CHAPTER 34 Liam Bradley
Pizzy
A little after midnight on the second day of July, Liora Isabella Bradley was born.
The nurses had me cut the umbilical cord, and tears streamed down my face as the symbolism of the moment hit me. It was the moment Liora detached from Izzy and became mine.
She was always mine—or part of me, anyway. But the paperwork was filed, and the baby rested on my bare chest so we could bond with skin-to-skin time.
The nurses have been incredible. Izzy was there for the first few hours, but now she’s in a recovery room.
They gave me my own recovery room since they had an empty one so I could be close by for the baby given our situation.
So far they’ve shown me how to change a diaper and how to bottle-feed a newborn.
Getting her dressed and undressed will be another matter entirely, but I’m learning the basics, and I can no longer say I’ve never changed a diaper.
I keep thinking about calling Penny.
And, oddly, I keep thinking about my mother, too.
She wasn’t super warm or loving when it came to babies, but this is her grandchild. I wish I could tell her about Liora. I wish I could ask her what to do with her when I get her home. I’m not sure she would’ve had any advice, but she still feels like someone I would’ve turned to.
Dex has a baby, too, and this is only the second in the Bradley family.
I should tell my father. Maybe I’ll go to his trial to see the verdict read, but it’s not like I could take the seat behind him and whisper in his ear that he’s a grandfather again—and that also begs the question whether I can actually bring a baby into a courtroom.
It’s weird how quickly everything changed the moment she was born. It’s no longer just about me, and going forward, it feels like every decision I make will be made with her in mind.
On Friday afternoon, Dolores shows up to meet Liora.
“Knock knock,” she says from the doorway, and I glance up from staring at the baby who’s sleeping soundly on my chest.
“Dolores!” I say softly. “Come on in.”
“I’m here to meet my newest grandbaby,” she says, and my chest tightens at the sentiment. Dolores has been like a second mother to me since I met her, and in a lot of ways, she’ll be this baby’s only real grandmother.
She washes her hands and joins me on the couch, and I shift to hand her over.
“Oh, no, honey boy. Don’t move when the baby is asleep. You’ll learn that real fast.”
I chuckle, but I still listen and settle back into place.
“What’s her name?”
“I was trying to come up with a way to combine her mother’s name with my favorite woman on the planet, but—”
“Pizzy didn’t work?”
“Pizzy?”
“Sure. Penny and Izzy.”
“Can you imagine a baby named Pizzy?”
“No.”
I laugh a bit too loudly, and I think I startle the baby, who starts to cry.
“The nurse brought in a bottle a few minutes ago in anticipation.” I nod beside me, and Dolores picks it up as I shift the now-crying newborn from my arms.
“Here, honey,” she says, and she gently lifts the baby out of my arms. “May I feed her?”
“I would love that,” I say, and she’s an old pro with handling babies while I’m still trying to figure out the best way not to break her.
“So not Pizzy. Inny?”
“Izzy plus Penny?” I guess.
She shrugs.
“I considered it, but I was worried the kids on the playground would call her Outie, like a belly button.”
Dolores chuckles.
“Truth be told, as much as I love Penny, her name wasn’t in the running.
Especially not now, not now that it’s over—” I pause as I feel myself getting a little choked up.
I clear it away. “I wanted to honor the person who has saved my ass more times than I can count in such a short amount of time, and I thought about Dolorabella, but it was too long. I wanted something that started with an L, so, drumroll please…”
She looks touched, and her eyes shine. She doesn’t give me a drumroll, as if she can’t speak past the lump in her throat.
“Meet Liora Isabella Bradley.”
“Liora,” she whispers on a soft exhale. “It’s beautiful.”
I reach over and cover Dolores’s hand with mine. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for us.”
“I’m right here for whatever you need, kiddo.”
She stays a couple of hours before she has to go, and I guess newborns sleep a couple hours then want to eat again. On repeat. For the rest of time. With some diaper fun in between.
Madden comes in for a visit on Friday night, armed with pizza from my favorite place, Lou Malnati’s, despite the fact that I need to be season-ready in a few weeks.
“Where’s the kid?” he asks playfully as he walks into the room where I’m trying to get comfortable on the couch. I feel weird sleeping in the bed since I’m not a patient.
“Sleeping in the nursery.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping when the baby’s sleeping?” he asks as he sets the pizza on a little end table.
“And you said you didn’t know anything about babies,” I tease.
He chuckles.
“Truth be told, the nurses have been amazing here, and it’s probably because she’s the cutest baby in the nursery and none of them want to stop holding her.”
“How are you really holding up, man?” he asks.
My eyes slide over to the pizza box. “Hungry.”
He takes the hint and opens the box, dishing two pieces out onto paper plates he brought. The familiar sights and smells of a single slice of steaming pizza bring me back to my childhood—the thick, buttery crust, the gooey cheese, the sausage, the sauce. It’s all perfection.
I usually dig into this with a fork, but I’m hungry and don’t see one, so I pick it up and take a huge bite. After I swallow it down, I glance up to see my brother studying me.
“I’m okay,” I say quietly. “The truth of it is that I haven’t had to do much yet. I’m learning. It’ll be an entirely different story once I’m home on my own with her.”
“And are you equipped for that?”
“I asked Dolores to help me. I have faith she’ll get me what I need.
” I shrug. “I texted Ivy that Izzy was in labor, but she was in Vegas visiting Ainsley. I sort of thought she was going to be my solution, but she’s not even here.
So…I’m not really sure what I’m doing. Relying on Dolores for now and hoping I can work something out when I get back to San Diego. ”
He wrinkles his nose and bites his lip, and I get the distinct feeling he wants to say something but isn’t sure how to say it.
“Out with it,” I demand.
He sighs. “I’m not sure Ivy’s coming to San Diego. I guess Everleigh got to her and told her how much she needs an assistant, and now she’s thinking about moving to Vegas instead.”
“What?” I breathe. “Why the fuck wouldn’t she tell me that? I just put a goddamn offer on a goddamn house that’s goddamn big enough for both of us, and now she’s not even going to be there?”
He winces. “It appears not. And listen, she’s backing out of my offer, too. So that leaves VanBrad in the lurch, too,” he says.
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“Have you talked to the team?”
I shake my head.
“Miller Banks has a baby. Tanner’s wife has two kids. Spencer Nash has one. All sorts of guys on the team have kids.”
“Yeah, but they also have wives or girlfriends,” I point out. “I’m a single dad.”
“I’m sure if you talk to someone in player ops, they can help you find someone.”
I nod. I honestly hadn’t thought of that.
“Does this TV have Archer’s game?” Madden asks.
I shrug, and he stands to find the remote. He flips around, and we can’t find it, but he pulls it up on his phone. We watch our brother’s game while we finish the entire pizza, and I’ve just washed my hands when the nurse comes in with a baby and a bottle.
“Look who’s awake and hungry,” she croons with a smile.
Liora is clearly hungry and not happy, and she cries her little newborn baby cries.
I move to the couch, and the nurse brings her over to me. She gently lays her in my arms, and I’m careful to support her head the way she showed me earlier. I’m sure this will get easier, but it’s still early days. I’m still learning.
It feels like it’ll be a lifetime of learning.
She hands me the bottle, and I set it between the baby’s lips. Once she quiets down and starts to suck, the nurse leaves, and I glance at my big brother before I look back down at my little girl.
“Uncle Madden is here to meet you,” I say softly.
He stands up and walks over.
“Madden, meet Liora Isabella Bradley.”
“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl. The first niece in the family,” he says.
That’s true. Dex’s kid is a boy named Jack, and he didn’t even know he had a son for the first six months of the boy’s life.
But now he’s a Bradley through and through, and Dex has really stepped into the protective Dad role.
Just like I’m trying to.
We’re discharged the next afternoon, which means I’m heading home with a brand-new baby. It’s strange how they just let me walk out with her strapped into her new car seat like I know what the fuck I’m doing.
I don’t. I have zero clue.
But I’ve never wanted to learn anything more in my entire life.