Provided

I had a great job with great rapport with my employer the last two years, but there was aspects that were less than ideal. My boss brought a superior in over me who was not prepared for the job and increasingly they both relied on me to do his work, without increased pay or benefits. It was tolerable... until my wife had our second child in January. My boss called me five days into approved paternity leave and said I needed to cut my leave in half. This was, of course, because the person hired over me and paid better than me was quickly becoming a chicken with his head cut off. I refused and limited contact as the leave was approved by HR and that's how leave is supposed to work. It was one thing to be the guy who holds the office up most of the time, another with my time off with my daughter. Without speaking too much to my bosses position or the field of work, I later found out he was in a unique category of employer that does not have to follow FMLA. In other words, I could be, and was ultimately, fired for not accepting his request to end my leave early. I walked back in on my approved day to return from leave and he asked me for my work computer and keys and sent me home. Well, a few weeks before I was fired and still on my paternity leave, I presumed that we were still basically on good terms, that I was just setting an acceptable professional boundary. I applied for a job at that time and listed the boss as a reference. The boss has been encouraging me to get a new job because he knew I was underpaid. I've since gone all the way through the interview process at basically my dream job and I am all but assured as the sole finalist candidate (by their own admission) and I get the sense they really want to bring me on. Initial interview, two panel interviews, flown to Washington DC for a lunch interview, and a final interview by phone with departmental VP two days later. The hiring manager I spoke with at the DC lunch really seems to want to bring me on and said talking with the VP was basically a formality. The VP gave me good marks at the end of our phone call and the hiring manager who would be my direct superior said I would hear from HR early next week. I assume HR will be doing a reference check at this point, it feels rather unlikely that they will just call and begin discussing compensation or something. Well, now I am kind of kicking myself. Obviously probably should not have listed the boss that I was basically in a workplace disagreement with as a reference; however, the fact of the matter is, I'd truly been an exceptional employee. Never once warned about bad behavior. Always goes above and beyond. In many ways, I was the office's glue, even as the guy on the bottom of a small structure (perhaps that is often the case). I have texts about the excellence of my quality of work from him actually. I literally just took paternity leave, an advertised benefit of the job, as approved. That said, I don't know how salty he is. He hired somebody to replace me WHILE I was on paternity leave. Not sure if firing me made him feel better about himself and he will just pity me with a good or at least neutral reference. We had a working relationship for almost 10 years. Worst case, he could burn the fuck out of me with whatever misleading bullshit he wants to say. Should I contact the hiring manager and offer a new list of references? Is that suspect? Presumably I could just frame it as "an updated list that will best reflect my work ethic?" Also, I haven't spoken to the former boss since then. Any value at all in contacting him and saying, "hey, let bygones be bygones, if you get a call, please speak to my excellent work before the disagreement about paternity leave?" Thoughts appreciated from HR perspective. I think I am going to have a friggin' breakdown if I lose this job opportunity over this...