Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
GAGE
He was sick with worry as Fallon was taken back and put under anesthesia.
He had a strong stomach, but he decided not to watch as they cut the love of his life open to bring out the other love of his life.
Instead, he sat by Fallon’s sleeping head, watching the monitors that were letting everyone know that Fallon was still alive. Still breathing. Heart still beating.
And he watched his eyelids twitching gently until suddenly he heard it.
A soft cry.
The nurse appeared after what felt like a thousand years with a wrapped bundle covered in all sorts of strange goo and offered the baby out to him.
“It’s a girl.”
Gage blinked at her. She was red in the face from crying, her fists scrunched up by her cheeks, and she had a full head of thick, straight black hair.
Just like him.
He nearly broke then, but he knew he couldn’t let himself fall apart.
Pulling Zoa to his chest, he walked with the nurse over to the little cot they had prepared for her so they could get all of her birth numbers—whatever the fuck that meant.
They’d skipped birthing class and everything like that because it would have been too hard for Fallon to be around all the pregnant women.
But the only thing that mattered was that she was fine—and she was. She stopped crying shortly after the nurse turned on the light to keep her warm, and her eyes were a little puffy from the drops, but she was still looking at him.
He had no idea how much she could see, but he didn’t really care.
“You can talk to her,” the nurse said. “She’ll recognize your voice.”
He swallowed heavily. “Hey, Zoa. Your dad’s almost done getting stitched up. And I know he can’t wait to meet you.”
She blinked at him, then opened her eyes, and once again, she began to wail.
The last thing Gage wanted to do was leave Zoa, but Fallon was still in recovery, waking up from the anesthesia, so he made his way to the waiting room, where everyone had gathered.
They hadn’t seen much of their family in the last weeks before the birth.
Fallon was feeling increasingly terrible, and his morning sickness had returned with a vengeance.
Everyone was kind enough to let them have their space, but Gage knew they were foaming at the mouth to know that everything was fine.
Frankie was on his feet first, dislodging Lucas’s grip on him, and Fenton was close at his heels. Gage smiled to let them know that everything was okay, and then he let Frankie tug him into a hug so tight, he nearly lost his breath.
“They’re good,” he murmured into Frankie’s grasp. “They’re perfect. Fallon’s just waking up, and Zoa’s napping in her little cot.”
Frankie pulled back, his chin shaking just a bit. “Yeah. Do you have a picture?”
Gage pulled out his phone and showed him the last one with her cap off, showing off all her dark hair. “Over seven pounds and super long. Good health. Breathing’s great. Took her first bottle like a champ.”
Frankie let out a trembling sigh, then stepped aside as Adele approached, looking like he was going to crawl out of his own skin. Gage didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. If he tried, he was going to fall apart, so instead, he handed the phone out to his dad and held his breath.
Adele stared at it so long, Gage thought maybe he’d broken. Then he lifted his head. His eyes were glossy and very red.
“She’s yours.”
“She was always mine,” Gage whispered.
Adele cleared his throat. “Yeah, but…”
Gage nodded, and he couldn’t get another word out because Adele snatched him up into his arms and hugged him so hard Gage’s vision went foggy. He swallowed the lump in his throat. He wasn’t going to fall apart. Not here. Not like this.
He’d wait and cry it out in Fallon’s arms—the stress of not knowing, the chaos of finding out the truth, and the almost painful joy that came with seeing his own head of hair on his baby.
His daughter.
It didn’t matter.
But this was wanted.
“Are you okay?” Adele whispered.
Gage nodded and composed himself before he spoke again. “I already knew. We found out a couple weeks ago. Fallon didn’t want to wait, but we wanted to hold off on telling everyone first.” He stared down at the phone in his dad’s hand. His daughter was staring back up at him. “She looks like me.”
Adele made a soft noise. “Yeah. She does.”
Closing his eyes, Gage leaned into him again, then took a breath and looked over his dad’s shoulder at Frankie. “Fallon needs a day or so to recover, but if you want to come by tomorrow, you can meet Zoa.”
Frankie hesitated, then said, “Can I stay until he’s awake? I just…I want to see him before I go. I just want to make sure he’s okay.”
Gage couldn’t possibly say no to that. “Yeah. Yes. You and Fen can stay.”
Fenton, who hadn’t said much, collapsed on the chair and offered Gage a weak smile. “Thanks. We can’t wait to meet Zoa, of course, but Fallon’s my brother, and…”
“No. I know.” Gage hugged his dad one last time, then walked over and hugged Kash, who was sitting down in his wheelchair.
“I love you, kid,” Kash whispered fiercely. “You’re doing amazing.”
Gage rested his cheek on Kash’s shoulder for a beat, then straightened up. “I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
Adele caught his arm. “Send me photos, please?”
“Trust me, you’ll get sick of them before the night is over.”
Adele met his gaze. “Trust me,” he tossed back, “there’s not a chance in hell that’s going to happen.”
For a brief moment, Gage wanted to put his arms around his dad and not let go, but he couldn’t.
Because he was the dad now. His daughter was waiting for him, and so was his partner.
He walked back through the double doors into the recovery ward and made his way to the room where they’d taken Fallon.
The lights were dim, but he could see Fallon was awake and peering over the bed at their sleeping child in the cot. When Gage stepped in, Fallon looked over at him, groggy but aware.
“Are you in pain?”
“A lot,” Fallon said. “I don’t care. I took her hat off. She has your hair.”
Gage sniffed through a laugh. “Yeah, she does.”
“I don’t know if she looks like me. She’s all squish-faced.”
Gage laughed again and walked over, glancing down at his daughter before tipping Fallon’s head up for a kiss. He tasted sterile, like oxygen and saline from the IV. “I love you so much.”
Fallon leaned against him, groaning softly in pain. “Did you get to hold her? Right when she was born?”
“First thing. I carried her to the cot before they assessed her. She’s perfect, Fall. She’s ours.” He pressed a kiss to the top of Fallon’s head. “Your brothers want to see you. They don’t want to leave until they can make sure you’re alright.”
Fallon nodded against him. “In a few minutes. I want time with you and her before everyone comes in.”
Gage reached down and picked Zoa up, cradling her tiny body in his arms. He shifted onto the bed next to Fallon, who managed to give him a bit of room, and then he kicked his feet up onto the blankets and held her between them.
Fallon traced her furrowed brow with the tip of his finger. “She’s going to be really, really loved.”
“Yes.”
“She’s going to give us hell.”
Gage snorted as she frowned deeper. “More than we can even imagine right now.”
“I hope she changes the world.”
Gage traced a touch over her curled fist. “I have a feeling if anyone can do it, it’ll be her.”
Fallon lifted his chin, then leaned over and kissed Gage.
He was so in love, holding his tiny family between them.
Fallon and Zoa were proof that sometimes bad things happened to good people, but that also—if he was patient long enough—the best things happened to the ones who held out for their happily ever afters.