They changed the girls and carried them downstairs, with both adults repeating, "Dada" like maniacs, trying to get the other two to say it. Genie said again when they set them down, though they couldn't tell if she understood that it meant Jeff. She did seem to understand that the sound made both Jeff and Goldie inordinately happy, however.

Jeff turned to Goldie, his smile radiant. "I want to thank you for that, love."

Goldie looked at him in surprise. "What? Why?"

"Like I said before, I don't think it would've happened for a long time without another adult around to model for them," he explained. "It certainly would never have occurred to me to say it to them. They definitely would've learned each other's names before they learned mine."

"Well, I think they're geniuses," Goldie said, looking at them as they tumbled around on the floor. "I've done a little reading on language acquisition, and babies learning to talk, and nine months is ridiculously early, I believe."

Jeff looked smug. "I think you're right." He put an arm around her. "We make a good team, don't we?"

"We do." Goldie nodded. She leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment before she realized what she was doing and lifted it.

"I need to get their lunch ready, okay?" she asked, to cover her embarrassment. She knew that, whenever possible, Jeff wanted to be with the girls, and leave the peripheral chores, such as food prep or laundry, to her.

He nodded, seemingly unaware of her discomfiture.

He joined his daughters on the floor, helping Genie and Jemma look through a cardboard book, and showing Pippa how to push a pop-up toy. As usual, he was blown away by their beauty, by the nearly perfect translucence of their skin, the absolute innocence and curiosity in their eyes, the way they smiled with everything in their tiny beings.

How had he gotten so lucky? To be the father to even one of these little creatures would have been amazing, but to be handed three of them, all the same size, at the same moment in time, seemed like the most incredible stroke of good fortune, more than any one person deserved, certainly more than he deserved.

"Dadada," Genie observed, looking at a picture of a hippopotamus.

"Dadadada," Jemma mimicked, looking up at Jeff.

"Yes, wonderful, darlings, I'm your daddy," Jeff praised. "'D you hear that?" he called to the kitchen.

"I did, I did," Goldie responded with a smile. She was standing at the counter, pureeing carrots. "I told you they were fast learners. "Who was that?"

"Jems," Jeff answered. "Now we just need to wait for Pippa."

He thought of something. "Who's that, over there, making lunch?" he asked his girls. "Who's in the kitchen, girls? Can you say 'Goldie? Goldie?'"

Goldie heard him, and was touched. "Thanks, Jeff," she called. She walked over. "Lunch is ready," she announced.

They continued saying, "Daddy" all through lunch, and through the afternoon, though Jeff was starting to feel a little embarrassed, and, sure enough, by evening bath time, Pippa was saying it, too.

"See? I told you!" Goldie crowed. "Oh my goodness, you girls are so smart," she said to them, kissing each one on top of their heads. "Now let's get you bathed, okay?"

Everyone loved bath time, the girls because it was such splashy fun, the adults because clean, pink babies were the best thing in the world.

While they were in the tub, Goldie tried asking, "Where's Daddy?" and pointing at Jeff. The girls thought this was wonderful fun, and the five of them spent the entire bath time pointing at him and laughing.

"Oh my god, is there any better sound than the sound of babies laughing?" Goldie asked, turning to Jeff as they bent over the tub washing the girls in the warm, shallow water.

Jeff shook his head. "I don't think so," he answered, smiling.

"Ready to get them out?" Goldie asked.

"Yup."

They had their routine down by now, and between the two of them they quickly and efficiently got all three babies diapered and buttoned into their pajamas.

"You are so flipping beautiful," Goldie told Pippa, who gazed up at her from the changing table.

"Yadja bloobnia meck," she replied, reaching up to grab at Goldie's face.

"Yes, me too," Goldie responded with a smile. "Let's get you guys your bedtime bottles."

Jeff and Goldie sat in their rockers in the darkened nursery, feeding Jemma, Genie and Pippa their bottles and relaxing.

"So, big day, huh?" Goldie said in a quiet voice.

Jeff nodded. "Definitely have to put this in their baby books," he answered, and even with the lack of light, Goldie could see Jeff's smile.

After they laid the girls in their cribs, they went back down to the living room to have a glass of wine, something which had become a habit for them. Goldie had not written any of these instances down. It was wine, after all. The girls had also been sleeping through the night, which had made it a non-issue.

"Would you like to watch a movie?" Jeff asked.

"Actually, I'm not exhausted," Goldie answered, surprised. "I could go for a short movie, sure."

"Amazing what a few nights of uninterrupted sleep will do for person, isn't it?" Jeff asked rhetorically.

Goldie nodded.

They sat together and watched the movie, laughing as they drank their wine. Jeff lifted the bottle, asking if Goldie wanted a top off, and Goldie held out her glass.

"Thank you," she said. "This is delicious."

"Yeah," he agreed, filling up his own glass.

As they sat, Jeff was ever more aware of Goldie sitting next to him in her ratty sweats. He swallowed and took a deep, calming breath. This might have been a bit of a mistake, since he got a big whiff of her freshly washed hair, something clean and floral. He could almost imagine he could smell her skin as well.

He had of course not been with anyone since Maggie's death, although he had been on a "date" with Kylie McFaddon once or twice. There were industry functions he still had to attend, and she was a model he knew who looked good on his arm. So she'd accompanied him once, and he'd returned the favor. He knew, however, that Kylie would be glad to take things to the next level.

"I'm not over my girlfriend, can you understand that?" he'd told her when she tried to kiss him in the back of the limousine on their way home. "She just died a couple of months ago!"

"I totally get it," Kylie had responded, sitting back, eyes large as she adjusted her top. "I'm not asking to marry you, for Christ's sake, just a kiss, and maybe sex. I mean, you still have needs, right?"

Jeff hadn't seen her since then, though they had exchanged a couple of texts. She'd apologized, and offered to take him to dinner by way of more apology. He supposed that, now that Goldie was here, he could actually take her up on her offer, if he wanted to.

But he didn't want to.

What he wanted to do, really, was kiss Goldie, kiss the young woman sitting next to him and laughing at the movie. He knew that this was not a good idea on so many levels, but he didn't care. He'd spent the last six months denying himself everything, and now he just wanted a kiss, dammit.

If she did?

He hadn't actually been in a situation like this since he was in high school. He'd been with Maggie for seven years, and before that he'd been so famous, so desirable, that it just been assumed that anyone he wanted, for anything, would of course say yes to anything he asked.

"Jeff?"

Jeffrey jumped, nearly spilling his wine. He carefully set the glass down and turned to Goldie.

"Hm?"

She gestured to the screen. The movie was over, the credits rolling.

"I said that it's barely ten o'clock, and I'm up for another movie if you are, but you didn't even hear me. Maybe you're more tired than me?"

"No, sounds marvelous." They settled on another movie and started it, but Jeff couldn't concentrate on it, so consumed was he with thoughts of kissing Goldie.

"Ah, fuck it," he finally said.

"What?"

"I want to kiss you."

Goldie snarfed her wine. She managed to keep it in the glass, and took a couple of messy swallows to avoid spillage. She set the glass down and wiped her mouth on the edge of her T-shirt.

"You want to kiss me?" she repeated.

Jeff nodded, brown eyes serious.

"Like on the forehead or the cheek or whatever? Because you're happy about the whole 'Dada' thing?" Goldie looked intently at him, chest heaving for breath.

Jeff swallowed and shook his head.

Goldie blinked at him, nonplussed. "I don't know what to say," she finally said.

"You've got to say something," Jeff finally said, running his hand through his hair. "You can't leave me twisting in the wind like this, please. I'm too old, for one thing." He scooted a little closer. "I want to kiss you, so much." His eyes flicked down to her mouth and back up to her eyes. "It's not because I'm chuffed that the girls said 'Dada,' it's not because I haven't been with anyone in months and I'm randy as fuck—"

Goldie laughed, a lovely sound to Jeff's ears.

He laid a hand on her arm. "Look. I know what a bad idea it is. I have no idea how far I want it to go, or if you want it to go anywhere, but you've been on my mind. Maybe it'll just be this one kiss, who knows? All I know is that, right now, I really, really want to kiss you."

Goldie nodded. "Me too," she responded. "I mean, I never let myself think about it, because I assumed you were off limits. But if you're telling me you're not, then yes, I want to kiss you, too." She scooted closer, so their legs were touching on the sofa. She put her hand on his chest, and just this simple action made his head spin.

He put his hand on top of hers and leaned in, so close he could feel her warm breaths on his lips.

"You sure?" he whispered, taking in her features up close, her eyes, framed by long lashes a shade darker than what was on her head, her lovely dark pink lips.

Goldie nodded, biting her bottom lip as she, too, leaned in, putting her other hand on his thigh. "I'm so sure," she answered. "Kiss me, Jeff."

He closed his eyes with relief as he finally reached for her with his mouth, the first time he'd kissed someone on the mouth in over six months. He let out a moan of happiness. Goldie tasted of wine, her lips were soft and full, and she was yielding and warm and open to him.

She put her hand on the back of his head and pulled him on top of herself so they were lying down on the sofa, the movie forgotten. With only the two layers of their shirts between them, he could feel her body under him, round and firm, and it woke him up quickly. He gently licked her bottom lip, asking permission, and she opened up, accepting him, and offering her own tongue in return.

He moaned again, sliding his hand to her hip, pressing on her with his body, opening his mouth so he could really taste her.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Goldie murmured to him with a smile when they finally came up for air.

"Yeah? What's that?" Jeff responded, tucking a curl of hair behind her ear.

"This definitely isn't going to be our only kiss," she answered with a grin.