"You." The pain was dull but she could feel it. It was different too, like she needed to bear down. Looking at Kenton when he told her it was time, she asked him what she had to do.
"Just push him out. Like you have to take a hard poop." She'd heard that before, or had read about it, and nodded once. "All right, Harper, when you're ready I want you to bear down hard. It's time I get to meet my nephew."
Pushing was hard work. She was hot and sweaty most of the time, and when he told her not long now, she tried to tell him to fuck off. But Kenton was there for her, just as Grady was, and she did just what they told her. And when Kenton said push once again, Harper felt the baby leave her body.
His screams made her laugh. Her son, her little man, had been born. As she laid there, her body suddenly weak with exhaustion, she held onto Grady's hand. She wanted to see him, and sleep too, but Grady said that he just wanted to be by her for a moment or two longer. Then the baby was there.
Someone had pulled her dress down so that the moment the baby touched her skin, Harper knew a happiness that she'd never known before. Her baby boy was born, and he was all right. Grady kissed her when she laughed, and the two of them sobbed like small children when he cried out again. Then she had him count his fingers and toes. Harper cried once more when Grady told her they were all accounted for.
"What's your middle name?" Grady told her it was Shawn. "Then if you don't mind, I'd like to name him Shawn Grady McCade. That's a good strong name, one he can be proud of for the rest of his life."
Grady kissed her then, warmly and full of love. Shawn cried out and Kenton told her to try and nurse him. Getting him to her breast proved to be much harder than she thought it would be, but with Grady helping her, Shawn finally latched on and began nursing. It was the oddest feeling in the world to have someone suckle at her breast.
Harper must have drifted in and out. She was moved once, her body lifted up, and then she was laid back on soft sheets. A few ice chips were given to her, and she answered some questions before she fell asleep again. The baby, her Shawn, was safe, she knew this, and let the exhaustion of the last few months take her under.
When she woke, there was someone in the room with her. Always Grady, she noticed, but the others were taking turns sitting with them. Once it was Aisha, and she held Shawn in her arms. Another time it was Emma, and then the brothers. Every time she woke to see them there, they would reassure her that everything was all right and that Shawn was here with her. And once, the dragon spoke to her.
You have done well, my lady. Your son, he will be a strong McCade and keep his siblings safe. She asked him if she was going to have other children. Yes. You and Grady will have several male children. All of them fine boys. You will also have a daughter, who will be a fine addition to the family line.
Harper thanked him and closed her eyes again. Dragon said something about his strength, and that he was stronger because of the band on her arm, but she was just too tired to care. This time when she closed her eyes, she knew it was the last time for a while.
Chapter 6
Winnie held her body as stiff as she could while they were fussing with her hair and dress. She'd been at this for hours and was tired and hurting. She was also starving, but she'd never tell them that. To be hungry was a part of her life. And Winnie was determined to not let a little thing like food make her less than perfect.
"Winnie, I need you to look less pissed off. The furrows between your eyes look like mountain slopes." She wanted to tell him to fuck off, that she had a lot on her mind, but she only worked at smoothing out the frown that was her sister's fault. "That's better. Not perfect, but better."
The camera made noises. Not that it needed to, but whatever setting it was on made her think of drills in the dentist office. And she'd been there a lot over the first part of her career, making her as beautiful as she could be. Perfect. Winnie had had a lot of work done to her face and body over the years, and it had paid off. She was flawless, her body hard with muscles that working out for ten hours a day when she wasn't modeling had given her.
When the set was done, she was helped down off the platform she'd been put on and to her chair again. It was going to be a long day, with three photographers taking shots for different magazine covers and dress designs that she would be the cover model for. The one coming up would be more draining than the first had been, she knew, but she was perfect and the cameras loved her.