33. Chapter 33
Cole
I walked down the long, white hospital hallway, trying to be quiet. A nurse had yelled at me for being loud when I was a kid, and I’d been nervous in hospitals ever since.
The waiting room had almost bored me to tears. I’d waited there for the last few hours. Van and I had driven up to the hospital moments after Nayvee gave birth. Van had hurried in with her and the rest of us had sat in the waiting room.
Dax and Taya had already gone in to see the baby and left. About twenty minutes later, Nayvee asked to see Sadie. She barely knew her, but somehow Sadie made the cut over her own brother. Fine by me. I didn’t need front-row seats to anything gross or awkward.
I went into the room, and the first thing I saw was Sadie sitting in the rocking chair, holding a little bundle. A smile filled my face. Sadie looked like a natural. I’d never held a newborn baby. Maybe my brothers or Lainee, but I’d been too young to remember that.
Nayvee was in bed. Van sat at her side.
“How are you?” I asked Nayvee.
She smiled. “Birth is no joke, but look how cute my baby is.”
I went over, and Sadie moved the blanket back.
“Wow,” I said. “That’s a lot of hair.” I brushed my finger over the small black curls. My siblings and I had all been bald babies.
“He gets that from me,” Van said.
“Isn’t he precious?” Sadie cooed.
“Pretty cute.”
“Do you want to hold him?” she asked, standing.
“Uh… I’ve never held a baby.”
Nayvee snorted. “Not a surprise. Sit and hold him.”
I sat, and Sadie put him in my arms.
“He’s so small,” I said, touching his little fingers. Something tightened in my chest. I wasn’t sure if it was fear or something else entirely. “Does he have a name?”
“Not yet,” Van said. “I voted for William, but Nayvee thinks Will Smith might be taken.”
Nayvee laughed softly. “No movie star names.”
Sadie knelt next to me and touched the baby’s head. “We should head out, leave these guys alone.”
“You aren’t bugging us,” Nayvee said. “Thanks for helping us. I know that made you miss work.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I said.
Sadie gave me a small, guilty smile.
“What is it?”
“Nothing you want to know.”
“Tell me.”
“I want one.”
Van chuckled.
I blinked. “One what?”
She touched the baby’s cheek. “One of these. Don’t run away.”
My heart thudded against my chest. I’d always wanted to have kids, but I hadn’t thought about it in a while. “I’ll put it at the top of my to-do list.”
“Oh my heck, Cole,” Nayvee said. “You’re a freak.”
I smiled. “I thought that was a conversation you have after at least two whole weeks of marriage.”
Sadie stood. “We should go. Take our awkward conversations somewhere else.”
I got to my feet and handed the baby to Nayvee. She smiled and kissed his head.
Sadie and I walked hand in hand down the hospital hallway and out to my car. We climbed in and I started the car. I held the wheel and stared out the window for a minute.
“Did I break you?” Sadie asked.
I turned and squeezed her hand. “Not at all.”
“Do you want kids?”
I stared into her pretty green eyes. “I do,” I said softly. “Especially if they turn out as awesome as their mom.”
She let out a breath. “You’re hard to read sometimes.”
“It’s the male Hart humor. We think we’re funny. We aren’t. We use it when we don’t know what else to say. Just tell me to knock it off when you need a straight answer.”
She smiled. “I think you’re funny.”
“Great. I’ve fooled you. Now let’s go home. I may need to start reorganizing that to-do list.”
Sadie
The last two days had been such a whirlwind. I didn’t even know how to keep my mind on a single thought. My brain bounced around like a pinball machine, and it wasn’t all bad. Actually, none of it was.
Cole loved me. I loved him. Nayvee had a beautiful new baby. Cole hadn’t run for the hills when I mentioned kids. Those all sounded like wins to me. The best part? I was sitting on the couch cuddled up to Cole with nothing peppy on my mind.
Alyssa came home and dropped her backpack on the floor. “Your sub sucked,” she said.
“Oh yeah?” Cole asked.
“First off, she made us listen to music from sometime in the late nineteen hundreds. We can’t relate to something that old. Then, she made us do a surprise test, and she said she was telling you it needed to go on our grades. I’m pretty sure I bombed it. In a bad way.”
Cole rubbed his hand over my arm. “Don’t worry about that. I’m not letting a sub tell me how to grade my class.”
I rubbed my head against Cole’s arm and wondered if that was what it felt like to be a cat.
Alyssa looked at me, and her mouth turned down. She sank down on the loveseat. “Can I confess?”
I sat up straight. That sounded serious. “Go for it.”
“You two can stop the act.”
My eyes narrowed. “What act?”
“I overheard you two talking. Before you got married. My music was on, so I couldn’t hear you well. What I took from it was that you two were getting married for some reason to do with me.”
I shifted and looked at Cole.
“Then,” Alyssa said, “because I’m selfish, I tried to make it easier for you by telling you that you should get married. I didn’t know Cole was loaded, but I figured if you two got married, I wouldn’t have to eat ramen and mac and cheese all the time.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked softly.
She shrugged. “I thought you two were a good idea. I hoped you would fall in love. I’ve felt so guilty since it happened.
I should have told you I was fine instead of letting you marry someone you weren’t in love with.
I know it must be hard to pretend to be in love for my sake, so you don’t have to anymore. ”
Cole leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs. “I don’t know what you heard, but rest assured, Sadie and I are one hundred percent in love. There’s no pretend here.”
She looked at me. “Sadie? Don’t lie to me.”
I put my hand on Cole’s back. “He’s telling the truth.” I hoped she’d let it go. I had about all the excitement I could take, and I wanted to go back to cuddling in peace.
“You love him?”
“Yes.” I was glad this conversation was today and not two days ago.
She looked at Cole. “You better never hurt her.”
Cole chuckled. “Why didn’t you say that back when you thought we weren’t in love?”
“If she didn’t love you, her heart wouldn’t be in danger.”
I smiled at my spunky little sister.
“But you weren’t in love when you first decided to get married? What was that about?”
“Let’s not dwell on that,” I said. “We might not have been in love, but—“
“You liked checking each other out.”
We both looked at her.
She grinned. “I’m observant.”
Cole pulled me close to him. “Guilty. I still like checking her out.”
Alyssa smiled, and I hid my blush against Cole’s shoulder.
“I’m glad it’s working,” Alyssa said. “I’ve felt so guilty. And thanks for doing whatever it is you did for me. I do think you’re both crazy, though. I’d never marry someone I wasn’t in love with.”
“Good,” I said. “Love is what I want for you.”