Chapter 28
“We are never doing this again,” I say, clutching my chest and trying to force air into my lungs. My heart might be bursting with joy, but that’s not all, and I have to put my foot down now. Let her know right away that this is it. We’re done.
“We?” Shayla stresses the word with disbelief, then laughs once before pressing a hand to her lower stomach over her hospital gown and grimacing in pain. “I’m the one who did all the hard work.”
“And I’m the one who had to watch you do it. Can’t put you through that again. My heart just can’t take it, angel.” I shake my head and drag a sweaty palm down my face, which still feels a bit numb after my blood pressure dropped with her first blood-curdling scream. I feel like I’ve been dragged to hell and back just watching my angel labor for hours before delivering our first biological child together—our son, Gentry.
“But James, look at how cute he is. He’s a mini-you! And isn’t he just the sweetest little man?” She flutters her eyelashes, which would go a lot further in convincing me to touch her again if her eyes weren’t bloodshot from pushing so hard. “And just imagine how adorable our little girl would be.”
I huff and cross my arms in mock indignation, narrowing my eyes at her. “We already have a little girl, and she’s the most adorable little girl in the world.”
“But James…” she whines. “You said you wanted two before I graduated.” And then Shayla pouts in the way she knows will make me give in to whatever she wants every damn time she does it. She figured it out after she got me to drive from Lubbock to El Paso and back in one day for the authentic Mexican food she was craving from a particular restaurant she visited once on vacation years ago. But I won’t let it work on me this time.
“That was before your epidural failed, and I had to listen to you scream bloody murder bringing our son into the world, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to help.” I’m not used to being useless when it comes to taking care of my wife, and I despise it. “So I changed my mind. No more babies. And that’s final.”
The nurse, who had been quietly making notes in Shayla’s chart, snorts. I shoot her an annoyed look, and she slowly drags her glasses down her nose to look at me over the red frames as she sets a fist on her hip.
I wince and mouth, “Sorry,” to the nurse for giving her attitude. She chuckles, gives Shayla a wink, and goes back to her notes.
Shayla looks fit to argue again, but then there’s an explosion of excited voices from the hall and a knock on the door. Miranda and Sherman, whom I called when Shayla went into labor so they could get on the road to Lubbock, step into the hospital room with their children and grandbabies in tow. They’re followed closely by Eden and her daughter, Ivy—Lainey’s half-sister—and Eden’s fiancé, Martin.
Martin’s knees damn near buckled when he first laid eyes on Eden at our rehearsal dinner the night before our wedding. Then, our wedding coordinator had paired the two of them—my groomsman and Shayla’s bridesmaid—to walk down the aisle together, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. He nearly tripped over his own feet since he wasn’t paying attention to where they were walking as they proceeded to the altar.
If I thought Shayla blushed fiercely when I first started calling her my angel, it was nothing compared to how Eden looked when Martin called her my lady in that ridiculously deep voice of his, like some medieval knight character straight out of our game. He followed her around for the entirety of the reception, offering her food and drinks and making sure she was comfortable. He even started tearing up when Eden asked if he could hold Ivy for the first time so she and her mother could use the restroom. Then they slow danced for the rest of the night with Ivy held between them.
They’ve been inseparable since that night almost eight months ago. Since we moved away and can’t spend time with Eden and Ivy regularly, as we did during the summer, we’re comforted knowing that Eden has more than just her mother to lean on. Martin looks at her like she’s the air he needs to breathe, just as Shayla and I still do to each other.
It’s nothing but chaos as they each congratulate us, and Sherman claps me hard on the back first, then rejoins Miranda. His eyes turn glassy as he hugs Shayla around the shoulders and says, “You did good, honey. Such a beautiful family.”
Poor Isaiah, though. He walks in last, observes the crowd, swiftly joins me on the other side of Shayla’s bed, and then squeezes himself in between me and the wall. He can’t get away from Bailey—the oldest of Shayla’s two sisters, at almost fourteen years old—fast enough. Shayla and I find it amusing how Bailey looks at him like she’s star-struck—Isaiah most certainly does not.
Bailey perks up and twirls her blonde hair around her finger. “Hi, Isaiah.”
Sherman sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.
Isaiah looks to my father-in-law—his new best friend after Sherman took my place in our RPG group—and says, “A little help here, please.”
Sherman pulls Bailey into his side with a whispered, “How many times do I have to tell you to leave him alone? Give it a rest before he bolts and never comes back.”
Bailey turns away and pouts.
Isaiah relaxes a fraction as he greets Shayla with a kiss on her cheek and shakes Gentry’s hand. “Hey, little dude. Pleased to finally meet you.”
Bailey and Autumn fight over who gets to hold the baby first. Bailey wins since she’s the oldest, and she cradles him carefully to her chest. It’s a lovely, rare moment of quiet…until she turns wide, silvery-blue eyes on Isaiah and says, “Imagine what our baby—”
“Jesus Christ, no. I’m outta here.” Isaiah dips to hug Shayla, who laughs as she presses on her lower belly. He grumbles, “Not funny,” before skirting around the bed and far away from Bailey. “No more game nights at your house,” he says under his breath when Sherman joins him at the door. My father-in-law nods, and then they bro-hug before Isaiah leaves.
As soon as he’s gone, Bailey hands Gentry to Autumn, who is laughing her ass off. She stomps to the chair in the corner of the room and sits with a huff, crossing her arms as she sulks.
Miranda rolls her eyes and shakes her head. She takes Gentry from Autumn and snuggles him while Sherman snaps a few pictures of the two of them. When Gentry fusses after being passed to Eden and then Martin, Martin hands him to Shayla.
Angelainey, previously distracted by Ivy and her uncle Brady, who is closer to Ivy’s age than hers, squeals and begs, “Daddy, up,” with her precious, angelic baby voice. The first time she called me Daddy, I about died and went to heaven crying so hard. I still feel that way every time she does it. She claps her hands when I hoist her in the air and bring her to her mother for a hug and kiss.
“Hi, sweetie. Oh, I missed you so much!” Shayla coos. I gently set Lainey on the bed next to her, and she shuffles our newborn in her arms so Lainey can see him better. “Lainey, meet your new baby brother, Gentry.”
Lainey, who was all smiles when she walked in, scrunches up her nose and points at him accusingly. “Boy!”
Shayla chuckles. “Yes, he is a boy. And you’ll love him just as much as you love your little brother, Grayson.”
My Angelainey promptly bursts into tears, which instantly makes Grayson cry too. He reaches up with his hands, fists opening and closing in a “gimme” gesture while he cries, “Mama,” until I set him down between his mother and sister.
Shayla wraps her arm behind the two of them, hugging them close to her side, taking turns to smooth her hand over both of their heads of hair—one bright blonde and the other dark brown. Gentry is such a beautiful mix of the two, and they’re all the babies we need.
Lainey squirms next to Grayson and yells, “No boys!”
That makes Grayson cry even harder. He hates it when Lainey gets upset. Grayson tries to hug her, but she’s not having it, and she pushes his hands away. I’m about to pick her up, afraid their little tussle will hurt Shayla’s tender belly, but Shayla squeezes them into her side a little closer, smooshing them together.
“It’s ok, Lainey,” Shayla says in a sweet voice with a lilt on the end. “I’m sure the next one will be a girl, and you’ll have another little sister you’ll love so, so much, just like Ivy. Isn’t that right, Daddy?” She raises a sweaty eyebrow at me.
Now, I have six adults, including the amused nurse, two teens, and four toddlers staring at me, waiting for me to agree. I swear, even our newborn turns and squints at me, though I know he can’t see much farther than a foot in front of his face, awaiting my answer.
“Sister?” Lainey asks, her eyes round as saucers and lips pouting like her mother when she wants something from me.
I can’t take the pressure and give in, just like Shayla knew I would. “Fine,” I say, blowing out a defeated breath. It’s not all bad when I remember how much fun we had creating Gentry. And he truly is as adorable and sweet as Shayla says he is. “One more,” I say as I sit on the very edge of the bed and wrap my family in my arms. “But on one condition—no more after that, even if it’s another boy. I mean it.”
“Uh-huh. Sure.” Shayla winks when I draw back to look her in the face. “Whatever you say.”
I groan. “I’m serious, angel. Only one.”
“Yup.”
“Really serious.”
“So you said.” There’s a twinkle in her eyes that I don’t like.
“Really, really, serious.”
“Sure.” She bites her bottom lip and tilts her head to the side.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sherman trying and failing to hold back a laugh, and even Miranda tucks her face into Sherman’s chest while her shoulders shake with suppressed laughter.
“This is the grossest conversation ever,” Autumn says, looking a little green in the face, before hightailing it out of the room with Bailey on her heels.
Shayla snorts, stealing my attention back, then gives me a slow, sultry smile.
“Fine,” I grumble. “You win.”
Martin barks out a laugh that makes Ivy in his arms giggle, too.
Eden claps her hands and says, “Yay! If you wait until after our wedding, then we can plan it so we’ll be pregnant again at the same time. Oh, and then when you come into town for a visit, we can have a double baby shower. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
Martin goes slack-jawed, then spins Eden around and plants a kiss on her lips that makes the whole room blush.
When I look back at my angel of a wife, the smile she gives me is brilliant, even with her hair soaked in sweat and sticking to the side of her neck. We both know I’ll give her anything she wants, including however many babies she wants, so long as she keeps smiling at me just like that for the rest of our lives.