“Oh. Of course,” she said with a frigid cover over any hint of emotion. “That would be lovely.”
“Patricia… Mom… Mother…” Fuck it. He wrapped both arms around her and tilted his head to rest against hers.
On impact, she melted into him, not her usual stiffness, but a rare clinginess, and he relented to a whiff of regret over not telling her sooner. “I’m so happy for you,” she whispered.
“Me too,” he said, and started to draw back. “Zoe and I are… well, we’re not together, but she’s great, and I’m going to be one hundred percent a dad to this baby.”
Her thin lips tightened and she nodded vigorously. “I have no doubt you will be a wonderful father. Better than yours could ever hope to be.”
Never a simple, “congratulations.” He nodded as he forced the smile and debated whether or not to respond.
“Hey, Ryder?” Evan shouted down the hall.
Ryder turned and nodded. “Coming.”
Evan smacked him on the back as he hugged him, Scott too, and both were red in the eyes.
Infectious, really, and Ryder’s eyes heated as he saw they had been crying. Evan whispered, “Zoe’s waiting for you.”
“Thanks,” Ryder said, and walked through the security door and back toward the room listed on his sticker ID badge.
Outside the room, he paused with his hand on the doorknob, the door already open a crack. Zoe laughed about something, delicious and sweet. Haley and Finn were visiting with her, but his sister sounded half asleep.
He knocked as he came in, and slowed and leaned against the corner.
Fuck.
Breath still in his chest. Eyes absorbing more than he knew he could, yet his entire attention was singularly focused.
Zoe cooed at the tiny bundle, rocking in an old-fashioned rocking chair that looked out of place in a hospital, and she lifted her gaze as he entered. Her lips curled into a sweetly inviting, warmly honest smile. “Hey you,” she said softly. “I found us a baby. Let’s steal this one and they can have ours when it comes along.”
He snickered a laugh, teasing his tongue behind the edges of his teeth, and walked carefully over toward her. “Sounds like a plan,” he said, and crouched down to see. Elbows on the arm of the chair, leaned close to Zoe, he tilted a look and couldn’t help but smile at the little thing. “Although, we could use a little more time to prepare.”
“True,” she said in a gentle voice, the baby calming the room with its presence alone, although, he did have the softest little breathing. “Clothes, diapers, crib… parents who aren’t freaking out. Yeah. We ought to let Finn and Haley keep this one.”
Haley was nearly limp with fatigue, and sticky sweaty in the hospital bed, but she watched with a sweet smile. At her side, Finn rested his chin on his hands and his elbows on the hospital bed, equally heavy-lidded.
Ryder lifted to his feet and walked over to his sister. He leaned in and kissed her sweaty head, and she motioned that he could sit at the side of the bed. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Good,” she said, scrunching her nose and nodding. “Tired. Terrified, but good.”
Finn slipped one hand into Haley’s and kissed the backs of her knuckles. “FYI, no one seemed to mention how difficult breastfeeding is. We’ll try again in a bit, but…” His eyes widened and Haley’s mirrored and she nodded gravely.
“Don’t make my mistake of thinking it comes naturally. Or maybe it’s because Emerson and I are both too tired to get it right,” Haley said, watching Zoe softly, Zoe smiling at the little bundle still.
“Good to know,” Zoe said, without looking up. “Ryder, take notes. That’s your job.”
He drew out his phone and pulled up a notepad. “Got it. Breastfeeding: learning curve. Anything else?”
11
Papaya
“That’sthebaby’sheart?”Zoe asked, staring at the black-and-white screen, the sound of whooshing and the rapid flutter of the tiny structure filling the small, darkened room. About the only structure she could make out.
“It is indeed. Your doctor will go over all the results with you, but so far this little one is doing an excellent job of showing off,” the ultrasound tech said, one arm holding the wand on Zoe’s belly, one hand on the keyboard, and eyes never leaving the screen. The woman was as much an octopus as Zoe often felt at work when there were more orders than her two arms could manage at once and she was alone in the kitchen.
“Sounds about right,” Zoe said with a shock of a giggle. Neither of its parents lacked in the swagger area.
