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“Let the nurses get him all cleaned up while we finish things down here, hmm?” The doctor asked.
“Aren’t we done?” Avery asked, exhaustion being an understatement.
“Almost there,” the doctor said. “We’ll get you three reunited in just a matter of seconds.”
Avery sensed the doctor behind him, though the drugs appeared to work better once he was done with the pushing. They kept him firmly out of the loop, drifting a bit. The nurses carefully rolled him to his back, soft pillows under him, and their bawling baby was brought to rest on his chest.
Five tiny fingers curled around Avery’s finger. “Aren’t you the most precious thing I’ve ever seen?” The baby quieted at the sound of his voice. His eyes were bright as he searched Avery’s face. Avery glanced up at Wilder for a second, unable to stop looking at their baby for longer than that. “Isn’t he the most precious thing you’ve ever seen?”
Wilder leaned against the edge of the bed, watching their child in Avery’s arms. “Yes, he is.” His alpha caressed the fine hair on the back of the newborn’s head. “He’s sotiny.”
“He didn’tfeeltiny coming out,” Avery murmured. He smiled at his son. “What are we going to name you, Little Bit?”
“With everything going on, we didn’t decide, did we?”
“Emory,” Avery suddenly said. “His name should be Emory. We could call him Emo for short.”
“As inJudgeEmory?” Wilder asked.
“Judge Emory got me out of prison, didn’t he? Out of prison and into your arms.”
Wilder chuckled. “Emory, it is.”
Their babe began rooting around on his chest. “This little guy’s hungry, it seems.” Avery had seen his uncle breastfeeding all their little ones, so he had an idea of what he was doing, yet felt woefully unprepared. He carefully moved the babe to no avail. He was terrified he’d hurt the infant.
A nurse came over to assist, picking up the baby and moving him with ease. “It gets easier the more you do it, trust me.”
The babe moved his face against Avery’s chest until the nipple popped into his mouth. The sucking sensation brought a surge through him, the letdown, as he’d been told it was called. There was no way to describe it, the sensation of his milk flowing into his son’s mouth.
Wilder caressed the babe’s head as Avery nursed.
“Wild?”
Wilder glanced at him before looking at their son, clearly as besotted as Avery was. “Hmm?”
“This little guy has been born with rights I never knew. He’ll never know the pain of being ripped from his family and forced to live in the OQ. He can go to school. Have a job. Do all the things I wanted to do but wasn’t allowed.”
Wilder met his stare, compassion there.
“My fight was for him. Deep down, it wasallfor him.”
Wilder nodded, tears shining in his eyes.
“Had it not been for you and your support, our baby wouldn’t have those things.”
“No, baby… it was all you.Youdid this.” Wilder swiped at a tear. “You made sure he wouldn’t know the suffering you did.”
A tear slipped from Avery’s eye. “He’ll experience an entirely different world than we did.”
“Because of you.”
Avery leaned closer, needing to have Wilder’s lips on his. “I love you.”
“I love you,” Wilder murmured before leaning down more to kiss the top of Emo’s head. “And I love you, Little Bit.”
* * *
Wilder usheredLake and Auggie into Avery’s hospital room, which was already filled with more bodies than he could count. His brother was there, along with the rest of the wedding party. They’d all come to the waiting room to hear the good news and now crowded in for their first peek at the new babe.
