Chapter 69
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
“I can’t believe how perfect she is,” Harlow whispers as she strokes the shocking amount of dark hair our daughter surprised us all with.
We both have dark hair, but I don’t think either of us expected our baby to have so much of it right away.
It was the second-best surprise of the birth—the best being the fact that we have a little girl.
Harlow thought it would be fun to wait to find out the gender, and while I was anxious to know, we were both ecstatic to hear the doctor announce we had a daughter.
The birth itself did not go according to plan when Harlow’s water broke in our bed just before midnight.
We opted to face my family’s wrath and wait to tell everyone until we knew more about the labor progression, and it didn’t make sense for everyone else to lose sleep.
When we arrived at the hospital, Harlow was already in active labor, but unfortunately, the baby had flipped out of position and was breached.
Due to the positioning of the placenta and Harlow’s labor progress, the doctor recommended a c-section.
Harlow didn’t want to try and flip the baby and possibly deal with a complication or to labor for longer and still end up needing the cesarean.
At three fifteen in the morning, our baby’s cries pierced through the operating room, and my life was forever changed in the best ways.
“You’re amazing, Mama,” I tell her before leaning over and kissing her forehead. Harlow looks up at me with watery eyes, a near constant since delivery, but she insists it’s only happy tears.
“I can’t believe she’s ours to love. How did we create such a beautiful little baby?”
“I think she’s the perfect representation of our love, Lo. What we have—what we share and have built together so far—it’s beautiful. Of course, our baby would be beautiful, too.”
Harlow swipes away a tear. “You’re right. She’s the product of our love, and she’s going to have a beautiful life.”
“Of course, she will. She’s ours.”
“What do you think, little Miss Callahan? Should we alert The Cavalry that you’ve arrived? Are we ready for them to invade?” Harlow asks our baby who is passed out in a happy milk coma.
“It’s almost eight. Dad will be up by now. I’ll call him first, then we can text everyone.”
Harlow nods. “That feels like the right plan to me. Our people need to know about your arrival, sweet girl.”
“You know Theo is going to be insufferable about this, right?” I ask my wife as I pull up my dad’s contact. “He said last week that if we have the baby on his birthday, we have to make him the godfather.”
“Jack or Walker might have something to say about that,” she teases. We haven’t figured out godparents yet, but what matters is there’s an entire army of uncles that will love and protect our little girl.
And more than a few fierce aunts and cousins.
My dad answers on the third ring, and my emotions hit me out of nowhere. I’ve never made a call like this, and the joy and responsibility of today’s events collide all at once.
I can hear music in the background; he’s likely in the kitchen as he does his morning crossword puzzle. “Hey, Ry. What’s up, bud?”
I try to clear my throat but don’t answer him fast enough.
“Ryan, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, hey, Dad, sorry. Everything is good—great, in fact. I was wondering if you were busy this morning?”
I can hear Dad shuffle through some papers on the other end. “I needed to drop some trust documents off at the lawyers, but nothing urgent. What’s up? Are you guys coming by for breakfast?”
“No, but I thought you might want to come to us. In fact, I’m positive you will.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s going on?”
“Well, you’ll have to come to the hospital, but I thought you’d want to meet your newest grandchild.”
“The baby is here?!” The screeching of Dad’s stool getting shoved back echoes through the line, and my cheeks already hurt from smiling. “Way to bury the lead, son! When can I come?”
“Come on up now.” I look to Harlow who nods. “We want you to be one of the first, so I’ll give you ten minutes before I text The Cavalry.”
“That’s kind of you. I’m already heading out the door and will be there in less than fifteen minutes. Ha! A new grand-baby! This is fantastic. Boy, girl? How are they? How’s Harlow? How are you?”
“We’ll give you all the details when you get here, but we are all good.” Dad’s laughter is so loud even Harlow can hear it through the speaker pressed to my ear.
“Sounds good, son. See you in a few!”
It takes my dad twelve minutes from when we hung up until the door to the hospital room opens.
I hear the automated hand sanitizer dispense moments before Dad walks into the room.
His grin is wide as he walks over to hug me first. I stand to meet him at the foot of Harlow’s bed as he pulls me in tight.
“Congratulations, son. You’re a dad. Welcome to the hardest and best job of your life, bud. You’re going to be a great one,” he says into my ear, and I have to choke back the emotions at the man I respect the most in the world believing in me so much.
“Thanks, Dad. I had a great role model. Hope I can be half the dad you are.”
He lets go of our hug to pull back and look me in the eyes. “You’ll be twice the dad I was—I just know it.”
“Ryan, would you like to introduce your father to our daughter?” Harlow’s soft voice pulls us from our moment, and I can’t help but grin.
“I’d love to. Dad, this is our daughter, Brynne Caroline Callahan. Brynn, little love, this is your grandpa Murphy.”
Dad’s watery eyes meet mine. “Caroline? You gave her your mama’s name?”
I nod as Harlow explains. “I know she won’t get the chance to meet her Grandma Caroline, but she’s a part of the family and will be a guiding force in Brynne’s life with the pieces she left behind in all of you.”
I have to look up at the ceiling and try not to break down again.
When Harlow suggested it, I was a little surprised since she never met Mama, but Harlow said Brynne may not ever get to experience the type of grandmother that she deserves, but this way, she is connected to the one that would have loved her unconditionally.
We don’t expect that type of relationship with Harlow’s mother.
After they chose to not support Harlow’s wishes for our wedding, the communication has been minimal.
When we spoke to them at Christmas, Harlow let them know they were going to be grandparents, but the conversation didn’t go quite like it should have.
“Pregnant, already? Wow, that’s a bit cliché, isn’t it? Barefoot and pregnant a few months after the wedding? At least it wasn’t a shotgun wedding.” Harlow’s mother’s response leaves me scowling and looking at Harlow, who just slightly shakes her head at me.
My wife rolls her eyes as she responds, “Yes, Mother. We are very excited, even though it was an unexpected turn of events.”
Astor huffs out a condescending laugh. “Harlow, please. You’ve been the smartest person in the room since you were six years old, and you are a doctor. You can’t be surprised how babies are made.” Astor mutters something else to her husband, prompting him to finally participate in the conversation.
“Now, Harlow, we need to figure out how to manage this development,” her dad chimes in. Howard Lane is a spineless social climber who lets his wife walk all over their daughter. I don’t only dislike the man; I don’t respect him.
“We can have our team put together a little PR plan to handle everything. A simple statement should be enough, but optics matter.” Astor is talking more to Ward than us, and I’m about ready to flip a table.
“There is no need to handle any PR related to my pregnancy, Mother. I wasn’t calling to let you know so that you could turn this into a media opportunity. I was calling to let you know you’re going to be grandparents.”
“Grandparents? Oh, heavens, Ward, can you imagine me as a grandma? I need to rearrange the Palm Springs trip so I can get to the med spa before any of those rumors fly.”
I mouth the word ‘rumors’ to Harlow, unsure what her mother is talking about.
“You still look twenty years younger than your age. Your surgeon did a great job with the last facelift, honey. The rumors will just be based in jealousy.” Her father pacifies his wife—ignoring Harlow altogether.
“They are not rumors. Are you kidding me right now? If this is how you are going to choose to behave, then this will be the last phone call we have about this or anything else for the foreseeable future.” Harlow’s annoyed huff at the end falls on deaf ears.
“You run off and marry some random person with no connection to our world, and we don’t even know him, only to call us basically weeks later to tell us you are pregnant without letting us process all this upheaval. What did you expect us to say, Harlow?”
“You are supposed to be excited for your only child, that is the expected response here, but shame on me for giving you the benefit of the doubt. I should have known better.” Harlow’s face falls a little, and I can tell she’s trying to hold back tears.
That’s it.
I’m done being silent.
“Astor and Howard, we would be happy to have our attorneys notify you when the birth occurs, just like we did for our wedding. I think we’ve said everything we need to, unless I’m missing something, darling?
” My gaze meets Harlow as I silently plead for her to let me lose on these people.
She studies me for a moment before reaching over and taking my hand, giving me a small nod.
“I think my husband is correct. There’s nothing else to discuss here.” The side of Harlow’s lips tip up, and a small grin spreads across her face as she tilts her head toward me. “Unless … was there anything you’d like to add, Ryan?”
Hell fucking yes there is. I squeeze her hand before I turn my glare to the phone.
“Just a few things, but I’ll try to keep it brief.
We called you to wish you a Merry Christmas and share joyful news, and you chose to once again make it all about you, your image, and your social circles.
It’s honestly amazing how ignorant you two are when it comes to the phenomenal woman your daughter is. I feel bad for you.”
“Ha! Excuse me, you feel bad for us? That’s rich,” Ward barks at me.
“I sure as shit do. Your daughter—in spite of your influence and decrepit values—has turned out to be the most exquisite woman I’ve ever met in my life. She is kind, thoughtful, intelligent, and loving.”
“Of course, she’s intelligent. She was a child prodigy. Honestly, we know our daughter,” Astor adds.
“I don’t think you do. I don’t think you actually know her as a person—and for that, I feel bad for you for missing out on the reality of what it means to know and love Harlow Callahan.”
“Her name is Harlow Morgan-Lane!” her mother nearly screeches.
“No, it’s not. She’s Harlow Gisela Callahan, and she is my wife.
And I will not sit here and let you take a conversation that was supposed to be joyous and exciting, and in turn, shift the focus back again to your egos.
We are done with this conversation, and if you two have an epiphany about your abhorrent behavior and treatment of my wife, then we can have a conversation.
But for now? No. For now, we are done here. ”
I look to my wife, hoping I didn’t go to far, but I only see love and pride shining back at me. “My husband is right. That’s quite enough. We’re done here.”
Harlow has declined to speak to them since that conversation, not that there has been much to decline other than a request for us to make an appearance at one of their galas.
It’s been six months since that phone call, and while the door is open for an apology, that’s the only communication Harlow is interested in from them, and neither of us see that happening.
I will do everything in my power to protect Harlow and Brynne from any future attacks, and if I have my way, Brynne will be shielded from the pain that they have caused her mother altogether.
And if they try to hurt either of my girls? They’ll not just have to go through me—they’ll have to go through an entire brigade to get to them.
We protect our own without question and without hesitation.
And Harlow and Brynne? They’re ours.