Bonus Scene
EVAN - 10 MONTHS LATER
“You’ve got this, baby. You can do it. I believe in you.”
“I know I’ve got this!” Valentina glared up at me while taking a brief rest between contractions. “I don’t have a choice! Tell me something I don’t know.”
The nurses at the foot of the bed laughed gently. They had probably heard it all before. “Just breathe.” I stroked strands of damp hair back from her forehead, feeling about as useless as I ever had in my life.
She had never rolled her eyes so hard. “What’s the alternative? Should I stop breathing?”
“This is natural,” the kindly doctor informed me. I couldn’t see the bottom half of his face, thanks to his mask, but I sensed he was grimacing in sympathy.
“Oh, this is nothing,” I told him with a wry laugh. “I’ve heard much worse.”
“I have an idea.” Valentina braced herself on her elbows, lifting her head from the bed, wearing a look of determination. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not right here. And help me push, dammit.”
I did as I was told, holding her up while she grasped the back of her knees. “All right, Valentina,” the doctor instructed in a low, calm voice. It was easy for him to be calm. It wasn’t his baby on the way into the world. “I’m going to need you to take a deep breath and push on my command. Ready?”
“I love you,” I told her, bracing her from behind. She was completely focused on what she was about to do, staring straight ahead with the same determination she faced everything with.
“All right. Here comes the next contraction. Deep breath and… push!”
Valentina’s strained grunt left me gritting my teeth for her, holding my breath, counting to ten in my head while the others did it out loud. She finished with a soft scream, falling back against me and panting for air.
“Good work!” the doctor told her while I wiped her brow. “You’re very close now. Rest for a few seconds.”
“Rest, he tells me,” Valentina muttered, snickering as she looked up at me. “Who can rest at a time like this? Has he ever pushed a watermelon out of his body?”
“You are doing so well. I love you so much.” I pressed a kiss against her sweaty forehead. Everyone was waiting outside—our families, friends, everyone who mattered. We were about to add to that family. To begin building one of our own.
“I can tell you one thing.” She narrowed her eyes, breathing hard like another contraction was on the way. “You are never touching me again. This is all your fault!”
“We’ve heard that one too,” one of the nurses assured me with a laugh.
Valentina shot her a filthy look before her head swung my way again. “No, I’m serious. No more for you. Holy hell!”
“Another contraction,” the doctor announced, as if she didn’t know. “Here we go, Valentina. Get ready, deep breath.”
This time, I counted to ten with the rest of them. The energy in the room was picking up, giving me the sense of everything coming to a head.
“Almost there,” I told her once the contraction passed, and she fell back against me, fighting for breath. “You’re a warrior. You’re incredible.”
“Stop blowing smoke up my ass!” she snapped. “It’s not helping.”
“How about this?” A rush of pure emotion flowed over me, putting everything in focus. “Marry me.”
“What?” Her head fell back, her narrowed eyes finding me. “Are you serious?”
“You don’t want to get married?”
“I mean, I do… but you’re asking me now? Of all times?”
“I know.” It didn’t make any sense to me either. But standing there, rubbing her back, watching her fight to bring our child into the world, nothing had ever felt more right. More true. “I want you to marry me.”
“You… are… insane!” She was breathing faster, whimpering, and the doctor peered over the drape covering her lower half.
“The baby’s crowning. Dad, would you like to see?” he asked me.
“I don’t think there’s time! Another one is coming!” With her teeth bared, she grabbed the backs of her knees, tucking her chin close to her chest. “Oh, fuck! Make it stop!”
“Say yes,” I whispered close to her ear. “Marry me. Be my wife.”
“God, yes! Yes, already! I will!” And then she closed her eyes, her face scrunched, going red while she gave it her all. I peered over the drape in time to watch my world change forever.
“Oh, God…” I couldn’t manage anything else. Words couldn’t express the enormity of what I was witnessing. The baby slid into the doctor’s hands, and Valentina let out one final cry of exhaustion and relief before falling back against the bed.
A cry pierced the air before joy erupted around us. “Great job, Mom!” Everything happened so fast. Before I knew it, a squirming little bundle rested on Valentina’s chest. “Here is your little girl!”
Valentina released a sob. “Oh, hello.” Tears streamed down her cheeks like the ones blurring my vision. “Hello, sweetheart. Hello. It’s so nice to meet you. I’m so glad you’re here. I love you so much.”
Then she looked up at me, beaming radiantly. “Thank you. I love you.”
I couldn’t speak. I could only slide an arm under her shoulders and touch a hand to our daughter’s back, closing my eyes while sheer gratitude and more love than I knew was possible filled me to overflowing.
“She is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen, but maybe I’m biased.” Evelyn smiled tenderly down at her granddaughter while Magnus stroked the baby’s fingers as they gripped one of his. “She looks just like the girls when they were newborns. Remember?” she asked him.
“Like it was yesterday.” His voice was raspy, choked with emotion. I knew how he felt. I was walking on air, beyond elated. Everything was in place, completely perfect. I had everything I needed.
“Why don’t you tell them what you asked me when I was seconds away from pushing your daughter into the world?” Valentina offered a weary smile from her bed.
“What did you ask?” Aria’s teary gaze bounced back and forth between us.
“I asked if Valentina would marry me.” I smiled down at my fiancée, who happened to be the strongest person I knew. “I’m pretty sure she said yes, but she was also busy yelling at me and blaming me for what she was going through.”
Evelyn burst out laughing. “I remember that too.”
“She tried to break off our relationship, if I remember correctly,” Magnus told us, and our laughter filled Valentina’s hospital room.
Evelyn kissed Isabel’s forehead before handing her to me. My daughter. My little girl. “It’s amazing what happens the second you set eyes on your child,” she mused, settling in against Magnus as he draped an arm around her shoulders. “You forget everything you just went through. I’m fairly sure it’s a biological thing, or else nobody would ever have more than one baby if they remembered everything clearly.”
“The real question is, what did you say?” Aria asked Valentina.
“He didn’t give me a ring…” Valentina’s lips twitched when she looked up at me. “But I said yes. I think. I was drugged, though, wasn’t I?”
“I’m holding you to it. We even have witnesses.” I perched on the edge of the bed next to her, holding our daughter. Isabel Eve Anderson. I would give her nothing less than the entire world, her and her mother both.
“I’m so in love,” Valentina cooed, kissing the baby’s head. “Totally healthy, ten fingers and toes, perfect as can be.”
“And now we have another wedding to plan!” Aria clapped excitedly, while I exchanged a look with my fiancée.
“Want to elope?” she asked, wincing.
“It’s a possibility,” I agreed.
We weren’t serious, but Evelyn gasped. “Absolutely not. You are not eloping. We are having an actual wedding, and that’s all there is to it.”
“We can plan all of it for you!” Aria offered while Miles chuckled ruefully at her side.
I knew Valentina, which was why it didn’t come as a surprise when she narrowed her eyes and sat up straighter in bed. Her jaw tightened with determination before she announced. “Absolutely not. If anybody’s going to plan my wedding, it’s going to be me.”
I expected nothing less.
“Knock, knock!” The door opened a few inches, wide enough for Rose to poke her head into the room. “Is it okay to come in?”
“Sure,” I replied, happy to show off my little girl to the people who meant the most. “Come in and meet my reason for living.”
“She’s a lucky little girl,” Valentina murmured as the room filled with people. “All this love to grow up in.”
Smiling down at her, holding our daughter in my arms, I knew I was the lucky one.
THE END