Chuck still couldn’t believe it, even three years later. There had always been that fear, which he confessed to Mic one night in tears with a hand on her stomach, that he didn’t deserve this and would end up being like his father. She had told him to stop being an idiot; he was nothing like the man she’d killed. He’d shaken his head. “Daddy!” The voice broke him out of his memories. Ru was grinning up at him, head peeking out from the sheet that was draped over the couch making a fairly impressive blanket fort. “Come see the castle! We having a picnic!” He chuckled and was about to answer when Mic’s head appeared. “Yeah, daddy, get your as- butt in here.” She knew that today would’ve been his mother’s birthday, he didn’t have to ask to know that was why she was doing this. “Coming, girls,” he said and took a minute to think that, yeah, his mom would’ve been proud.