Page 134 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

“Do you want to see him?” he asked Taylor softly. “Hold him once?”

Taylor’s eyes stayed shut. Tears slid silently from their corners as she shook her head, again and again.

No.

And the weight of that answer settled into him just as deeply as the child in his arms. She never wanted this child.

Itwouldhave been his.

He nodded once, accepting her answer without question.

“Okay,” he said softly.

He passed the baby to the nurse waiting beside him, turning away before his hands betrayed the tremor running through them. The sudden and sharp loss pressed hard against his chest, but he forced it down. This moment wasn’t his.

He had no hold on that child today. He had to keep telling himself that.

Taylor lay rigid beneath the lights, her shoulders shaking now that the worst was over. He stepped closer, resting a steady hand on her arm, trying anything to offer comfort.

“You did well,” he said. “It’s over. We’re going to take care of you.”

“I’m sorry,” Taylor cried. “I was trying to do everything you asked. I didn’t mean it. I really didn’t.”

His heart was breaking for another reason.

This child who just delivered a child didn’t need to carry this guilt. This burden that she’d let him down.

That something she did caused this outcome.

“You did nothing wrong,” he said quietly. “Nothing.Sometimes things happen no one can fix.”

Taylor’s breath hitched. “Why didn’t I know he wasn’t”—she choked back a sob—“alive. I should have known, right? I could have fixed it sooner.”

“Don’t think like that,” he said. “And that’s not your fault. You couldn’t have done anything to prevent this.”

Tears streamed freely now, soaking into the pillow. He stayed where he was, speaking only when she needed it, letting the silence do the work when words would only wound.

He wouldn’t let his own tears fall.

He wouldn’t let her see him crack.

“Now what?” Taylor asked.

“Now we’re going to take care of you,” he added. “You’re safe. You survived something incredibly hard. We’ll get you help to get you through. Both of you.” He looked at Cora who was visibly shaken over the turn of events.

None of them in this room signed up for this.

He stepped out into the hall, stripping off the gown and gloves as Taylor was wheeled away to recovery. The weight of the night clung to him, heavy and unshakable.

Nothing he ever wanted to go through in his life again, but it never seemed to land that way.

Gabriela was there the moment he looked up.

“Hey,” she said softly. “Come here.”

He didn’t argue. Didn’t pretend. He let her pull him in, let her arms wrap tight around him. He wouldn’t admit how badly he needed it. How deeply the night had cracked something open inside him.

How he should have known better than to let himself walk this road again.