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“He’s beautiful,” Aspen says, pulling me from my thoughts.
“He is, isn’t he?” Sawyer beams with pride. Her labor was quick. Only three short hours after they arrived at the hospital, she delivered a healthy baby boy.
“Do we have a name?” I ask them, glancing at the time on my watch. We’ve already been warned no more than two visitors at a time. We’re a large family, and everyone was excited to meet the little guy, but we’re playing nice and taking turns.
“Yeah. Roan Gibson Riggins,” Sawyer says with tears in her eyes. “Royce thought, giving him my maiden name for his middle name was a cool idea, and I readily agreed.”
“I love that idea,” Aspen tells her.
“You plan on letting us hold him before our time is up?” I ask Royce.
“Fine,” he grumbles good-naturedly. I get ready, sitting up straighter, but he stops at Aspen, who is sitting next to me but closest to him. “Roan, this is your aunt Aspen,” Royce says softly, handing over his son.
Aunt Aspen.
Those two words have me all up in my feels, and I don’t hate it. Not one single bit. In fact, I want to make it happen. I want her to be a member of our family, and not just because her sister married my brother. I want her to be mine. I want us to share a moment like this where we introduce our baby to our family. The reality of what that means has me swallowing hard.
She’s everything.
“Hey, sweet boy,” she coos at my nephew.
Watching her hold him, it moves something in my chest. It’s as if I can see a flash of my future with her and our kids, and I like it. I like it a whole hell of a lot.
“He’s so tiny.” She looks over at me and smiles.
That smile, the joy on her face is something I want to give her. Something I want us to share together. I’m getting ahead of myself here, but for me, she’s the one. I just need to make her see that. I know it’s going to take time, but this right here, this is my end game.
“Hey, Roan.” I reach over and run my index finger down his cheek. He’s currently wrapped up like a burrito, and he’s snoozing away. I remember when Carter was born, he slept a lot.
“You need one,” Royce says out of the blue.
Turning my head, I see him sitting on the side of the bed with his arm around his wife, and both of their eyes are on us. He thinks he’s calling me out. Little does he know I’ve already come to that conclusion. “Whenever she’s ready,” I answer, pulling my gaze back to my nephew.
Aspen’s eyes snap to mine, and I shrug. Royce lets out a belly laugh. I’m sure at her reaction. “If you were going for the shock factor, it worked.” He chuckles.
“When can we do it again?” Sawyer asks, turning the heat from us to them.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Royce tells her—spinning my words to answer his wife.
“Aspen, who would have thought a tiny human could bring these Riggins men to their knees?” She laughs.
“Not just the tiny humans, their mommas too, or future mommas,” I tell my sister-in-law before Aspen can reply. My hand rests on her knee, and I give it a gentle squeeze, hoping she gets the meaning. I’m talking about her. She’s the future momma I’m referring to. I’ve shocked her by the look on her face, but that’s okay. I’m just now realizing this is what I want too. The only difference is, to me, we’re a done deal. She has to catch up to where I am.
My phone rings, and it’s Grant. “Hey,” I greet him. “You’re on speaker.”
“Are you done yet? You’ve been in there forever,” he whines, making us all snigger.
“Yeah, we’re about done. Let me steal him from Aspen to get my fix, and we’ll be right out.”
“Baby hog,” he mutters as we end the call.
“Here.” Aspen transfers Roan into my arms. “I could hold him all day.”
“So, what you’re saying is if we need a sitter, you’re the one to call?” Sawyer asks.
“Definitely. No way am I passing up baby snuggles,” Aspen tells her.
Staring down at my nephew, I decide I need to start my campaign. “All right, little man, we need to have a serious talk. I’m the favorite uncle. Remember that when those others come in here and try to take my title,” I tell the sleeping baby.
Aspen giggles, and I can’t not look at her. “You’re crazy.”
“Hey, we take the favorite uncle title very seriously in this family.”
“I think we need more babies to even it out. Five babies, five uncles, everyone wins.” Sawyer laughs.
“You might be onto something, sis,” I tell her. “All right, buddy. Uncle Grant is eager to meet you, so we need to go.” Standing, I hand him back to Royce. “Here you go, Daddy.”
