Chapter 35
Maddie
“I’m so excited.” Claud is holding mine and Nate’s hands, swinging them back and forth. “I hope it’s a girl.”
I glance at Nate and Seb over Claud’s head, widening my eyes.
This could get bad really soon.
We’re here to visit Juliette in the hospital, and Claud still doesn’t know the baby’s gender.
She’s been asking for a baby sister for some time, not coming to terms with the fact that it could be a boy.
Which…it is.
In her mind, that’s the worst-case scenario.
“I love your shirt, little one. Did you make it?”
She hunches her shoulders excitedly. “Yep. Mom helped me, but I did it almost all by myself.”
“I bet,” I say, and Seb suppresses his chuckle.
The shirt says “big sister” across the chest, but the paint splatters and swipes all over it screams, created by a seven year old.
“Do you know what color your shirt is?” Nate asks.
“Blue and purple.”
“It’s actually called blurple.”
“Blurple?” She laughs. “What’s a blurple?”
“It’s Aunt Maddie’s favorite color.”
“The best color.” I squeeze her hand and giggle alongside her.
What a blast from the past.
I haven’t thought about Blurple in ages.
“Well, pink is my favorite color, but maybe blurple will be my sister’s favorite color.”
“Claud,” Seb says softly, “remember Mom might be having a little boy.”
“Uncle Sebby.” Her face falls. “I don’t want a boy.”
Shit.
“You know what’s fun about having a brother?” I reach over and playfully pull her pigtail. “You get to boss them around.”
“You do?” She’s suddenly excited. “When they’re older, of course. But you’ll be the older sister and can tell him what to do.”
“Hmm.” She thinks about that. “That does sound like fun.”
“Did you name the puppy yet?” I ask to distract her, and her face lights up, nodding.
“Summer, so it goes with Skye.” She says proudly, her pigtails swinging as she gets more excited. “In the summer, there are always pretty sunsets in the sky.”
“You’re very smart, did you know that?”
She giggles, and then the elevator dings, opening up to the maternity floor.
“My precious angel.” Harrison lights up, only the way he does for his daughter.
“Daddy.” She rushes into his arms. “Do I have a sister?”
Well, that was short-lived.
“I think we should go find out. Your mom has been waiting for you.” He points to Inés, Rosa, and Javier, who are off to the side. “Your grandparents have been waiting for you, too.”
He turns to us when she skips off, Leo by his side. He came earlier to be with Juliette.
Nate’s the first one to hug Harrison. “Congrats. I’m so excited for both of you.”
Harrison gulps, his eyes watery.
They release each other, but Harrison holds onto Nate’s shoulder, giving him a meaningful look.
“How’s Jules?” he asks.
“A fucking trooper. Even with an epidural, it wasn’t easy on her.”
“Must have been driving you mad.”
He blows out a breath, “You have no clue. I almost passed out from watching her in so much pain. I don’t like feeling out of control.”
I walk up next to congratulate him and squeeze him tight until Seb steps up behind me. He hands me the enormous bouquet of flowers from the brothers, then holds out his hand for Harrison to shake.
“So fucking happy for you,” Seb chokes out, then pulls Harrison into a hug. They slap each other’s backs and stay like that for a while.
We’re all getting emotional looking at them.
“All right, are we ready to meet the newest baby in the family?”
I’ve never seen four grown men so excited in my life; they practically sprint down the hall.
Claud is sitting on Inés, Juliette’s mom’s lap in the corner, tears in her eyes, and even though she’s sad she doesn’t have a sister, she’s taking it better than I thought she would.
Harrison steps up next to his wife, who, for someone who’s just given birth and had been in labor for twenty hours, looks stunning.
He takes his son out of Juliette’s arms and holds him to his chest, bursting with pride.
“Everyone, meet Harrison Javier Davenport Jr.” He holds his son up a little higher, and we all cheer, cry, and swoon.
Every emotion is present in this room right now.
“How is he a junior?” Leo asks, “Your middle name is Montgomery.”
Harrison turns his attention to Javier. “Not anymore. I’ve legally changed my middle name to Javier.”
Javier places a hand on his heart and ducks his head.
He’s a man of few words.
He walks over to Harrison and hugs his son, as we all watch on.
“Did you know?” I whisper, and Nate nods.
When they break apart, Nate speaks up. “I’ve also filled out the paperwork. I’m changing my name to Nathaniel Javier Davenport.”
I gasp, shocked. This is a surprise to me.
These men…
“We are keeping Davenport, in honor of our grandfather; otherwise, we would have changed that, too,” Harrison adds.
After the celebratory hugs, I walk up to Juliette to give her my attention.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like something chewed me up and spit me out.”
I cringe. “That bad?”
She nods. “Mark my words, I’m never giving birth again.”
I giggle at her dramatics.
“Did Becks make it?” I cross my fingers, hoping.
“Yes. Thank God.” She widens her eyes. “I would have killed Harrison with my bare hands if she hadn’t. She ran home to change.”
Harrison places the baby back in her arms, and we both swoon over how precious he is.
“He’s perfect, Juliette.”
She kisses his forehead. “Thanks. I think so too.”
My eyes rose to see Nate staring at me, with love in his eyes.
“I love you,” he mouths, and I feel emotions swell in my heart.
Hopefully, soon, we can share the joy of a child, too.
An hour later, we’re on our way home, but first, we’ve made a detour to see my studio.
“So it’s not much.” I unlock the door to my new West Village studio and walk into the empty space. There’s a small table in the corner, left by the previous owners, but that’s it. “There’s a lot of work to do to make it up to code. And I have a lot of equipment to buy, but it’s mine.”
Nate walks the perimeter, taking it all in, then walks up behind me and takes me in his arms. “I can envision you here, working.”
“You can?”
He nods. “I can’t wait to see it all come to life.”
“Me either,” I whisper.
“Do you know, out of everything, this makes me most proud of you.”
I spin around to face him. “Really?”
“Yes.” He cups my cheek, then leans in and kisses my lips.
The kiss is slow and meaningful. Not rushed, and I love it like this.
When he lingers, letting all my senses awaken.
He pulls back and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear, smiling.
“Because this is the first thing you built that belongs only to you. You’re an incredible architect, Mads, but this”—his fingers curl gently at the back of my neck, drawing me closer—“this is you choosing yourself. No expectations. No pressure. No, trying to prove to your parents that you’re better than what they told you.
Just Maddie doing something for herself. ”
Emotion swells thick in my chest.
He presses his forehead to mine. “Congrats, babe.”
I’ve never felt more seen in my life.
The words are stuck in the back of my throat, so instead I show him how much he means to me and smash my lips to his.
“And you know there’s a perk of your new space, too.”
“What’s that?” I mumble around him as he walks us backward until I hit the wall. He picks me up, and naturally wraps my legs around him.
“Now we can live out all my new fantasies of fucking you when you’re hard at work.”
My chest jumps from laughter. “Is all you do is think about sex?”
“Yes.” He bites my earlobe, and my eyes close at the sensation. “Now it won’t be the thrill of someone in the office finding us, it will be someone walking down the street peering in, finding you on your knees with my cock down your throat.”
He grinds himself into me, and I roll my hips, matching his speed. He grips my ass hard. “You were so wet the other day when I finger fucked you in the copy room. Leaning over the counter, rushing to orgasm so no one would walk in and see you gush all over me.”
“God, Nate.” He reaches between us to unzip my pants, and there’s a vibration suddenly between us.
“If only everyone knew what a dirty, dirty girl you are.”
“What’s that?”
“Huh?”
“Unless your penis has become my own personal vibrator, I think your phone is going off.”
His shoulders drop. “Fuck, my dick is hard right now.”
With sheer strength, he holds me up with one hand, reaches into his pocket with the other, and pulls out his phone, which shows an 802 area code.
We both still, knowing that’s a Vermont area code.
He lowers me to the ground, and I push his phone to him. “What are you doing? Pick up. Pick up.”
He snaps out of it and answers, putting it on speaker. “Nathaniel Davenport.”
“Hello, Mr. Davenport, this is Anne York from Healing Horizons.”
“Hi Anne, it’s good to hear from you.
“Thank you so much for your quick turnaround. I have to tell you, most people take weeks to locate their birth certificates.”
Nate filled out the preliminary questionnaire two nights ago, and this morning we received an email with another link to upload all of our personal information.
Of course, I had already planned for this, researching the information they might need from us, and I had it all uploaded and ready in minutes.
“Madeline and I are very organized. I’m glad we were able to get you all the information you needed.”
“Indeed. This phone call isn’t just to praise your quick attention but rather to invite you and Madeline to our main headquarters on Thursday.”
“This Thursday?” he confirms.
“Yes. We only have visits once a week, and—” She hesitates. “We had a cancellation.”
My hands fly to my face, and I jump on the spot, trying to stay as silent as possible.
Oh. My. God.
For the first time in my life, I don’t care if we’re using the Davenport name in our favor, because that’s exactly what we’re doing.
I could tell by her hesitation. No one canceled.
They saw the Davenport name and expedited the interview process.
“Yes. Of course we’ll be there.”