My gorgeous husband’s dark eyes filled with gratitude. He brushed a kiss against the top of my head and gently cupped his hand over the baby’s head before adding, “Everyone else will understand that we want to bond as a family before they come in.”
“Ooh! If Becket is still out there, tell him to go get me a strawberry milkshake and an animal style burger from In-N-Out,” I requested. It’d been way too long since I’d had anything to eat, and my mouth watered at the thought of scarfing my order down.
The nurse laughed and gave me a thumbs-up. “Will do.”
“I would’ve gotten you something to eat if you had told me you were hungry,” Zack grumbled.
I lifted our precious bundle a little higher. “I’m not ready for you to leave us yet.”
“Good because there’s no getting rid of me, even if the nurses try to give me some bullshit about visiting hours tonight.” He turned his head to glare at the door as though someone was going to come through it and try to kick him out.
“Silly man.” I patted his hand and laughed softly. “Did you forget in all the excitement that visiting hours don’t apply to new daddies?”
“You can’t be surprised if he did, Amelia. He almost forgot your overnight bag in his haste to get you out the door when you went into labor,” Delia reminded me as she walked in the door and made a beeline over to the other side of my bed.
“True. It’s a good thing you were there to remind us.” She’d started college a few months ago but came home for a long weekend after midterms since it was so close to my due date.
“Hey, now!” Zack protested with a small grin. “You can’t give me too hard of a time over it when I had a lot on my mind at the moment.”
“You’d never know he practiced the drive between home and the hospital at least a dozen times to get ready for this day,” I teased.
The baby let out a small cry, and all our attention shifted to the little bundle in my arms. “At least one of my girls jumped to my defense,” Zack claimed.
“Nah, she’s on our side for sure,” Delia disagreed with a grin. “Girl power and all that.”
Zack chuckled and shook his head. “I see how it’s going to be now that you got the little sister you wanted.”
Delia shrugged her shoulders. “You should’ve given me a brother instead if you wanted to even out the numbers.”
“Maybe next time.” I shifted my hold on the baby so Delia could more easily see her face. “Are you ready to meet your sister?”
“Beyond ready,” Delia answered as she leaned down to get a better look. “Hello, Julia. I’m your big sister, Delia. I love you so much, precious girl.”
“Do you want to hold her?” I offered.
Delia’s head jerked up in surprise. “Can I?”
“Of course,” Zack answered. “Just be careful with her head.”
“I know how to hold a baby, Dad,” Delia sighed. “Not only do I have little cousins I’ve babysat for, but I also read all the baby books you sent me.”
Zack had gone way beyond gung-ho when it came to preparing for Julia’s birth, which had only made his frantic state during my labor and delivery that much funnier. He read everything he could get his hands on about pregnancy, parenting, and babies. He’d also been super over-protective of me, to the point where I’d often joked about him just wrapping me in bubble wrap any time I left the house. I’d quickly learned my caveman husband had a whole other level of alpha male inside him.
When I started to shift in the bed to give Julia to her big sister, Zack slid his hand down my back to help me reposition. Delia transferred the baby into her arms like she was a pro. “Hey, sweetie.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she sniffled. “She’s so perfect. I could do with another one just like her. Maybe you guys could get right on that as soon as the doctor says it’s okay.”
I figured she was just teasing us and laughed, but I missed the considering look on Zack’s face. When I found out I was pregnant again, he totally threw his oldest daughter under the bus and blamed her for giving him the idea.
Epilogue
Zack
“Zack! I need to get this article posted!” Amelia halfheartedly pushed against my chest. I didn’t budge, keeping my mouth glued to her neck. She’d been working at my desk while I met with my managers. Now that I was done for the day, I’d returned to my office to collect my wife and go home. We had one stop to make, then we’d relieve Delia of babysitting duty.
She’d just looked too fucking tempting, sitting there staring at the computer with cute little glasses on her nose and her hair up in a messy thing on top of her head, exposing her slender neck. I’d walked over to stand behind her and couldn’t stop myself from tasting her sweetness.