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Jane reached the bedside and put up a hand. "I'm fine, Rafe. I'm well enough to meet my new niece." She put out her hands. "Can I hold her?"
Kai grunted. "Are you strong enough?"
Jane rolled her eyes, but ignored her mate to wiggle her fingers toward them, wanting to hold Lucy.
Nikki helped to move their daughter to Jane's hands and shared her name. Once his sister had Lucy in her arms, she tickled her cheek and said, "Hello, little one. I'm your fun Auntie Jane. I knew you'd be a girl, and I hope you give your father hell."
She looked up at Rafe and grinned. Given how his sister had spent the night at the surgery, he decided to be a little nicer to her. But only a little. "She's already a mummy's girl, so she'll probably give me hell. Nikki's sure to give her lessons on how to push all my buttons."
Nikki rightly smacked his hand, which was wrapped around her middle. "For that, now I'll give both our daughters lessons."
Jane looked back at Lucy. "She's smaller than Louisa. If she's lucky, she might miss out on the super tall Hartley genes."
Kai was at her side, his arm around Jane's waist. "I rather liked the super tall Hartley genes."
As Jane shared a tender glance with her mate, Rafe resisted a smile. Sometimes Kai was a fucking annoying bastard, but he made Jane happy and that was all that mattered to Rafe.
Rafe kissed Nikki's cheek. "I like how Nikki's shorter than me. There can be advantages in combat for shorter statures, too. And I'll make sure Lucy learns them all. No one will want to mess with my daughters."
Nikki sighed. "Could we discuss combat training later? You know, maybe once she's learned how to walk?"
He grunted, wanting to needle his mate a little. "You can never start too early."
Kai nodded. "I agree. We should start a children's self-defense club."
Jane raised an eyebrow. "Only you two would think up that idea whilst Nikki has barely delivered her baby."
Nikki laughed. "It's very Kai and Rafe, though."
Rafe scowled and mentally swore as Kai did the same.
Before anyone could say anything else, Nikki's dad, Hector, and stepmother, Delphine, entered, carrying Louisa. She had her thumb in her mouth, her brown eyes wide, as she stared at Nikki and Rafe. She said around her thumb, "Baby?"
Jane moved toward Louisa and held up Lucy. "You have a little sister, Lou-lou."
Louisa looked down at the bundle and frowned, looking more like Nikki than Rafe had ever seen before. His daughter said, "She small."
Nikki laughed. "Yes, darling, she is. But you were small too. Now you have to be her big sister and teach her everything."
Jane moved back toward the bed and returned Lucy to Nikki's arms. As soon as Jane smiled at them both, Nikki's dad came forward, still carrying Louisa. Hector helped Louisa to sit beside Nikki on the bed. Once he had, he kissed Nikki's cheek and said, "She's beautiful, Nikki."
Delphine had walked to the opposite side and took Lucy's little hand in hers. "She is. Although I think she looks more like Rafe than Louisa ever did at this age."
Since both of their daughters had dark, nearly black hair, he muttered, "How the bloody hell can you tell that?"
Nikki leaned against him and replied to her stepmother, "It's the nose, I think. I hope she ends up with green eyes."
Rafe said, "I'm rather partial to brown, like her mother's."
Nikki shook her head. "This will soon devolve into some sort of ridiculous bet, and I'm too tired to do that right now."
He kissed Nikki's cheek again and reached to take Louisa's hand. She looked from the baby to Rafe and held out her other arm. "Daddy, up?"
Rafe was torn since his mate needed him too, but Nikki patted his arm. "I'll be fine, Rafe. Truly."
He nodded at Louisa. "All right, sweetheart, Daddy's coming."
Hector picked up Louisa again so Rafe could slowly maneuver out from behind Nikki. With Delphine's help, Nikki moved back to lay on the pillows with Lucy still in her arms.
