He takes her hand as he balances their baby in the other. “Really.”
“All right. Olivia Logan, it is.”
“Olivia Susan Logan,” Savannah corrects the doctor.
There was never any doubt in Cole’s mind that if they had a girl, they’d name her after Savannah’s mother. The one person who loved and cherished her as she deserved.
“We need to get her downstairs to be checked out.” Dr. Brown removes Olivia from his hold and places her in a plastic cart. She turns to Savannah, who looks uneasy. “Don’t worry, her daddy will be with her the whole time. As soon as the two of you are cleaned up, she’ll be back with you.”
He gives Savannah a kiss on the head and follows the nurse and their daughter.
Cole grins, thinking everything about their baby is Savannah. That’s why she’s perfect.
After a rather rough bath,so Cole thinks, finger and footprints are done, and everything that can be measured and poked is complete, and hefinallygets to hold her again. He’s told to hang out in the room in a rocking chair to wait until Savannah is moved to her room.
The wooden rocking chair has a soothing creak to it, and soon he finds a rhythm she enjoys, and they both settle in.
Her little hands are free, and one is jammed in her mouth, making the cutest sucking noise. The other rubs his shirt back and forth. He sticks his finger into her palm, and she quickly latches on, making an adorable cooing sound. This breaks the dam, and he starts to cry. He’s emotionally exhausted, something that never happened until Savannah came into his life.
“You have some guests.” The nurse points to a viewing window.
Cole carefully stands and brings her over to the window where his mother, Abigail, and June are pressed against the glass. He laughs as they all melt over her.
“Oh, sweet one, you are going to be so loved,” he whispers into her tiny ear. “Mostly by your mother and me.” Her dark eyes peek up at him, almost like she understands. “Daddy’s little girl, aren’t ya?” She makes a tiny squeak, making his heart squeeze.
Savannah is staring out the window when he returns to her room. She looks beat, but when she spots them coming in, her face lights up.
“How is she?” she whispers, holding out her arms.
“Perfect, of course.” Cole waits for the nurse to park the rolling cot next to Savi, then places her in her eager arms.
“Oh,” she sniffs, “hello, my little girl.”
Cole sits so he’s next to them, wrapping his arm around her back. He holds out his finger to the baby, pressing it back into her grasp and loving the bond they already have.
Savannah looks up at him, showing him her beautiful face. “We did it, Cole. We made it to the other side. We’re going to be okay now.”
Cole kisses her shoulder and looks at his little family. “Yeah, baby, we’re going to be just fine.”
Mark
To say Mark was grinning like a fool was beside the point. He made a thousand dollars since Baby X was born at 12:15 a.m.
“What can I say? It’s a gift.”
“How?” Paul mutters from across the cramped waiting room. “How the hell do you do it?”
He shrugs because he really doesn’t know. Sometimes he just gets a strong feeling on things. Maybe it’s because he had such a dose of bad for so long it’s fate’s way of paying him back. Whatever it is, he’s damn pleased with the results.
“What are you going to do with the money?” Keith asks, but most of his attention is on his phone.
Mark smiles wider. “I’m going to put it right where it belongs.”
He looks up. “Which is?”
Mark shakes his head, happy with his plan. They’ll find out soon enough.
Mike rubs his bald head like he’s antsy, then he makes the mistake of picking up a birthing magazine.