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Months Later
If someone had told me last year that I would be sitting in a hospital bed with my best friend, Ava, after helping her deliver her baby, I would have laughed and called the closest loony bin before running away from the crazy fuck. But, here we are.
I cuddle up beside Ava on the hospital bed with her beautiful baby boy in my arms, his dark eyes looking up at me in awe, his face wrinkled like an old man’s, so I can’t tell who he looks like yet. Is it normal for babies to look like this? I’m not the kind of person that spends time with babies.
But looking down at this beautiful tiny baby boy in my arms, my tensed muscles relax, and I expel a breath as I take in this creature that has so much good inside of him. That looks at you with nothing but love and maybe a bit of curiosity; I think about how my mother felt when she held my brother and I. Did she feel this wave of love and protectiveness I feel? I imagine it would be different for the mother, but my mother? Who knows.
My mother was never one for hugs and kisses. She barely smiled or acknowledged my accomplishments.
Seeing this baby, I know that he will know love based on all the smiles gracing him from around the room.
I gently stroke his soft, delicate cheek with the tip of my finger, careful not to hurt him as I made a silent promise to always be there for this kid and to protect him like he was my own.
“Can I have my baby back?” I’m pulled out of my thoughts by Ava’s giggle beside me as we smile down at her son, Charlie, in my arms.
My smile grows, but I make no move to relinquish the baby. “Nope. He’s mine now. You can make yourself another one, right?”
Ava playfully narrows her eyes at me, but her smile stays in place as she says, “We can, but we are very fond of that one.”
“Well, then I guess it’s not meant to be, my little one.” I sigh, handing the bundle to Ava, who gives him a gentle and loving squeeze before handing him to her boyfriend and Charlie’s father, Conner, who happily gathers the tiny thing in his big arms, nuzzling him with his nose.
Leaning back and resting my head on Ava’s shoulder, her familiar smell and warmth acts as a comfort. That is, until Logan comments from the armchair in the corner of the room, the obnoxiously big teddy bear he bought Charlie perched beside him with the array of gives we got them. “You could always make one yourself.”
My twin brother, Hunter, gives a disgusted shudder as he pushes off the wall he was leaning against to stand before us, massaging the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Don’t say shit like that, man. That’s my sister.”
Logan scoffs, throwing me a playful wink with only makes me chuckle.
Hunter growls, pointing at Logan. “Okay, you stop hitting on my sister.”
I scoff, taking in Hunter’s tense muscles and the dark circles under his eyes before commenting, “Wow, someone’s crabby today.”
I watch as his shoulders deflate, and he runs his hand through his short blonde hair, and I know there is more to this. He has been off for weeks and gets defensive if I try to ask what’s wrong. I don’t even bother to address it here, knowing when he is ready, he will either sort out his own shit or maybe let me in. But for right now, he just gives the usual excuse before returning to his place by the wall. “I’m just tired.”
Ava sighs. “I know how you feel. Having a baby will do that to you.”
I encircle an arm around her shoulders, giving her a comforting squeeze when a deep sound comes from the doorway. “Knock knock.” Every head in the room turns at that voice to see the doorway filled by a mass of walking muscle. His hair is dark and dishevelled like I remember it to be, and his eyes are just as dark, but I see Conner in him as well. I knew who he was at the moment I saw him rush into the house earlier, the night before. He was the guy who brought Conner to the house in time for the birth and he was also the guy I had a drunken non-hook up with a few months ago, the same guy I thought I’d never see again. Riley.
He enters the room, looking down at his feet before meeting Conner’s eyes, looking sheepish. “Just came to check on the new mom.”
Ava sits up and smiles at that, as does Conner. “How sweet! Come on in.”
His baby still tucked in his arms, Conner greets the man with a loving smile. “I’m happy you came. Guys,” Conner says, turning to the rest of us, “this is my big brother, Riley. Riley, these are the guys.” Conner takes a moment to introduce everyone individually, Riley’s eyes landing on each person with a nod, and I take this moment to take him in since I saw him last.
Now I don’t shit where I eat, so I don’t date friends or relatives of friends, but there’s no harm in looking.
When Conner reaches me in the introductions, I don’t get a nod like everyone else, but a long, dark look a second before Riley addresses everyone in the room, acting like he doesn’t know me at all. “Nice to meet everyone.”
Not liking being ignored, I sit up in the bed, my head still cocked. “Riley? Aren’t you big and broody.”
My eyes twinkle as I watch his brows furrow at that. “Thank you?”
Ava leans in and whispers, “Broody?”
“He has that look.” At that she nods, seeing it herself before Conner holds Charlie up for Riley like an offering.
“You wanna hold him?”
I see a flash of panic and uncertainty in his eyes and almost think he’s going to run from the room as he looks down at the bundle as if it was a bomb about to go off. “Um, I don’t-“
