The air was suddenly thick with a tension that hadn’t been there a moment before. All at once, it didn’t seem a bad idea to fling herself across the coffee table, knock the cup from his hand, and straddle him. Jamie had to blink hard to dislodge the image from her mind. Tom’s thoughts were moving along similar lines. She could see it in the rapid dilation of his pupils, and the way he seemed to have stopped breathing. They stared at each other for a charged moment.

Then Tom moved, as though reaching for her. But before Jamie could react, the air was split by a blood-freezing wail. They both swung around to see that Ben, who had apparently tripped over his own feet, had fallen forward and hit his head on the edge of the coffee table.

Tom was out of his chair in an instant, scooping Ben up and soothing him while trying to take a look at the damage. Jamie’s heart squeezed as she saw the tears pouring down his little cheeks. But worst of all was the dark welt blooming on his perfect skin in front of her eyes.

“I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” she wailed. “I should never have put that table there. I didn’t think. Is he going to need an X-ray?”

Tom raised his eyebrows. “An X-ray?”

“To see if his skull is cracked.”

“Listen, it would take more than that to dent this kid’s head. If I took him for an X-ray every time he bumped his head, we’d practically live at the ER.”

He saw the real distress on Jamie’s face and dropped the teasing tone. “Look, don’t worry, Jamie. These little bumps happen all the time. Honestly. Several times a day. Ever since he learned to walk, he’s been a mobile disaster area. I often say he could find something to crash into if we were in the middle of the Gobi Desert. And he always goes head-first into everything. It’s a wonder he’s got any brains left in there at all.”

“But look at that mark. He’s going to have a terrible bruise!”

“He’ll be fine,” Tom said. “Look, he’s already forgetting about it.” He handed the sippy cup and a new biscuit to Ben. The old one was a sticky, disintegrating stub on the lawn. Ben took them and perched on his father’s lap, hiccupping now and then as his sobs subsided. Jamie let out a long breath. This toddler-raising business was not for sissies.