Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
Harper
Exhaustion is nibbling at my toes by the time the door to the waiting room opens and Aiden comes out.
His family arrived not long before and they hop to their feet, rushing over.
“Is Luna okay?”
“Is the baby okay?”
“Is it a boy or a girl?”
“How much does he weigh?”
“How many fingers does she have?”
“How’s Luna feeling?”
The flurry of questions eventually subsides and then Aiden says, “It’s a girl. And her name is Reese Eloise.”
“Oh, that’s beautiful,” Aiden’s mom says.
It really is.
And—I press my hand to my belly—it reminds me that Leo and I need to get thinking about names.
“I’m kind of partial to Skye for a girl, myself,” he murmurs, as though plucking the thought from my brain.
My heart skips a beat, but I keep my tone even. “I thought you thought we were having a boy.”
“We are.” A shrug. “But it’s good to be prepared for any and all possibilities, remember?”
He’s not wrong…and also—not that I’ll admit this aloud—but I’m seriously reconsidering wanting the baby growing in my belly to be a girl.
Because watching Leo play with Ollie…
No. It can’t be a boy. I don’t know if my heart can take it.
“I like Reed for a boy,” I say. “But we’re having a girl.”
He shakes his head. “Oh, no. It’s definitely a boy.”
I wrinkle my nose. “No way. Boys are gross.”
“I resent that comment.” But he’s grinning as he shifts closer. “And anyway, some might say that girls are trouble.”
“Nope.” I shake my head. “You definitely have that wrong. It’s boys that are trouble.”
“One word: attitude.”
“One word: boy funk.”
“That’s two words,” he points out rightly.
I wave a hand. “Semantics.”
“Plus, girls are dramatic.”
I lift my brows. “So says the man throwing a tantrum right now.”
A frown. “Who says I’m throwing a tantrum?”
“Me.”
He chuckles and grins down at me and—
I suck in a breath.
When had we gotten so close?
I would only have to lift onto my tiptoes to close the gap between our lips.
He goes still for a heartbeat—as if he’s just realized the same things—then he exhales softly. “Either way,” he says, his mouth quirking up at the edges, “they’re sure to be stubborn.”
I giggle.
His eyes warm like my amusement makes him happy, and he runs the backs of his knuckles over my cheek. “So, Skye for a girl. Reed for a boy.” He smiles. “I dig it.”
“Me too,” I murmur, my pulse skittering through my veins, my body drifting even closer to his.
Then I remember myself.
And step back.
“Of course,” I say dryly, “we’ll probably disagree on middle names.”
A flash of a smile. “I think, given the chance, we’ll find that we could agree on a whole lot.”
I freeze, eyes going wide, but before I can decide if I’m going to ask him to explain that loaded statement, Aiden’s voice fills the room.
“Luna needs rest,” he says his face serious…for a few heartbeats, anyway. Then his lips curve. “But my tiny tornado also needs to see everyone before she’ll do that. So, Bri and Mom, will you guys start? Then we’ll give everyone else a turn.”
They follow him and I start to gather my things.
Everyone’s safe and healthy.
It’s time to let them bond.
“Um, what the fuck do you think you’re doing, Harp-tastic?”
I jump at the semi-restrained boom of Smitty’s question.
“I figure I can come by tomorrow,” I tell him.
He holds up his phone. “Luna wants to see everyone. Everyone includes you. So, park your butt on that chair and wait for your turn to see Reese.”
“Honey,” Kailey begins.
“Nope, little bird. This one I’m not budging on. Luna needs her family around her—even those newly joined.”
My heart squeezes and I don’t argue further.
I just plunk my butt down and say, “You’re right.”
“He’ll be impossible now, you know that, right?” Leo asks lightly as he seats beside me.
“He’s impossible now.”
“I heard that!”
“I meant for you too,” I tell Smitty with a smirk.
“Rude,” he mutters. But he’s grinning.
Sawyer—who’d also begun gathering his things—sits down. I eye him closely, wonder what he’s all about.
Earlier, his gaze had lingered on Lainey. Like a lot.
Hmm.
I can’t wait to tell Luna the gossip. She’ll love it.
Although, considering her and Smitty’s matchmaking (cough, nosiness), she probably already knows.
Time passes slowly as people go back in pairs, and eventually I hear,
“Harper and Leo?”
Aiden looks exhausted, but he’s smiling like the proud papa he is as he leads us through the door and around the corner into a cheerfully decorated room…
And oh.
“You look beautiful,” I say as I hurry over to Luna.
She’s tired, clearly, but the incandescence she’s radiating as she holds little Reese fills the room with such joy that my eyes immediately well up.
“Pish,” she says, shifting her hold on Reese so she can take my hand.
Aiden is there before she finishes, scooping Reese out of her arms.
“I do all the work and he’s already stealing my little girl.”
But she’s grinning, her eyes beyond soft.
And I’m mush too.
Not just because of the love in Aiden’s face, the careful way he’s holding Reese, but because of the way that Leo softens when they make a careful exchange.
“Kills, right?” Luna says softly.
“What?”
“How they melt for babies.”
My mind flashes back to Leo sitting on the floor, building that tower with Ollie.
“With kids too,” I murmur.
Her fingers squeeze mine. “With kids too,” she agrees then she raises her voice slightly. “Okay, boys, quit hogging my baby. Harper needs a turn.”
“Oh,” I say quickly. “That’s ok—”
But I don’t finish protesting because suddenly Leo is beside me.
“I don’t know how—”
“It’s okay,” he says, “just support her head.”
“I—” But then he’s setting her in my arms and…
The world stands still.
She’s tiny, so tiny it seems impossible that a human can be this small. And she’s beautiful, her deep blue eyes open as though she’s taking me in as intensely as I’m studying at her. A button nose, a perfect rosebud mouth, and long, long lashes.
“Luns,” I whisper, looking up at my friend.
Her eyes are glassy too. “I know,” she whispers back.
I soak in my time with little Reese, but eventually, I reluctantly hand her back. There are still a few visitors waiting for their chance to see her, and Luna and company need their rest.
“I’ll check in tomorrow,” I say. “Maybe bring you some mini quiches?”
She grins. “Now we’re talking.”
Then we’re walking out with Aiden.
We head for the exit as he grabs Sawyer and Ryan to have their turn.
“You want me to bring the car around?” Leo asks as we take the elevator down to the ground floor.
We’d had to park a fair distance away from the hospital’s entrance.
“I’m good to walk. It’ll be nice to stretch my legs.”
He nods and we step out into the fresh, morning air. The sun is coming up in the distance, turning the navy and deep blues of the sky into hints of orange and yellow.
As we walk, I try to think of something to say.
Should I apologize for yesterday?
Tell him thanks for sending Luna to check in on me?
Or—
“My dad was a deadbeat,” I blurt.
He stops, brows shooting up. “I’m sorry?”
“My dad was a deadbeat,” I say again. “He left my mom when she got pregnant with me and disappeared for years.” I sigh.
“It probably would have been easier if he’d stayed away.
But he came back, lived with us for a bit and then would lose interest and disappear again.
He did that so many times over the years I lost count.
So many times that eventually I lost faith in promises from men.
” I close my eyes, exhale again. “Then came Jeff. I met him in culinary school. He barreled his way through my walls and made himself at home in my heart…and then he left too.”
“Harp,” he murmurs.
“Then you and I had our night together and I felt something again,” I say, staring out at the horizon because I can’t look at him as I continue talking.
“I felt something big, something that made me hope. It was like…” Sighing, I shake my head.
“It was like it wasn’t just one night, but rather the rest of my life. Then I woke up and you were gone—”
He curses.
“It’s not your fault,” I begin.
“The hell it’s not.”
He moves in front of me, hands settling on my arms as he crouches a little to meet my eyes.
“I left that morning because I felt the same thing.”