Chapter 17
seventeen
XANDER
Xander felt himself nodding off but quickly came to, the soft beeping of the heart monitor doing just enough to keep him awake.
The hospital room was dimly lit. Brooklyn’s city lights shimmered beyond the window, casting a faint glow.
He looked down at the quiet, warm weight in his arms.
His son.
Even through his haze of exhaustion, Xander couldn’t help but smile.
The last five hours had been the most traumatic of his life. That was saying a lot, considering his history as a former EMT and current firefighter.
Xander had never been so grateful for the life he’d lived. The calls he’d answered. The hours he’d worked. His years in ambulances.
Now in his thirties, all those lives led him here.
Because although he’d delivered babies before—during emergency calls, in the back of ambulances—he never thought he’d ever deliver his own child… on the side of the road… in his truck.
His eyes moved off the baby and onto Rylee.
Still sound asleep in the hospital bed.
A real-life sleeping beauty.
She didn’t look anything like what she’d just endured.
She looked serene. Beautiful, of course. But more than that, she looked at peace.
Xander inhaled deeply, pressing his free hand to the corner of his eye, trying to stay present.
It had to be after three a.m., maybe closer to four.
The doctors told him he could go home and rest. They’d call when Rylee woke up.
They said she’d likely sleep through the night, especially after all the medication they’d given her once he got her there.
Just the thought of that made his heart hammer.
Because God… things could have gone very differently.
He looked back down at his son.
His junior.
Just a month ago, he and Rylee had decided to name the baby after him. Xander had been all for it.
He could’ve gone back to the brownstone, gotten a few hours of rest. But his soon-to-be wife and his son were here.
So this was where he needed to be.
He kept his eyes on Rylee’s chest, watching it rise and fall. The steady rhythm anchored him.
He’d counted it at least a thousand times. Checked her pulse just as many.
He was ready to check it again in another few minutes.
The baby stirred in his arms just as he heard another stir to his right.
Xander turned his head, locking eyes on Rylee, watching her slowly blink awake.
He sat up straight, stopping himself from standing too fast when he remembered he still had their son in his arms.
Carefully, he rose and walked the baby to the bassinet just a step away.
Behind him, he heard Rylee groan.
“I’m coming, baby,” he whispered, gently moving the chair out of his path.
His eyes landed on the hoodie he’d placed beneath her when he delivered their son. It was now stained deep red with blood.
“You’re awake,” Xander said, dragging the chair closer. “Thank God.”
She winced as she tried to sit up.
“I got you, I got you,” he said low, helping her by the arm and adjusting the pillows behind her.
“What happened?” Her voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.
Xander took a seat in the chair. “You almost gave me a heart attack is what happened, woman.”
Her eyes left him, scanning the room. Rylee’s hand flew to her stomach a second later.
“The baby,” she gasped, pushing herself up. “Where’s the baby?!”
“He’s right there. Calm down, please, mama. Please,” Xander told her, pointing. “He’s asleep. He’s good. Healthy. Ten fingers, ten toes. I counted twice.”
He stood. “I’ll get him.”
As he lifted their sleeping son from the bassinet and placed him in Rylee’s arms, he watched her face light up.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Look at him.” She looked up at Xander. “He’s beautiful.”
“Just like his mama,” Xander said, one hand on her head, his eyes still on their boy. “We got an impatient son, for real. Junior wasn’t tryna wait for shit.”
Rylee laughed, then immediately winced, again.
“Take it easy,” he advised. “Let me fix your pillow.”
Xander was ready to do anything for her. Anything, except relive everything that had happened.
But somehow, he found the words.
He began retelling what happened, starting with the moment she passed out—how he’d held their crying newborn in his arms, still wrapped in the towels and blankets they’d just bought.
He admitted he thought he might pass out too, just from the adrenaline.
Xander told her how the call for assistance got through, but the ambulance was delayed due to traffic.
“A police officer saw my truck parked on the shoulder,” Xander said, taking her hand and kissing her fingers. “When he pulled up and stepped out of his cruiser, the color in his face drained to pure white.”
Xander laughed nervously before taking a breath.
“He ran to his car, told me to follow behind him.” Xander shook his head. “I had to get you in the truck while holding the baby—cord still attached. Like a scene out of a scary fucking movie.”
“Oh, my God.” Rylee pressed her hand to her chest.
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I had the baby in one arm, the other gripping the steering wheel, weaving through traffic behind the cop.” He ran a hand over his locs, that were tied back, that same hand then resting gently on their newborn in Rylee’s arms.
“I had the heat blasting, wrapped him in a few of the towels and blankets from the baby store bag. Even with all that, I kept him tight against my chest, not wanting him to feel anything but me. I had no idea how it would turn out, but I just... I knew it had to work out.”
Xander told Rylee how, once they arrived at the hospital, doctors gave her IV fluids, meds to stop the bleeding, and kept her under observation until she stabilized.
“They said you were hemorrhaging because of uterine atony.”
Rylee looked down at their son, then over at him. “What’s that?”
“Basically, your uterus didn’t contract enough after delivery.”
Rylee blinked, processing.
“So they gave you a fundal massage to stimulate your uterus,” he explained, using his hand to demonstrate, “then Pitocin to help it contract. They were about to give you a blood transfusion, but they decided it wasn’t necessary since you didn’t lose too much blood… because I got you here in time.”
He pressed a hand to her forehead. “But they’re monitoring you. Checking vitals every hour, watching your blood count. But so far, baby, we’re good. You’re good. We got so lucky tonight. It could’ve ended really bad if we were out there any longer.”
Rylee’s eyes watered as she shook her head. “My God.”
“You were amazing, Snoop.” Xander smiled, inching his chair even closer. “Amazing. Through it all. I’m so proud of you.”
“Me?” she rasped, her bottom lip trembling. “I’m proud of you. You delivered our baby, Xander. You were amazing. You saved my life.”
Xander inhaled deeply, her words grounding him, anchoring him in the aftermath of the night.
His adrenaline had been pumping for hours, which was nothing new. He was used to high-pressure situations. The thudding pulse. The narrowed focus.
But never had it been for himself.
Always for someone else.
Now, so close to it all, his body still shaking beneath the surface, he was grateful. Unsteady, but here.
Rylee lifted her arm off the baby and gently wiped a tear from Xander’s cheek with her thumb.
“Damn,” he said low, sniffing twice. He leaned into her touch. “I ain’t even know I was crying.”
She smiled, her thumb still caressing his skin. “I love you so much, baby.”
His eyes found hers, their gaze holding firm.
“So much,” she whispered. “For the first time in my life, I am without words.”
She smiled again, her smile reaching her eyes, softening them. “How the hell did I get this lucky to get someone like you?”
“A question I ask myself often about you.” Xander leaned in, pressing his forehead to hers.
He kissed her there, then lowered to place a kiss on their son’s forehead.
“Your parents and my mom are in the waiting room,” he said quietly. “Nurses said they have to wait until visiting hours before they can see you or Junior… but they refused to leave. Said they’d just wait.”
She giggled. “Of course they did.”
“Your dad keeps trying to doctor his way in, but they have to keep reminding him this isn’t his hospital.”
Rylee snorted a laugh.
“I’m gonna go update them,” he said, pressing another kiss to her forehead. “Then I’ll be back to take the baby so you can get some sleep, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered, eyes dropping to Junior.
Xander nodded and turned to walk out.
He paused when she added, “We did it, Xander.”
He turned to look back at her.
“I can’t believe he’s here,” she said softly, stroking the baby’s cheek.
“Yeah,” Xander whispered to himself, his heart so full at the sight of Rylee and their son, alive and well. Here and breathing. “Same, Snoop. Same.”