5. Rowan
5
ROWAN
“ Y ou’re so beautiful. You’ve got all your fingers and all your toes, and you’ve got your daddy’s hair. He’s gonna be so excited to meet you.”
My brain was fuzzy around the edges, but I instantly recognized Silas’s voice.
It was low and soothing.
“He’s been waiting a long time to meet you. Seven months. Can you even imagine? You’re just a couple of hours old, so probably not, but trust me, it’s a long, long time. Can I tell you a secret?” I strained to hear what else he said.
“He’s sleeping right now, but he’s gonna wake up soon, and he’s gonna fall in love with you.”
My eyes drifted closed again—my baby was safe.
They were with Silas.
When I woke up the next time, Silas and the baby were still there.
I managed to turn my head and find them in a rocking chair in the corner.
Silas was bare chested and the baby was cradled close while they took a bottle.
The baby looked blissful and well on their way to being milk-drunk.
Judging from their eager sounds, the baby was perfectly content.
Silas never took his eyes off the baby.
I could sleep more.
By my third wake-up, the fog had finally lifted from my brain.
My body felt like I’d been run over by a truck.
My arm still had an IV in it and a blood pressure cuff remained on my arm.
According to my classes, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
The room was quiet.
I looked toward the rocking chair, and Silas was still there.
He’d put his flannel shirt back on but left it unbuttoned.
The baby was sleeping, cuddled to his bare chest.
Silas quietly read the well-worn paperback in his hand.
“Good book?” I asked to get his attention.
He looked up and gave me a slow smile before hefting his oversized body out of the chair and coming to my bedside.
Somehow, he managed to do it without jostling the baby at all.
He was a natural.
“It’s one of my favorites.”
I glanced at the title before I asked, “You like romances?”
“Yeah, that’s what I do when I’m not driving.”
“You read them?”
“Well, I like to write them, but there’s a fair amount of reading too.”
I had run out of small talk, and Silas knew it.
“Are you ready to meet your baby?” I nodded and eagerly pushed myself to a higher sitting position on the bed.
I suppressed a groan when pain shot through me.
Silas gingerly placed the baby in my arms.
They were perfect.
Long dark lashes lay against rosy cheeks.
Their mouth was a dark-pink rosebud.
The baby had a head full of dark hair with a mixture of shading, just like mine.
My grandma always swore we were descended from owl shifters, which explained our hair.
We’d evolved past shifting, but some traits remained.
With the baby still sleeping, I double-checked to make sure all their parts were present.
As expected, they had ten pudgy toes and another ten fingers to match.
Their little snoring noises were too cute.
I moved the blanket a little and took a quick peek inside their diaper.
“He’s a boy.” I continued to hold my baby, and I couldn’t imagine anything so perfect and beautiful came out of me.
It might have been a minute, or it could’ve been three days, but at some point, the baby stirred and his eyelashes fluttered against his cheek.
He slowly opened his eyes, and I stared into the mismatched orbs of his father.
My breath caught in my throat.
Like his father, the baby’s eyes were beautiful in their contrast, one an endless ocean blue and the other a deep forest green.
The shading might have been slightly different, but there was no mistaking the paternity of this child.
“I… I…”
Silas laid his giant hand gently on the baby’s scalp before running it over his fuzzy hair.
He moved his hand down the baby’s back and his fingers lightly brushed against my arm.
The innocent touch sent a shudder of awareness through my body, and I hoped to the gods he hadn’t noticed.
“Shush. We can talk about what this all means later. We’ve got plenty of time to make decisions. Right now, what matters is that the two of you get to know each other and relax. It’ll get sorted out later.” Silas paused to cradle the baby’s head again before he continued, “He still needs to tell you his name.”
I nodded gratefully and returned to stare at the baby in my arms.
When I nudged my finger into his closed fist, he gripped me with a surprising strength.
I laughed and glanced at Silas.
“He’s a strong one.”
Silas looked at him with pride and nodded in agreement.
“Are you an Augustus?” The baby opened his eyes and stared at me, and I swear there was a smile on his upturned mouth.
All the baby books I’d read said that any smiles this early were only gas, but I didn’t believe them.
That was a smile.
“Does it mean strong?” Silas asked
“Ha, no. Well, at least I don’t think so. It’s the Roman emperor. He was really into state accounting, and that’s what I do.”
“You’re an accountant?”
“Yes, a forensic one, but governmental audits are what I like best. Not so cool,” I added with a nervous laugh.
Why in the gods’ names it mattered what Silas thought of me, I couldn’t explain.
“And I’ve always liked it.”
“Augustus Prescott is a good name. It sounds solid.”
“It seems so much for a little guy.”
“Do you know what kind of shifter you're from?”
“My grandma always claimed our family were owl shifters. Why?”
“What about Auden instead? It means wise friend.”
“Auden? Is that your name?” I asked the little guy in my arms. Another smile, but even bigger this time. Clearly, this was an advanced baby.
“Auden Prescott sounds like a guy who could get stuff done,” Silas confirmed.
“I think Auden Holt-Prescott sounds better,” I said.
Silas bent and kissed the baby on his downy head, then turned and sat back down in the chair at my bedside. Silas watched us while I watched the remarkable creature we’d created.
Welcome to the world, Audie.
“Mr. Prescott?” the doctor called from the partly open door.
“Yes, please come in.”
“The nurses told me you were up and about now. How are you feeling?”
“I’m all right but sore.”
“That’s to be expected. When we had to take your little guy, the quickest c-section comes with less preferred incision locations.” While the doctor spoke, she logged into the room’s computer and checked some notes. “You’ve been up and walking?”
“Five, maybe ten minutes at a time.”
“I know it doesn’t feel like that would be a significant amount, but your body has been through a lot. Our shifter heritage only protects us so much. We can still get sick and injured.” The doctor glanced between Silas and me. “And you’ll have help at home, correct?”
“I’ll be doing most of it myself,” I answered.
The doctor narrowed his eyes and focused his attention on Silas. “Sir, your partner has been through a difficult process to bring your baby into the world. His body needs time to recover. Being an alpha doesn’t give you free rein not to help because of outdated ideas about who should do what at home.” The doctor’s steely voice didn’t invite discussion.
“I’m not his partner,” Silas said with his hands in the air in the universal sign of surrender.
“Isn’t that your child?” The doctor glanced back at me, then returned his attention to Silas.
I started to speak, but Silas held up a hand for me to wait. “Doctor, you’re absolutely right. Rowan’s been through a lot, and Auden is my child. We’re not together, but I intend to support him in any way he’ll allow and accept.”
That mollified the doctor as it related to Silas, but then he turned his gaze to me. “And you’ll need to accept the help. One of the more serious complications that needs monitoring is sudden onset blood pressure spikes. It can be dangerous and requires that you seek medical attention immediately. The good news is that issues almost always happen within the first two weeks after giving birth. You’ll need someone to stay with you as a precaution.”
“I’ll be there,” Silas interjected. I whipped my head around when he spoke. What I knew about him was limited to how he made me scream when we got it on and that he made pretty babies. Even with that sparse knowledge, I recognized the resoluteness in his tone. There was no reason to argue because I wasn’t going to win this one.
Silas was moving in.