Page 312 of One Winter Knight
“Can we? She’s so tiny. What if I break her?” Hale replied as he sat in one of the big armchairs.
“Says the person who throws children?” Saoirse gave him a look.
Dusty took the baby and placed it in Hale’s arms. Hemeltedas he held the tiny, precious baby in his arms.
Fiona was at Saoirse’s side, trying to get her to drink something that was on the end table.
“We got the tacos.” I held up the bag.
“Thank you. I’m really hungry. Though I’ll just sit here, not at the table,” she said.
“That’s fine.” I put everything out on the coffee table.
Hale was cooing to the little baby. “Hi, there. We'll have to pick dad names. But I’m here. I’ll teach you about science, how to drive cars fast and avoid the police, and how to fix all manner of things.”
Dusty took the baby from Hale and came over to me. “Here you go.”
He set her in my arms. In that moment, my world changed and my heart melted.
This was our baby.
I was a dad.
I put a finger on her plump tiny little cheek. Big blue eyes looked up at me.
“Did you decide on a name, or do you need a little bit longer?” I looked over at Dusty and Saoirse who were now sitting together on the couch as he unwrapped her tacos.
They looked at each other and she nodded to Dusty.
“We’re going with Aurora Aisling Woodrow-O’Halloran,” he replied. “We’ll probably call herRoryfor short.”
“Rory. That’s perfect.” For a long moment, I just stared into those beautiful little eyes. “Welcome to Pack Lovely, Rory. We are so excited for you. In a little bit, you’ll have a little brother or sister to play with and there will be even more love.”
I was a dad.
I had a pack.
And a baby.
I looked over at Saoirse. “Do you want her back or do you wanna eat your tacos?”
“I’m going to eat my tacos.” She took a big bite.
“I’ll take her.” Fiona grabbed her then sat on Hale’s lap.
Yeah, this is our pack.
I grabbed a taco. Gwen was blowing up the group chat with gifs of babies. Oh, Dimitri had mentioned I was at the birthing center.
“Can I drop a picture of the baby in the chat?” I asked. “Also,can we start telling people?”
“Dusty, send him the picture. But please don’t put them on social media–only private group chats. But yes, go ahead and tell people.” She took another bite of taco.
He sent me the photo, and I dropped it into the hockey group chat and the one I had with my family.
Me
Baby Lovely has arrived.
When I met Fiona over a year ago, I never thought that I would be here, but here I was. She had changed my life for the better and it would never be the same, and for that I was grateful.
The End
