Chapter 16
—Reed—
I lovingly gazed down at our baby girl snuggled against my bare chest. The skin-to-skin contact was meant to benefit her, but to be honest, she was the one comforting me. Four days in, and I’d just come to terms with the curveball life threw at me. Well, as best I could, anyway.
Four days ago, I didn’t have a daughter, and my entire world wasn’t lying in a coma on the ward below, but I’d at least had time to process the initial shock of the crushing events.
The little baby snuffled against me and stirred. I gently rubbed her warm back, marveling how my giant palm spanned the entire width. I stilled when she stopped fussing and closed my eyes, letting her warmth soothe the ache in my heart whenever I let it creep in.
Mom breezed over and smiled. “She’s doing so well, hon. At this rate, it won’t be long before you get to take her home.”
My hand protectively found the top of her little head. I rubbed lightly with my fingertips. “Now there’s something that scares the hell out of me.”
I wouldn’t know where to start with having a baby in my full-time care. Selfishly, I hoped Kase would wake soon so I wouldn’t have to tackle it alone.
Mom bobbed down and tucked the cozy blanket around us again.
“It really is the scariest time, but also the most wonderful and precious time.” She snickered. “It took us an hour to drive home from here when we took each of you home. Especially Dusty. Your father’s knuckles were white, and he was beading sweat by the time we parked at the house. He needed a nap afterward.” She snickered at the memory.
My father was a manly man, but I believed Mom. If I was already feeling this protective over my daughter now, I dreaded getting behind the wheel with her in the backseat.
“Mind you, you’ll be surprised by how quickly you adjust, and life becomes a little easier. Then you go and have another baby.”
My eyebrows shot high. “That’s jumpin’ the gun a bit, Mom. I’ve barely just got one baby, let alone starting to think of a second.”
She grinned. My mom adored kids, hence why she had six of us—seven, including my sister, rest her soul.
“Holly and Sawyer are all grown up now. I’ve been craving more grandchildren to spoil.”
I snorted. “Go heckle Banks and Simone. They’re next in line, surely.”
Mom rose to her feet and grinned. “In this life, we just never know. Let me prep Quinny’s milk, then we’ll feed her.”
I inwardly groaned. “Mom, don’t call her Quinny. It’ll stick!”
She pouted. “Baby Quinn is too impersonal for my precious sweetheart.”
Mom had a point. One that had been consuming the back matter of my brain. Our baby needed a name—an official name—and I’d compiled a mental list, but I refused to name her without Kasey’s input. It wouldn’t be right.
Mom returned with a bottle of milk and together we re-positioned our precious cargo onto her back and got comfortable. It was enough to wake her, and when she looked up at me with innocent brown eyes, my heart bloomed with love I’d never felt before. So strong, it created a wedge of emotion at the back of my throat.
I cleared it away and, under Mom’s watchful eye, got my little girl drinking. She was perfect in every single way. From her little clenched fists to her button nose, right down to the dappled red birthmark on her left eyelid.
I gazed at her in awe. I’d created her. Me and Kase. The internal feeling that knowledge gave me was completely indescribable.
Once she stopped drinking, and we’d topped her little belly up with milk through the feeding tube, I carefully lifted her to my shoulder. The constant fear of breaking or dropping her made my movements slow and precise. And when my phone started to ring in my jeans pocket, I didn’t dare take a hand off my baby.
“Mom,” I hissed, tilting my wrist to see the notification on my watch. “Can you answer my phone—it’s Simone.”
Mom hurried over and dug through my pocket. Not weird at all.
She accepted the call and eyed me while speaking with Simone.
“Oh, that’s great news! Yes, absolutely I’ll let him know. He’ll be down shortly. Thanks, hon.”
They signed off, and Mom’s update would have reduced me to my knees if I’d been standing.
“Kasey’s started to wake, and they’ve removed her breathing tube.”