All for my daughter.
"A little more. A little more," Dr. Rubino urged and Brynn did exactly that-she gave more when I didn't think there was anything more to give. I stared down on her and all I could think about was how incredible she was.
"Annnnd, that's it! We officially have ourselves a beautiful, baby girl!" were Dr. Rubino's words; the first words I heard spoken to me as a father, words that filled my heart with so much raw emotion … I honestly thought it might explode.
Brynn's head hit the pillow as she breathed deep, worn out from all the hard work she'd done. And then I heard it, the most beautiful sound that had ever hit my ears. A voice I'd waited so many months to hear … and now I had.
She was here.
For a moment that sound was the most perfect thing in the world to me, but that idea was quickly dismissed when I saw her, proving that her face was actually the most perfect thing in the world.
Of all the roles I'd filled in my lifetime-son, brother, uncle, friend-I was positive being a father would be the most fulfilling of them all.
My little princessa had finally arrived.
Brynn
The pain, the fear, the uncertainty … none of that even mattered anymore.
The only thing that mattered now was her-the tiny little human who'd just fallen asleep in my arms.
Sophia-the name Marco and I settled on within minutes of laying eyes on her.
So much warmth radiated from her small body as I held her close, feeling her soft skin against my chest. The nurse said this was important, she and I lying here together with no barrier between us. And I loved every second of it.
Her dark strands had the slightest wave to them and I smoothed them down gently while she slept, wondering what I'd done to deserve a gift like this. My touch caused her to stir just a bit and I smiled, taking it all in. She had this otherworldly scent to her. Heaven. That's what it was. She smelled like heaven.
It was love at first sight.
The only thing that could make me take my eyes off my little girl was the persistent stare I felt on me from just a few feet away. I looked up to find Marco watching the two of us with this expression on his face like he could just stare at us forever and never get tired.
Without him here, I'm not sure how I would've come through this. I don't just mean without him here in the delivery room; I mean without him with me through the past several months. When the first contraction struck, I started crying almost immediately. I'm not sure he knew that was the case when I called him, but I was surprised I could even get the words out to tell him it was time. I was so afraid, but once he got there, he made it all better. Somehow, he convinced me I was strong enough to endure this and, looking down at who I held in my arms, he was clearly right about that. Still, I wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't been so certain.
Lying here before him, basically naked from the waist up as I cradled our daughter, I recalled a time only months ago when I didn't know this man from a stranger on the street. And now, he'd been my anchor, someone I'd grown to count on because he hadn't let me down. Not once.
We hadn't been ourselves these past few weeks and that bothered me more than I wanted to admit, mostly because it'd been my idea to put distance between us. It felt necessary at the time, but … there are definitely days that I waver.
Many days that I waver.
Like today.
Since the night of our conversation, I'd done my best to force things back to normal-normal being the shallow friendship Marco and I settled into in the beginning. One where he and I were merely polite to one another and no emotions had taken root in either one of our hearts yet. Things felt so complicated then, but, looking back, those were actually the simple days. Now, there always seemed to be so many factors to consider, so many layers to everything.
The soft breath Sophia released with a yawn had both Marco and I staring at her. She looked so much like him to me. Her complexion fell in between his and mine, but she was all him-her ears, her nose, her mouth-all him. And she was absolutely breathtaking. The one thing she might have gotten from me was the shape of her eyes, but it was hard to tell because all she'd really done since being born was sleep and eat.
"She looks so peaceful," Marco whispered and my eyes went to him with a smile.
"She is and it's making me feel like I might doze, too," I admitted. Tired wasn't even the word to describe how exhausted I was, but the adrenaline rush of finally meeting her had me wide awake.
He looked at her in such a way that I knew he wanted to hold her again, so I made that happen. "Would you mind taking her so I can rest?"
Of course, he jumped at the chance.
"You didn't even have to ask," he answered with a huge grin. The next second he gently lifted her away from my bare chest and swaddled her in a receiving blanket. After covering myself with the gown, I laid my head back and watched him place a soft kiss to her forehead as he settled into his seat. He looked about as content as I'd ever seen anyone look in my entire life. Yes, content and proud, especially when his family and all three of the guys came in to see her. They waited until I was moved into a new room and only stayed long enough to meet Sophia, but that was enough. With it being so late, I knew they all had to be exhausted, too.
Speaking of exhausted … my lids suddenly became so heavy. The last vision I had before my eyes closed was of Marco and Sophia in complete serenity, bonding beside me as a fleeting thought blossomed inside my mind.
Maybe … I was wrong.
Maybe love is enough.
Chapter Thirty
Marco
It'd been a long day with more visitors stopping by the house than any other so far. My mother brought containers by with a few days' worth of meals in them for Brynn and I because neither one of us had really been up to cooking. Caring for Sophia, learning how to parent, was taking all our energy. The guys stopped by, too, for a few hours to hang out and to check in on us. They were falling in love with their new niece just like everyone else seemed to be.
Even Naseem.
He made an appearance today, too-his first since Sophia had been born almost a week ago. Brynn sent a text to see about him and she told him the news then. To her surprise, and mine, he asked if it was okay if he stopped by to meet the new addition. He showed up with a stuffed, pink teddy bear for her and everything.
Although he didn't let it show as he held Sophia, I knew this was still taking some getting used to. But honestly? I was kind of growing to respect the hell out of him for dealing with it. I think he'd come to the same conclusion I had, though: I'd grown to accept that neither of us had plans to go anywhere. At least I knew I wasn't. He, too, seemed pretty determined to hold down his role-as one of Brynn's closest friends.
The scent of warm lavender hung heavy in the air as I brought Sophia into the room where Brynn waited. We couldn't do actual baths because her cord hadn't fallen off yet, so for now our routine was to lie a towel out on the bed in the guest room where Brynn slept and we'd wash Sophia up for bed.
Yeah … we had a routine and it made me feel like a real dad, like I was just as much a part of this as Brynn was.
I hadn't had her and Sophia here with me very long, but already I loved the company. It was nice having someone else besides me making noise in this house. Either it was Brynn singing to put Sophia to sleep, or the tune the swing played as it rocked her gently. Hell, I even loved the sound of my baby's little cry, but I might be slightly biased. In my eyes, she could do no wrong.
Brynn passed by me when she remembered something she left in the bathroom and our eyes caught one another's for a moment. That happened a lot these past few days-small moments that felt like they meant something even if they were never acknowledged. I'd catch it at random times like when I was changing Sophia this morning, or when I brought Brynn a mug of tea to help with the nursing, and now as I carried our daughter in to get her ready for bed. It definitely wasn't my imagination.
Soft footsteps alerted me that Brynn was on her way back into the room, so I placed Sophia on the bed and unfastened her onesie. That look was cast my way again as Brynn placed a small basin of water with a washcloth floating in it on the nightstand. Before submerging her hand, she rolled the sleeves of a red and blue, plaid shirt to her elbows.
It was safe to say she'd settled into her element. Not once since Sophia got here had I seen Brynn falter. She was on point at every turn. Still, I got up every time she did in the middle of the night just in case she ever needed help … or a break.
I sat on the edge of the bed while Brynn wrung warm water from the cloth she held. The scent of the lavender became even more potent when she did. I assisted by positioning Sophia however Brynn needed me to, which made things move along faster. While Brynn went to empty the water, I dried Sophia off with her towel. By the time Brynn came back from putting everything away, I'd already gotten her in a diaper and finished putting lotion on her. The only thing left was getting her into her pajamas.