Page 114 of Sweet Oblivion

“Who’s got Bodhi?” I ask, looking back over at Delaney. Her eyes are open and on me now.

“Good twin has him for me.” Hendrix stands and pounds my back. “I’m going to head to her house now to get him, if you’re good.”

“We’re good. Seriously, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” he shrugs and walks over to Delaney and drops a hand on Kyrie’s back. “You good, slugger?”

Slugger?

She smiles softly and shakes her head. “I’m good. Thanks for your help today, Hendrix.”

Hendrix puts his fist up for a pound, and Delaney hits her fist to his.

What the hell did I miss?

When did these two come up with nicknames and secret handshakes?

Lane waits for Hendrix to leave before she sits up, careful not to wake Kyrie, and makes room for me on the chair. “Did you win?”

“Yeah, baby. We won.” I sit down next to her and drop a kiss on her head. “Do you need anything?”

“A chair that doesn’t make my ass hurt would be fantastic. But that’s not going to happen here. So nope. I’m good.” Delaney smiles, and it’s like everything is right in my world. “Did you get in trouble for having to talk to me before the game?”

“Not at all. Declan knew you were coming. I told him as soon as you called. The whole day’s been a shit show. From the minute Scarlet brought me into the office to tell me the DA decided to not file charges. It’s all anyone wanted to talk about in all the pregame interviews.” I pick her feet up and lay her legs across mine. “Two of them mentioned your dad took a plea deal too. Have you heard anything about that?”

Her mouth opens, her expression morphing from shock to frustration to devastation, all in the span of a few moments. “No. I hadn’t heard. Do you know if it’s true?”

“No. But I can message Liv and see what she can find out.”

“That sounds good. I would have hoped they’d have called Ashton or me if something like that had happened, but after today with Brooks, I really don’t know what to think.”

“Lane...” Her gold-flecked doe eyes are wide as they look up at me, full of trust and exhaustion and something else I’m hoping I recognize. “I?—”

“It’s a boy.” Finn walks into the waiting room and announces like we didn’t all know Ashton was having a boy. “He’s big. Ten pounds, nine ounces.”

Jamie and Finn’s parents stand up, and their mom bursts into tears.

“And they named him Evan.”

Evan. After her late brother. The one Delaney never got to meet.

Neither of these sisters had an easy life. And Ashton and Jamie’s story is as complicated as ours. I look back to my wife and catch her wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

“How about we sneak in to meet Evan and then I take you and Kyrie back to Jamie and Ashton’s place and we crash there for the night with the little princess?”

Her lower lip trembles as she runs a hand over the sleeping baby’s head. “That sounds like a good plan.”

Gently, I drop her legs to the floor and press a kiss to her temple as I stand, ready to talk to Finn.

“Ryker...” Lane grabs my wrist and pulls me back down. Her hand moves to my face, and she presses her forehead to mine. “Thank you. For everything.”

“Never thank me for taking care of you, Bambi.”

I want to tell her so much more.

But not here. Not now.

Soon.