Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
Asia
“Any pain?” Miranda asked.
“No,” I said, my gaze glued to the baby.
Yet again, the world had changed entirely in the space of hours.
This time for the better. Now that I saw him, knowing he was here and safe and real, the weight I tried to pretend I wasn’t carrying lifted. I had no idea what would happen tomorrow. But today, right now, he was here.
We were together.
“No trouble walking?” Miranda asked.
“No.” I got out of bed and walked down the stairs to get water, went to the bathroom, and almost had to fistfight Jack to do so without his intrusion.
But I managed it.
Now I needed to make another stop.
I lifted my son, who wore a tiny white T-shirt and a pair of socks I terribly knitted for him. “Come with us, Jack,” I said.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
He was behind me and followed me into Uncle Levi’s room. “You asleep, Uncle Levi?”
Uncle Levi turned his head slowly and looked at me with glazed eyes. “Am I dreaming, or is that a baby?” he said, his voice raspy.
“He’s here,” I said, smiling despite everything.
He didn’t even try to sit up, and I felt a pang of hurt at that. But his mind was there. “You mean I missed it?”
“Sorry to say you did. It would have been helpful to have you around to keep this one in line.” I gestured at Jack.
Uncle Levi gave a raspy chuckle. “Yeah, I would have kept him from showing out.”
My eyes pricked with tears. “You would have, but I’ve brought the star of the show.”
“It’s a boy,” Jack said.
Uncle Levi smiled, beamed really, the look on his face reminding me of him from years before. There was lightness there—life—that I hadn’t seen in a while.
“That’s right. Meet your great nephew,” I said.
“I wouldn’t have missed it,” he said, his voice simultaneously weak and certain.
I walked over to him, the brightness of the sun filtering through the windows such a stark contrast to the sadness and weight in the air.
Uncle Levi’s arms were flat by his side, and he moved them, pressing his bony elbows against his thin body.
I gently laid my son down on Uncle Levi’s arm, and after a moment, Uncle Levi managed to turn his head, looking down at him.
His chest heaved with effort, but he smiled.
“Well hello there, young man.”
The baby’s eyes were closed, but at the sound of Uncle Levi’s voice he opened them. “Look at there. What a good-looking boy,” he said to Jack.
“He can thank his mama for that.” Jack smiled.
Then Uncle Levi looked at me. “Well. What are we going to call this gentleman?”
Jack answered before I could. “Levi.”
I looked back at Jack, then looked at Uncle Levi again. “That’s right. Meet Levi Evan Thorne.”