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Her hand came up to rub my cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you more.”
“Dad, would you like to cut to the cord?” one of the nurses asked.
“Sure,” I replied before taking the scissors from her.
Once the baby was cut from Gaby, they took him to get weighed and cleaned off. While Mia leaned in to hug and kiss Gaby, Mom’s arms came around me. “My beautiful son has a son of his own,” she murmured into my ear.
I tightened my arms around her, squeezing her tight. “I love you so much, Mom.”
She pulled her face away to smile up at me. “Now that your son is here, you’ll know just how much I’ve loved you all these years.”
I merely bobbed my head in agreement. Unable to speak, I feared breaking down into guttural sobs. After one last kiss on my cheek, Mom then left me to go to Gaby.
It was at that moment the nurse returned with our son, swaddled in a blanket with a cap pulled tight on his head. “Ready for him, Dad?”
Since I had no words, I merely held out my hands. The moment he was transferred into my waiting embrace was life-altering. I’d thought the day I’d received my gold medal was inspiring, but it had nothing on this. The only thing that remotely compared was the day I’d married Gaby. And she’d been so worried she wouldn’t be enough. As I said then in that locker room, she was my world. And she’d just grown it.
Fuck. How did I get so lucky?
As I stared down at his tiny features, I took in his button nose and full lips. I rubbed his cheek with my thumb. When his face started to scrunch up, I rocked him gently back and forth. “It’s okay, little man. Your daddy’s got you.”
As I cradled my son to my chest, I knew there were two people missing from the moment. “Let me get our dads.”
Gaby nodded. “Once I’m stitched up, they’re welcome to come back in.”
After I stepped outside, Dad and AJ hovered in the hallway. At the sight of me, they surged forward. Their gaze dropped from mine to the bundle in my arms. In almost perfect sync, both of their eyes welled up with tears, which in turn caused the waterworks to start back up for me.
“You have a grandson,” I choked out.
While Dad let out an appreciative whoop, AJ closed his eyes before murmuring a few words in Spanish. When he opened his eyes, he wiped the tears away as he gave me a beaming smile.
“A boy, huh?”
While I nodded, Dad grinned at AJ. “You owe me fifty bucks.”
AJ elbowed Dad. “Not in front of him.”
“Did you two seriously have a bet going about what gender the baby was?”
“Maybe,” Dad replied, with a sheepish grin.
“Incredible,” I muttered.
AJ’s gaze bounced from the baby to mine. “Did you name him Alejandro?”
With a laugh, I replied, “Not quite.”
Puffing his chest out, Dad said, “Let me guess. It’s Aidan.”
“That would also be a no.”
“Then what’s Little Man’s name?” AJ demanded.
Gaby and I knew we wanted to give our child a family name. Like her parents had anglicized AJ’s Alejandro into Alexander for Alex, we decided to go the same route. We also knew we didn’t want to give that as a first name since there was already a very important Alex in our lives. Instead, I had looked to the male who had been the most important in my life besides my dad.
With the grief of his absence overpowering me, moisture grew in my eyes again. Smiling through my tears, I replied, “It’s Patrick Alexander.”
