“Yeah, sorry ’bout that. You didn’t exactly give me a lot of warning.”
“Kind of hard to predict how fast these things will go.”
“Still, waiting till the fifth inning to say anything?”
Stella lets out a little sound, and both of us immediately look down. I’m not sure if it’s normal to be so laser-focused on such a tiny human being, but I swear, every time she moves or grunts or anything, the rest of the world falls away.
As if she’s been a mom for a lot longer than less than twenty-four hours, Lark maneuvers our little girl into a nursing position. It takes a few tries, but soon, she latches on, and it’s the most beautiful sight in the entire goddamn universe.
Lark leans her head back with a tired sigh. And she’s got every right to be exhausted. I might have been in the middle of the last game of a three-game stretch when Mattias pulled me off the field and said Lark and my mom were headed to the hospital, but she’s the one who went through a day and a half of labour pains at home before things ramped up to that point. Thank fuck we weren’t traveling. I should have listened to my gut when it told me not to go to the game tonight. But she insisted, and with my mom promising to get in touch if anything happened, I reluctantly went.
I’ll never forget the drive from the Tridents’ stadium to thehospital. Willow drove me because there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d be able to do it safely myself. Not with how nervous, excited, and terrified I was.
I got here just in time to hear Lark moaning her way through a fuckingintensecontraction, and from there, things moved at warp speed.
Our little one, Stella Marie Montgomery, was born just forty minutes after I arrived. Six pounds of squalling, scrunched-up beauty.
It was love at first sight.
“You made it and that’s all that matters.”
I kiss Lark’s forehead, letting my lips linger against her skin. I never thought I could have this. A love so deep, so strong, and so consuming. But here I am, loving my girls with every fiber of my being.
“I’ll always be here for you, Birdie. You and little bird. You’re my whole life, you know that.”
Lark tilts her chin up and we kiss. It’s sweet, soft, and gentle. Mindful of the tiny human currently sucking on my girl’s boob, I don’t press in any deeper. No matter how much I crave feeling her in my arms.
A gentle knock on the door has us breaking apart. It slowly opens and my mom peers around the side. “Hi kids, are you up for some visitors?”
I look to Lark and she nods. “Sure, Mom,” I say, getting up from the bed and taking a once again sleeping Stella so Lark can cover herself back up.
Mom and Dad are the first ones in. They’ve already met Stella, but Mom still coos over her while Dad givesLark a gentle hug.
“Room for any more?”
Willow and Sin enter next, holding a teddy bear and a piece of paper. After quietly closing the door, Sin heads over to Lark while Willow makes grabby hands for the baby.
“Gimme that sweet girl.”
I gingerly hand over my daughter, and Willow’s face beams with happiness. “Oh Lark, she’s gorgeous.”
I glance over to the bed, just in time to see Sin hand Lark the piece of paper. “Peyton drew this for you. She says it’s your family.”
Lark bursts out in laughter, then instantly winces. “Dang it, I love it, but I don’t want to laugh right now.”
Well, now I want to know what’s so funny. Moving to the bed, I look down at the paper and clap my hand over my mouth to muffle my snort of amusement.
“Uh, hey, Sin, does your daughter know what people look like?”
My teammate rolls his eyes. “Yeah. Apparently they all look like dicks.”
Sure enough, Peyton has drawn three stick people. Except, instead of sticks for bodies, the shape is much more…twig and berries looking.
“Please thank her for us,” Lark says, her eyes twinkling.
Another knock lands on the door, and Lark looks to it with her eyebrows raised. “Did someone put out a welcome sign or something?”
Willow immediately looks guilty. “Yeah, that might be my fault. When I got back from dropping Monty off earlier, I toldthe guys what time we were coming to visit. I think they want to meet our newest Tridents team member.”
