening doors for women, although he was generally of the opinion that women were just as capable as men. But Laura had to be almost as wide as she was tall. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but still, she’d have been hard-pressed to climb in the truck without assistance.
    Moments later he was behind the steering wheel. “I hope I didn’t step on your toes, since some women take offense at a guy getting the door and…”
    â€œMy mother said, don’t take offense where no offense was intended.” Laura caught herself. “Well, she would have said that if she’d lived long enough to have those kind of talks with me.” She felt embarrassed. “I was nine when she died, and that was too young for conversations like that. But in my head, she gave me all kinds of sage advice as I grew older. I mean, I knew she wasn’t really there, but I felt better pretending, andmost of her advice centered on being kind, so I figured it was all good.”
    â€œThat’s a shame, you losing your mom.”
    â€œHey, Dad was great. We made a solid team.”
    Seth thought about it…he understood loss, but not to that extent. What Laura had gone through losing both her parents and a fiancé. Seth didn’t say anything more on the subject as he drove toward the high school.
    â€œHow about you?” she finally asked. “You told me you have five siblings, but how about your parents. Are you close?”
    â€œWe were once, but not anymore.”
    â€œI’m