Page 111 of Rescue

Before I can say anything, she hands Rose to me. I’ve never held a baby before, and for a second I panic, but Daisy is calm. “Put your hand under her head,” she says. “Perfect. Support her back. That’s it. Easier than it looks.”

“This is weird,” I say, staring at the baby, and Daltrey snorts.

“Thanks, man.”

“No, I just…” I look down at Daisy. “You have ababy.”

She laughs. “I know.”

I shake my head, overwhelmed, and return my attention to the baby in my arms. She’s tiny, her nose barely as big as my pinky fingernail. Under the little knit cap that all babies seem to wear, I can see a few tufts of white-blond hair. Daltrey’s hair.

We’re going to do better for you, I think.All of us.And then she yawns, and her little eyes flutter open. I know that brand new babies probably can’t focus yet, but I swear she looks right up at me, her eyes wide and blue. And just like that I’m in love. “Hey,” I whisper. “I’m your Uncle Lennon.”

I feel a hand on my shoulder and see Cash from the corner of my eye. He stands next to me, looking at her, and then Reed joins on the other side. “I’m your other uncle,” Cash says. “You’ll be able to tell it’s me because I’m the best looking one.”

“Also the biggest bullshitter,” Reed says.

“Hey!” Paige cries. “You can’t swear in front of babies!”

“Uh oh,” I say to Rose. “Your uncles are going to be in big trouble now.”

“Really big trouble,” Reed says. “Because you’re going to have all of us wrapped around this tiny little finger, aren’t you?”

I look up to wink at Daisy and see Daltrey has joined her on the bed, leaning on her pillow as he kisses her hair. He smiles at me, shaking his head. He doesn’t say a word, but he doesn’t have to. There’s nothing but love, pure and simple, on his face as he watches his brothers meeting his baby girl.

***

Daltrey basically has to force us out of the room an hour later so Daisy can get some rest. I think we all would have been content to look at the baby for the rest of the day. The Ransome brothers have all fallen in love. Embarrassingly, sickeningly in love with a newborn baby. Cash has a surprisingly good talking-to-the-baby voice down already, which Daltrey tells him is lame even though it’s pretty much identical to his own talking-to-the-baby voice.

“We should go buy her something,” Cash says, his arm around Sam as we head down the hallway toward the waiting room.

“Like what?” she asks, smiling at him indulgently.

He scrunches up his nose. “Do they make baby leather jackets?”

“I’m getting her a toy drum,” Reed announces.

“I’m sure Daisy will love you for it when Rose is big enough to bang on the thing,” Karen mutters.

“No way,” Cash argues. “She’s not playing something lame like drums. She’s going to play a real instrument.”

“A bass?” I ask.

He makes a scathing noise. “Are you kidding me? The kid is going to play guitar. Who the hell wants to play bass?”

“Bass is reserved for people with a little more intelligence,” I say. “So obviously Rose qualifies.”

“You guys realize she’s approximately two hours old, right?” Sam asks.

“Stop ruining our fun, woman,” Cash says. “Besides, she’s obviously very advanced for her age.”

“Obviously,” Reed agrees.

“They’ve all lost their minds,” Karen mutters.

When we reach the waiting room, I stop dead in my tracks, making Cash and Sam run into me. “The hell?” Cash says, but I barely hear him.

“Haylee!” Paige cries. “I’m so glad you made it!”