Читать книгу The Complete Red-Hot And Historical Collection - Ким Лоренс, Kelly Hunter - Страница 65

THE WALLS WERE round and the furnishings were soft. A posy of lavender sat in a cheerful yellow vase in the corner. There were two beds in the room and Jared had already pushed them together to make a big one. It was the latest and greatest in the private hospital’s maternity wing—overnight rooms for new families. Theirs even had a sliding door leading out to a tiny private courtyard surrounded by screening hedges and featuring a bird bath complete with inquisitive sparrows.

Up until recently soothing whale music had echoed through the room, but the music had been stopped at Rowan’s request. Any more whales and she was going to reach for the nearest harpoon, she’d said

His daughter—the one snugged in tightly to Rowan’s chest—didn’t know about whales, lavender or hospital rooms yet, and maybe she wouldn’t remember this room full of aunties and uncles and one sleeping cousin, but they were all here. Every one of Jared’s siblings and their partners was here to celebrate the latest, littlest addition to their family group and Jared was grateful.

Yesterday’s labour had been hard and long. Rowan had been exhausted and Jared had been more so, thoroughly traumatised by all the things about birth that he couldn’t control and a midwife who’d reassured him that everything was going exactly as it should. All that pain and the pushing—exactly as it should have been. Heaven help them all.

And then Rowan had delivered a sticky and squalling baby girl and Jared had taken one look at her and fallen in love all over again. Seven pounds and eight ounces of little baby girl. His to love, treasure and honour. No setbacks for either baby or mother.

The midwife had placed the baby skin to skin atop her mother’s heart and Rowan had looked up, her eyes shining, and said, ‘C’mere …’

And now he was done. So enamoured of his girls that he had barely been able to see daylight when it had arrived this morning. And if his family teased him about the expression of wonder currently stuck on his face, then so be it. They didn’t know.

Okay, Damon knew. Damon and Ruby had a son on the ground—a laughing little guy who had taken his first wobbly steps not two days ago. Maybe they knew this feeling better than he did. Still.

Those two … right there on the bed … the beautiful woman with the funny face and the ears that maybe stuck out just a little, and the baby girl with her eyes currently fixed on her daddy’s shirt … they were his world.

Poppy and Seb were going to wait a while when it came to children. Damon and Ruby were planning another one. Lena and Trig—Lena for whom children were no longer an option—currently had the care and feeding of a twelve-year-old boy.

Jared had looked to Lena with faint apology in his eyes when she’d first come into the room, with Trig not far behind, but she’d taken one look at him and launched herself at him, hugging him as much in warning as in love.

‘Don’t,’ she’d said. ‘Don’t you dare spoil this moment with whatever guilt trip is in your head. You let me celebrate your little girl. Because I am going to celebrate this one, Jare. For all of us. I’m going to celebrate hard.’

Yeah … As far as family was concerned, his little girl had landed in a special one.

‘So, this is.’ He looked to Rowan and grinned foolishly. ‘Mine.’

‘What are you going to call her?’ asked Lena.

‘Damona,’ said Damon instantly as he cradled his sleeping Thomas in his arms. ‘Got a nice ring to it.’

‘Stay away from Shakespeare,’ Poppy—full name Ophelia—told him earnestly. ‘And hallucinogenic flower names—stay away from those too.’

‘I always liked your name,’ Lena said to Poppy. ‘It’s pretty.’

‘They might want a shrub name, in keeping with Rowan’s,’ offered Poppy’s partner, Seb. ‘Willow? Or Bay?’

‘Pomona?’ Poppy said. ‘Meaning apple. She’s also the Roman goddess of fruit.’

‘Stay away from the fruit,’ Jared’s best friend, Trig, told him, and struggled to keep a straight face. ‘In fact stay away from all the food groups. Honey, Ginger, Margarita …’

‘Don’t you listen to them, sweetheart,’ said Rowan, covering the little girl’s ears. ‘They’re all mad. I’ll explain how that happened when you get older.’

Jared smirked and pushed the dozens of pillows surrounding Rowan aside so that he could slip in beside her on the bed. ‘Tell me when they get too much and I’ll move them on,’ he murmured.

‘I heard that,’ said Lena. ‘And you can try, but I’m not leaving until this baby has a name. Look at her—she’s so perfect. She reminds me of—’ Lena stopped and her eyes sought Jared’s. ‘A perfect little girl,’ she finished softly. ‘Rowan, what are you going to call her?’

‘Jared and I had a deal. If the baby was a boy I got to choose the name. If we had a girl it was Jared’s choice.’ Laughing, dancing eyes turned towards him. ‘You should put your family out of their misery.’

‘I’m enjoying their misery,’ he said, but he touched the pad of his thumb to his daughter’s tiny head and then awkwardly cleared his throat. ‘So … I … uh—it’s a family name. Everybody: meet Claire … Claire Elizabeth Farringdon West. After our mother.’

Nothing but silence followed.

‘Is everyone okay with that?’ he asked gruffly.

Lena nodded and promptly burst into tears. Poppy soon followed.

‘It’s good,’ said Damon, who’d never known their mother.

Damon’s wife, Ruby, stepped close and silently put her arms around him and Thomas and both. ‘Feels right.’

And then the midwife came in and took one look at all the teary-eyed visitors. Her steely gaze fell next on mother and baby. ‘What’s all this?’

‘We just named her,’ Rowan said. ‘Meet Claire Elizabeth.’

‘A fine name it is,’ said the midwife. ‘And all the crying is because …?’

‘Because it’s perfect,’ said Lena as more tears threatened to fall.

‘That’s it for visiting hour,’ said the midwife in a nononsense voice and opened the door wide, looking more than capable of pushing people through it should anyone dissent. ‘This lovely family have had a hard night—all three of them. They need their rest.’

But Lena moved forward before she went out, her eyes faintly pleading as she caught Rowan’s gaze. ‘May I touch her?’

‘Would you like to hold her?’ offered Rowan.

So far only Jared had held her, apart from Rowan.

‘No! I—I … Not yet. I just—’ Lena stroked the tiny head and then pressed a kiss to the baby’s crown. ‘Okay, I’m done.’

‘Hey, Claire?’ Jared rumbled softly. ‘That was your aunt. She’s probably going to teach you how to skydive.’

‘And terrify your father,’ Lena said. ‘Consider it my gift to you.’

The midwife cleared her throat and Lena straightened.

‘Congratulations. She’s so beautiful—and so lucky to have you as parents. I know you’ll be good.’

They all filtered out and the door closed behind them, leaving Jared and Rowan alone with their newborn.

‘Have I told you how much I love you yet today?’ he murmured as he settled back in beside Rowan.

‘Yes.’

Good job.

‘And I love you.’

‘That’s good to hear.’

He would never tire of hearing those words, or of needing this woman’s love. He reached out and touched Claire’s tiny hand, captivated all over again as his little girl wrapped tiny fingers around his big one and held on tight.

‘Do you think she’d like to hear a story?’

‘What about?’

‘I have an extensive repertoire. Explosions, escapes, hair-raising adventures, espionage …’

‘You should probably start small.’

Rowan looked ever so slightly incredulous, and he loved it that he could still put that look there. Never dull, this life of theirs. And right here, right now, it had never been more perfect.

‘You want me to tell her about Veronica the tortoise and the garden hose?’

‘It’s a little raunchy for a newborn.’ Rowan’s smile said it all. ‘Tell her the one about the sun in the sky, the slippery slide and the dancing penguins first.’