20. Hunter
CHAPTER 20
hunter
THREE YEARS LATER
I put my notecards on the podium, adjusted my tie, cleared my throat, and started my speech. "On behalf of my partners, Valentine Roth and Xavier Badd, I'd like to thank you all for being here. I'd be remiss if I didn't thank my partners for taking a chance on me, for letting me in on this exciting little project." There was a wave of laughter because there was nothing small about the project. "This is years of work in the making—mostly for Valentine and Xavier. But seeing as they're both too chicken to make speeches, it falls to me, so I’ll sing their praises for them."
In the wings of the stage, Valentine gave me an annoyed glare, and Xavier stared blankly, his version of an annoyed glare.
"It was Valentine's vision, first and foremost. He saw the potential, the future need, and gambled billions of his own fortune to make this a reality. Xavier joined him a few years later and added his technical expertise that helped Valkyrie really…take off.” I grinned as the audience groaned. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. My contributions have been minimal. The real attention needs to be on the dozens of incredibly smart and hard-working scientists, engineers, and builders who have made this whole thing possible. We provided the money and the ideas, but it's them who truly made it all happen, one day at a time."
I paused, focusing my attention on the massive screen, which showed a real-time feed of The Meili, the ship we were launching—named after the Norse god of exploration, whose name means "Mile-Stepper."
"This marks a new chapter in human history—the launch of the first ship to be built entirely outside the confines of our planet. The brave men and women aboard the Meili," MAY-lee , "depart today for a year-long excursion to Mars, with the end-goal of establishing a permanent waystation there. This is the first step in a wider exploration of our solar system, a stepping stone to mining and colonization. There will be many obstacles and challenges, but we will meet them all, as we always have. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Today, we celebrate the launch of The Meili, and, hopefully, the beginning of many successful missions to come. Thank you."
I answered the endless barrage of questions, sticking to the talking points the science team gave me—even after all this time, I'm still far from an expert on any of the tricky stuff, so we leave those details to be published in the science journals.
As exciting as the event is, I'm more excited to be done so I can go attend the real event, in my eyes: the birth of our first child.
Over the last three years, Delia has been busy. The Badd family has opened a half-dozen new locations across the country—and no two are exactly alike. She spends several months at each new location, and while she's opening that location, her advance team is scouting for the next one. Once the new location is running smoothly, she takes a month off, and we retreat to our home in Ketchikan. We shut off our work phones, ignore our emails, and pretend we’re nobodies with no responsibilities. We party with her family, ride our horses, and relax. And then, at the end of the month, we move to the next location, and the whole thing starts over. I work remotely for the most part, from wherever home is—Denver, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Miami, LA, Atlanta. They’re a popular chain, now, with a growing cult following. Each new enterprise presents a different challenge since she adapts the concept to fit the city and the specific location. The key, she found, is keeping the concept flexible and providing direct oversight during the first few months. She’s constantly traveling, even after the locations are up and running, to provide her direct influence and presence. Her father also checks in regularly—now that he’s mostly retired, he and Dru turn the site visits into extended vacations since they’ve never really left Ketchikan until recently.
But now, everything is about to change.
She's about to give birth.
To our son.
The first Badd grandchild—and Papa Lucas' and Mama Livvie's first great-grandchild.
This means Delia will be stepping back from work and travel for a while, and the barrage of new locations will slow, which has been the plan all along. We’re going to permanently relocate to Ketchikan, and Delia is going to be a full-time stay-at-home mother—by her own choice, mind you. She'll keep tabs remotely, of course, and she'll be available if anything comes up, but things have been set up to run on their own for the most part.
The only sticking point for the Badd family lately has been the fact that Delia's brothers don't have much long-term interest in the family business. They've both put in plenty of hours helping out around the Ketchikan locations, but they've both made it clear that they will not be following Delia into the restaurant business permanently.
That's not the problem, though. The problem is that neither of them knows what it is they do want to do.
I applaud Bast and Dru, though—they're patient and understanding, willing to give their boys the time and space needed to figure that out on their own.
Trust me, I’m taking parenting notes.
I've offered them both internships anywhere in any of my business ventures, both with Hawkins Group and Valkyrie, but so far, neither of them has taken me up on that.
Delia says she's not worried—Badds always find their way. And usually, it's the Badd Family Love Charm that provides the impetus.
I was mystified when she first explained what the love charm was, but then I took a look at her family and the absurd success rate of their marriages, and I understood. It also made a lot of sense as to why she was so scared to commit to me.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens with Duncan and Dane.
I’ve become incredibly close to Delia’s family over the last few years–Bast is somewhere between a father figure and a friend, someone I admire and look up to, and someone whom I simply enjoy spending time with. Dru is like a mother to me, as well, always hugging me, calling me out when I get grumpy, teasing me–as the whole family tends to do, which took some getting used to, as Givey is the only person who’s ever been able to tease me. I’ve learned how to give as good as I get, especially with her very many, very big, and very scary uncles–who are in fact that numerous, large, and intimidating. In fact, the whole clan has sort of adopted me, and whenever we’re in town, I find myself swept up in some new adventure with her brothers, cousins, uncles, and aunts.
I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.
I let my security team escort me away from the crush of the press circulating outside the event center and into the SUV, which whisks me off to the airport. The jet is waiting, and I board it. The flight back up to Ketchikan is short but feels way too long, especially with Emerson texting me updates every hour, letting me know how far apart the contractions are and how dilated she is.
I hated to be away so close to her due date, but she knew I had to conduct the press conference in person from the launch center in Houston. It just sucks that she went into labor literally five minutes before the conference started. I texted Emerson, who was now like a sister to me, and Hayden a brother, along with Dane and Duncan.
My phone buzzed with Emerson’s response as I boarded my jet.
Emerson:
Just get here ASAP. You know she won't let herself have this baby until you're there, so hurry your ass up."
I told the pilot to fly as fast as the hypersonic aircraft would allow, and we made the trip in record time.
I sprinted down the hallway of the hospital to the private birthing center we'd had built—a massive donation and a much-needed upgrade to the local hospital.
Delia laughed between groans of pain and exertion. "Slow down, Hawk," she said through gritted teeth. "You won't be any help if you break an ankle, old man."
Yeah, she's taken to mocking my age and the fact that I'm eight years older than her. Ha ha.
I ignored her teasing quip and stood next to her. "Where are we at, baby?"
"Well, no baby yet, that's where," she panted. "You're just in time. The doctor thinks he'll be here any time now."
“We broke Mach Six getting here," I said.
She frowned at me. “Reckless."
"I wasn't about miss any more of this. Not for a stupid press conference."
"It's not stupid," she said, and then paused to groan as a contraction hit. When it passed, she continued, panting, sweating. “It’s the culmination of years of work, and it was important. You haven’t missed anything but me screaming, cursing, and sweating."
"I should have been here," I insisted.
She glared at me. "You're here now. Stop arguing with the pregnant lady, honey."
Emerson, on her other side, grinned at me. "You really want to listen to her, buddy. Trust me."
The door opened again, and Dru poked her head in. "I'm here, honey. Want me in here with you or what?"
Delia rolled her eyes. "Like you’d miss the birth of your first grandbaby, Mom."
Dru grinned. "I mean, duh. But it's your birth. If you want me to wait in the waiting room with your father, I will."
"Just get over here," Delia said. "Emerson sucks at counting."
Emerson just laughed. "I'll forgive you since you're in labor."
Which was how I found myself at Delia's left hip, holding her leg with one hand and letting her crush my knuckles with the other as she bore down with a primal scream through the contractions that came hard and fast.
The doctor, clad in blue scrubs with a mask and plastic face shield, sat on a rolling stool between Delia's open thighs, shouting encouragement. "Here he comes! I see the head! One more big push, Mama!" She went silent, then, and I watched my son squirt out of his mother.
I know, I know, but 'squirt' really is the only word for it. If you know, you know. The doctor caught him easily, but my heart leapt into my throat—the cord was wrapped around his little neck, and he wasn’t crying. She slipped a finger under the cord and tugged, and then the cord was free. She rubbed a knuckle against his little chest, muttering "C'mon, buddy" to herself.
"Hunter? What's happening?" Delia asked, her voice tight with panic.
Before I could come up with what to say, a sharp, angry little cry filled the room, and Delia burst into sobs.
Relief so potent I got dizzy rifled through me, and I nearly collapsed—a nurse nearby kept me upright long enough for me to regain my balance.
"You've got a healthy, beautiful boy," the doctor said; she wasn't our usual OB/GYN since this whole thing had happened unexpectedly, and I’d been late, so I never caught her name. "Dad, you want to cut the cord?"
I cleared my throat, struggling with the flood of emotion; my throat was hot and tight and my eyes burned. "Y-yeah. Yes."
The doctor fastened clips to the cord in two places and handed me a pair of weird scissors. "Right here between the clamps, Dad."
Dad.
That's me.
Holy fuck.
I could barely see and had to blink hard. I hesitated, meeting Delia's tearful gaze for a moment. All I needed was the love I saw in her eyes, and I was okay.
I cut the cord, and then our son was in his mother's arms, squirming and covered…stuff…and wailing like crazy.
I moved beside her as Delia held our son. "We're parents."
She nodded, too overcome to speak.
"You did it, honey. You did it. I'm so proud of you." I kissed the top of her sweaty head, watching her soothe our son.
"Hi," she whispered. "Welcome to the biggest, craziest family in the entire State of Alaska."
"Do you have a name picked out?" the doctor asked.
"Sebastian Drew Hawkins," Delia said—he’s named after, obviously, Delia’s dad, and his middle name is Delia’s maternal grandfather’s, now deceased.
Sebastian was whisked away then, for a few minutes of measuring and who knows what else, and then he was brought back cleaned up, wrapped in one of those ubiquitous hospital baby blankets, with an adorable little blue hat on his head and a tag with his name and Delia's on it.
Delia, sitting up now, cradled him to her chest. "Mom? You want to hold him?"
Dru sniffled tearfully. "Do I want to hold my very first grandchild? What kind of a question is that?"
Delia handed him off to his grandmother, who cooed and rocked him with the automatic expertise of a parent.
"Hi there, Little Sebastian. You are going to be so loved, you know that? You have so many aunts and uncles and great-aunts and great-uncles, and you're gonna have so many cousins to play with. But since I'm your grandma, I'm gonna be your favorite, okay? Sssh. Don't tell anyone else, though—it's our secret."
Delia and I laughed as she continued to whisper silly, loving nonsense to him. A few minutes later, Sebastian was in Emerson's arms—a bittersweet thing, since she and Hayden have had some struggles getting pregnant. Emerson wept as she held him, and such was the bond between the women that Delia didn't have to say a word—she just watched, crying with her best friend and adopted sister, understanding the depth of emotion Emerson was feeling.
The next few hours were a whirlwind as Delia's massive family came through in waves. My parents, predictably, were "stuck" on some island in the Aegean. I didn't mind.
I have everything and everyone I need right here in Ketchikan.