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She smiled up at hihchair tray Finally, she popped her pacifier out of herup each piece with her fingers I loved watching her feed herself It was so enlightening to watch a little human master new skills She'd crawled and walked early despite being a pree everything I'd been around Heath's kids only rarely since he and Christie were always traveling to and fro their charity work, so I'd missed a lot of their development

Now, I got to watch it all first hand

I thought that I'd be bored with being a , but Sophie keptPlus, her verbal develop

Pointing was her big thing She see with it, looking up at Drake or me to see if ere as fascinated hatever it was she was pointing at as she was and na it

"What's on the agenda for today?" Drake asked as he poured fresh water into the coffeeto o to Central Park and walk for a while? It et some fresh air and exercise"

"Exercise is the last thing I feel like, but you're right," I replied,soar on top I placed it in front of her and she i to feed herself and generally got more of it on her face and bib than in her

"Go have a shower," Drake said and pushed me out of the ith his hip "I'll take over here When you're finished, the bacon and eggs will be cooked and the coffee will be ready"

I kissed hi him a smile, and did just that

Our walk through Central Park was pleasant, except for the knowledge I had thatabout twenty paces behind us, watching the environo lucky to suddenly potentially dangerous

While Lisa was in jail, Drake didn't feel like we knew everything about her and her machinations She'd orchestrated an attempted murder, an actualsuicide She had family ties to the NYPD and while I trusted the police to be on our side, given all the evidence, there was no telling what her faht do

Drake worried that an angry brother or forht be convinced that Drake was evil incarnate and try to take him -- or me -- out

It was unlikely, but after seeingout in the traued Drake's sense of invincibility We would have bodyguards for the rest of our time in Manhattan

The rain had stopped and clouds were thinning, bringing us a bit of h that we could see our breaths, but it was invigorating and just what Drake and I needed to recover froht of alcohol excess I pushed the baby stroller while Drake walked beside ether, we enjoyed the trees and views from the park Drake had put on the baby carrier, which he would put Sophie in once we got into the park He liked to carry her in it, because he said I got to carry her for almost nine months and noanted to do the same while he still could

We passed by the bridge that we used for our wedding pictures and took Sophie over it so she could look down at the water below Drake took her out of her stroller and held her up, standing her on the railing She laughed and bounced and I worried that he'd accidentally lose his grip on her and drop her into the water, but it was just o so I took in a deep breath and