Small Town Single Dads: A Single Dad Bundle

Prologue

PROLOGUE

REMINGTON

“ S ir?”

Numb, and not a little lost, I turn from the window that looks out to Bozeman, to the woman standing behind me. “Yes?”

“I know this is an incredibly difficult time, but would you like to meet your daughter?”

My daughter.

Our daughter . Mine and Jessica’s.

“Oh, of course. Yeah.”

“Right this way.” She gestures for me to follow her and leads me down a long, stark hallway lit too brightly with fluorescent lights. Behind closed doors, I can hear people talking, some crying.

And all I can think is, get me out of here.

“I understand that the circumstances are, well, different, but I have to ask you some questions.”

“Sure, just let me see the baby first, okay?” Yeah, my voice is harsh and short, but for fuck’s sake, I haven’t even met my child yet.

“Of course,” she says and leads me into a room.

A recovery room.

“This is where your wife would have been—” She breaks off and clears her throat. “Go ahead and have a seat, and I’ll wheel your daughter in.”

I nod and sit in the one uncomfortable chair opposite the empty bed.

That’s where Jessica should be, not on her way to an operating room to?—

“Here she is,” the same nurse says as she walks back into the room, wheeling the hospital cradle to me.

I look inside, and there’s my little girl.

“Six pounds, four ounces,” the nurse says, “and eighteen inches long. She’s perfectly healthy, Mr. Wild.”

“Yeah.” I have to clear my throat as I gaze down at the baby. “She’s beautiful.”

“What’s her name?”

I reach in and scoop her up, then lift her to my face and breathe her in. She smells like baby powder and, ironically, hope.

“Mr. Wild?”

I kiss my daughter’s cheek and then look up at the nurse, raising an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“What’s her name?”

“Holly,” I reply, looking down into the face that looks so much like Jess’s. “She wanted to name her Holly.”

“That’s lovely. I’ll leave you be now. The doctor will be in shortly.”

I nod but don’t reply, and when it’s just Holly and me, I let out a long breath. The baby’s eyes are open, and although I know she can’t see me, she’s looking up at me.

“You are the most beautiful, amazing girl ever born,” I whisper. “And you and your older brother are going to be best buds.”

I swipe at a tear running down my cheek as Holly opens her tiny mouth and searches for her fist.

She’s hungry.

“Don’t worry, okay? We’re going to make this work. I mean, this isn’t my first rodeo, and my parents live close by. Heck, you have three uncles and an aunt close by, too, so there are plenty of grown-ups to take care of things.”

I sigh and lean in to press my lips to her forehead.

“But, my sweet girl, your mama didn’t make it. I’m so sorry.”

I swallow hard and cuddle Holly against my shoulder as I wonder what in the hell I’m going to do.

“I’m so damn sorry.”