Chapter 1

Jack typically woke up before Ethan, and today was no different. But today he slept right through his normal wake up time at 4am, and instead woke up in his bedroom with the sun streaming on his face and the gentle breeze of the ceiling fan twirling above their heads.

He opened his eyes and saw Ethan’s sleeping face first, laying sideways, one hand under the pillow, the other resting between his legs, hair falling over his right eye a bit, mouth slightly open. Then Jack looked down at EJ, Ethan Junior, sleeping between them, laying on his stomach, Spiderman pajamas, little hands curled up into tiny fists, mouth slightly open and drooling. Jack smiled. They have the same shaped mouth, he thought happily.

Jack continued to stare at him. EJ was starting to lose some of his chub and legs were getting really long. He will be four years old in less than two weeks, a big boy. And his vocabulary is getting really big. Last week he used the word frightened. How does he know how to use that word in a sentence? Jack thought, as he stared at his pseudo-son.

“It’s just a thunderstorm EJ. No need to be scared,” he told him.

And EJ had said, “I’m frightened!” It almost took his breath away.

Jack held him close. “No need to be frightened, I got you bud,” he told EJ gently.

He rocked him like he used to do when he was two years...