“Your brother’s gonna come see you soon. He’s going to give you a superhero name. But don’t worry, you have a few years to grow into the name, and we’ll keep the ladybugs away from you until then.”
“Pink looks good on you, Deac.”
My eyes flashed up for only a second, to see Knox and Harlow standing in the doorway, before I was staring at my daughter again.
“Considering you were still running away from Jagger and Grey’s kids just two days ago, I didn’t expect to walk in and find you like this,” Knox teased as they stepped into the room.
“Shut up, man,” I said halfheartedly.
This was different. I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to put her down.
I glanced up at Harlow, and something in my chest pulled uneasily when I noticed her watery eyes.
For her . . . for the people I thought of as my family, I would figure out a way.
It turned out that Harlow wasn’t able to have kids from the intense physical abuse that her first husband had put her through, but she and Knox were just waiting for the call from the adoption agency saying that they were chosen for a baby.
Harlow always acted as if it didn’t affect her, but we all knew differently. And when Graham’s fiancée found out she was pregnant just after Grey had her second baby, followed quickly by Charlie, it wasn’t hard to miss the pain that Harlow tried to hide.
“You want to hold her?”
The tears that had been filling Harlow’s eyes immediately fell down her cheeks, and her jaw trembled as she nodded. “Please.”
I reluctantly let my world go, and met Knox’s thankful look.
Today was already emotional enough. I’d cried as soon as they’d put my daughter in my arms. I didn’t need to cry watching my warrior break down, or one of my best friends looking like he was on the verge of joining her.
I cleared my throat, and asked, “Kate?”
Knox swallowed thickly, and shrugged. “Caught Jagger and Grey headed over to the room. We were going to head over there next.”
“Do you know what time she had him?”
He laughed softly, trying not to wake Charlie. “No, man. But I got the money ready.”
“You’re all ridiculous,” Charlie murmured, and I looked quickly over at my wife to see her cracking her eyes at us. She sent me a mock glare, then looked to Harlow and Knox. “He was asking if I could hold off on pushing.”
Knox laughed.
Harlow gave me a less-than-amused look through her tears. “Deacon.”
“What?” I smiled wryly at Charlie, and wrapped my hand around one of hers. “I thought we’d had it in the bag. I didn’t expect you to go into labor while we were waiting for Kate to have her baby.”
“Terrible,” Charlie murmured.
“Not my fault. He’s the one who made the bet.”
“And I’m coming to collect!” Graham said breathlessly. “I have about five seconds before I need to run back to our room. Time,” he demanded.
Charlie answered him before I could. “Two fifty-four P.M.”
“Damn it!” Graham groaned, and let his head fall back. “Couldn’t you have pushed faster?”
Knox dug into his pocket and pulled out two wads of cash. “Two thousand to—”
I started to refuse Graham’s half, my head already shaking, but Charlie and Harlow suddenly hissed, “Two thousand!”
Charlie glared at me. “You bet two thousand dollars?”
“I bet a thousand. And, technically, it was before we started dating.” Her glare deepened. “I’m not gonna take his money, Charlie Girl. I’m just taking my half back.”
“I would’ve taken all of it,” Graham said unapologetically.
I snatched my half from Knox, and pointed it at Graham. “Exactly why I wanted my baby to come after yours.”
Graham grinned like a bastard and stepped over to Charlie to kiss her head, then did the same to Harlow. “Charlie. Warrior.” He peered over Harlow’s shoulder at my daughter, and whispered, “Hi, sort-of niece. I’m gonna come back later with your sort-of cousin so you can meet him and I can hold you.” He smiled at Charlie again, and said, “She’s gorgeous.” With the wadded-up money, he pointed at me. “Deac . . . dad looks good on you.”
It was my turn to grin like a bastard. “You too. Then again, it’s looked good on me for about a year and a half now.” I slipped my money into my pocket, and shrugged when Graham’s face fell as he finally realized his mistake. “Not my fault you didn’t think to apply the bet to kids already born.”
Graham laughed humorlessly. “Again . . . damn it.”
The girls shared a look and rolled their eyes before Harlow went back to cooing at my new girl.
“So now that she’s here, what’d you name her?” Knox asked as he stood behind Harlow, looking down at the baby.
I looked at Charlie, and she smiled through her exhaustion. “It wasn’t my idea,” she finally said when I didn’t volunteer anything.
“Charlie Girl, you can’t break the tradition.”
“That my mom started,” she argued gently.
It was an argument we’d had a hundred times. She hadn’t won, obviously.
“This is Brianna,” she told them with a soft smile. “Named after Brian Jones, one of the original members of the Rolling Stones.”
“Hate to say it,” Harlow began, “but I agree with Deacon. No way you could’ve broken that tradition. She’ll fit in perfectly.”
“Dad!”
My smirk grew into an unrestrained smile when I looked at Grey standing in the doorway with Keith. I stood to go to them, and tuned out Harlow and Knox saying their good-byes as he smashed into my legs. “Hey, bud.”
“My parents just got here with him and Aly,” Grey said quietly. “Are you ready for him?”
“Oh yeah.” I pressed a hard kiss to her head, then nodded toward the hall. “Go back to Graham and Kate. I’ll make my way there later.” Once Grey was walking away, I took Keith over to the sink so he could wash his hands, and reminded him softly about being gentle and quiet with his new sister.
Things we’d been going over for months, and things I was sure I would be going over again in about a minute. He was shaking, he was so excited.