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“Tate,” Lily snapped, lying her head back down on the pillow, looking like it had taken all of her energy to do it. “You’re ruining the special moment. Now, hold your daughter.”
Taking a deep breath, I held my hands out, trying to ignore how hard they were shaking. I could do this.
The second she was in my arms, I fell deeper down the hole of eternal and all-consuming love that I had for her and her mother. There was nothing in this world that felt like it or that would ever come close to it.
“What did we call her?” I asked, not taking my eyes off her. The more I held my daughter, the more similarities I found between us. She had my fingers, I was sure of it, and my ears.
“Rebel.”
I was blaming the Mayans and Chinese for this.* * *Two hours later…
It had taken everything in me to put Rebel down, but after Lily had fed her for the first time, I’d changed her first diaper, put on her first item of clothing, a bodysuit with Daddy’s #1 Princess on it, and had reluctantly stepped away from her as she slept in the little tank we’d been given for her. Why they put them in those things I didn’t know, it was weird and looked uncomfortable as hell.
Now, I was left reeling as I watched both my girls sleep the day off. I was glad they were here to do it in front of me, but I couldn’t relax enough to close my eyes. If I so much as looked away from them for a second, I’d panic and straighten up so I could check that their chests were still moving.
I also couldn’t switch off because I was worried about who Rob was, and why this had all happened.
Just then, the door opened and Levi stuck his head around the corner.
“Can I come in?”
Looking back at my girls, I nodded and went back to thinking. Proving how alike we were, my brother walked over so that he was standing beside Rebel’s fish tank, and I watched his head move as he looked between her and her mom, doing the same thing I was doing – monitoring their breathing.
When he was satisfied, he leaned down and gently stroked his fingers down Rebel’s face, smiling when she shifted and let out a squeak again.
“She’s perfect,” he murmured, telling me something I already knew. “Is she ok? Are they happy with whatever they need to watch with a baby?”
“Yeah,” I sighed, trying to get the crick out of my neck by stretching it. “Apparently, her oxygen levels are great, especially considering what happened.”
Backing away from her, Levi made his way over to where I was and leaned into me. “We need to talk.” When he straightened up and caught my eyes, I tensed up all over again. “Now.”
Not making a sound, I got up, shooting a last look at my woman and daughter, and followed him out into the corridor. Once the door had shut behind us, I leaned against the wall and watched as Archer came up behind him carrying a holder with three cups of coffee in it, his face looking murderous.
Ever heard the word that means fucking terrific? It’s traif. Mind you, that also meant non-kosher, but in my family we used it for the first meaning, and we said it sarcastically.
Well, this was just traif!
“You told him yet?” he asked, handing me a cup.
Looking down at the murky brown liquid in it suspiciously, I tuned them out as I took a sip. I was dragging ass, my head hurt, I knew my girls were safe in the room behind me, and I felt like shit, so coffee it was. Although, after the first mouthful, I started to question what the hell I was actually drinking. “Is this drugged?”
When neither of them answered, I looked up to see them watching me closely.
“We need to tell you something,” Levi muttered, but I noticed he didn’t take a sip of his own drink.
Wrong time and place to put laxatives in a drink, assholes…
“It was Rob Robertson who set fire to The Bar,” Archer broached, watching for my reaction.
I had none.
Why? Because I’d forgotten about the little rat bastard after the whole incident over Lily. How fucking stupid could you get?
“I know what you’re thinking,” Levi rumbled, but I cut him off before he could go any further.
“Do you?” I asked sarcastically. “Do you really? Do you know that I forgot about him completely after it all happened? Forgot he existed and the shit he’d said about my woman? My pregnant woman?” I agonized, stressing the word pregnant. “Even tonight, I came in and stayed here, instead of going out to find out who’d tried to kill her and Petey.”
As I made to walk past them, Archer grabbed my arm and stopped me. “Where are you going?”
