Epilogue
WHIT
Iknew my wife was tougher than she looked, but she blew me away with how she handled her labor and delivery with our first child.
Twenty-three hours of pain and three hours of pushing, and not once did she curse at me or threaten to cut my balls off.
“You’re one hell of a woman, Mrs. Victoria Baker. ”
There were dark smudges under her eyes, but she had never looked more beautiful than when she tore her gaze from our baby girl to smile at me. “I did okay, huh?”
“You did fucking amazing.” I brushed a kiss against her lips and bent my head lower to do the same against Nora’s cheek.
Victoria shook her head and sighed. “If you don’t cut down on the cursing, her first word is going to be the f-bomb.”
“Your mom used to warn me about the same thing, and you turned out okay,” Arthur said from the doorway.
My mom elbowed him out of the way, intent on getting to her grandbaby. She made a beeline for the other side of the hospital bed and stroked her finger over Nora’s tiny hand. “Oh, look how perfect she is. Good work, Mommy.”
“She takes after her daddy,” Victoria whispered as she smiled at my mom.
“My baby girl is too pretty to look like me,” I disagreed, shaking my head.
My mom peered at Nora’s face. “She has your nose.”
“And his mouth,” Victoria added.
“But hopefully not his vocabulary.” My mom brought the conversation back around to what it had been when she walked in.
Wagging her finger at me, she chided. “Your wife is right. You need to clean your language up around my precious granddaughter. Your dad had a mouth like a sailor, and you picked it up young. Trust me when I say you don’t want a call from Nora’s kindergarten teacher complaining about her inappropriate vocabulary. ”
Victoria giggled, and Nora let out a little cry of protest at being jostled.
“Aww, poor little sweetie,” my mom cooed. “Has she eaten yet?”
I shook my head. “When would she have had the chance? Victoria was barely done giving birth to her before you two came barging in here.”
“You’re lucky I talked your mom into waiting until the nurse said it was okay to come in.” Arthur moved closer to the bed and smiled at his daughter and granddaughter. “She was chomping at the bit to meet Nora.”
“Like you were any better,” my mom huffed.
“I might’ve been a wee bit impatient as well,” Arthur admitted with a grin. “But I wanted to beat the rest of the crowd before they came back here. We came all this way for our grandchild’s birth, so we deserved to be the first in the room.”
“Crowd?” Victoria asked.
Arthur jerked his chin toward me. “Whit’s team is out there. Brecken and Devon brought their wives, and Sera brought her husband.”
“You should’ve seen him grilling the poor man about why he retired from football so young.” My mom made a tsk-ing sound and shook her head.
“Rowan is used to the questions,” I assured her. Even after all this time, it was still hard to believe Sera had married my favorite quarterback, and I hung out with him on a regular basis.
Nora let out another little whimper of protest, the unhappy sound hitting me right in the heart.
“Sounds like the little one worked up an appetite.” My mom patted Victoria’s hand. “You must be starving, too.”
My gorgeous wife nodded. “Now that you mention it, I could eat the heck out of a burger and fries right about now.”
“You want me to run out and grab you some dinner, baby?” I offered. “I can also ask the nurse where the lactation consultant is since she was supposed to come in and talk to you half an hour ago.”
Victoria nodded and flashed me a tired smile. “Yes, please.”
“I’ll be quick.” I brushed another kiss against her lips before leaving, and Arthur followed me out.
“You want to go grab Victoria’s burger and fries?” I glanced back at the hospital room door, my feet reluctant to move any further away.
“Sure, I can go.” There was an understanding gleam in his eyes. “Scared something will happen while you’re gone?”
“Yeah, I don’t feel comfortable leaving them alone yet.” I pulled my wallet out of my pocket and tried to hand him a twenty-dollar bill, but he shoved the money back at me.
“They wouldn’t be alone,” he pointed out, ticking a finger in the air for each of the people he rattled off next. “Between your mother, me, and all your friends, Victoria and Nora wouldn’t have a moment of privacy.”
I shrugged. “Still doesn’t feel right to be anywhere but here. With them.”
Arthur clapped his hand against my shoulder and squeezed. “Now you’ll see what it’s like to be in my shoes. My granddaughter already has you wrapped around her little finger, and she’s never going to let you go.”
That sounded perfect to me. Victoria had claimed a piece of my heart the day we met. It was only right that our daughter would do the same.