Blake stood next to me, his chin resting on the top of Teddy’s head, arms around his chest. Everyone was sleepy; we’d been in the waiting room since four this morning. That was how long Teddy had been willing to wait. We’d been watching him since Dylan and Soph had gone in shortly after ten PM last night.
I dipped down and rubbed my nose against Isabella’s. “Your brother and I are gonna take you on so many adventures.”
Teddy beamed at me before turning to a half-asleep Sophia. “Momma, can I hold her again?”
She was about to respond when Dylan took her hand and kissed her forehead.
“I think we’ll let Momma rest for a bit. I’ll help you.” He slid off the bed and gestured for Teddy to take a seat in the chair. I joined them and could tell that Dylan wanted a second with his daughter, so I carefully handed her over to him instead of straight to Teddy.
“You did good, Daddy.” I gave his shoulder a squeeze before I went over to Soph.
She blinked drowsily at me and smiled a little.
“I’ll drag Blake out for some coffee. Want us to come get Teddy in an hour or so?”
“Mmm, that won’t be necessary.” She yawned and put her hand on mine. “Dylan’s parents are coming over soon, and they wanted to watch Teddy tonight. I think he’ll go home with them right after.”
“All right. I’ll keep my phone on just in case. Congratulations again, hon.” I leaned over and kissed her temple.
“Wait!” she protested through another yawn. “Dylan and I wanted to talk to you. Blake, you too.”
“Yeah?” Blake came closer.
“Closer,” she demanded, though it sounded like a weak whine. She was so fucking tired—and cute. I could only grin at her.
Blake obeyed and did a much better job than me at hiding his amusement.
With him on one side of her bed and me on the other, she grasped our hands and took a deep breath. “When Teddy was born, my whole world changed. It was overwhelming and nerve-racking and messy and…and amazing. He changed how I look at people, how I let them into my life, and how I want to spend my time on this earth. But in that rather chaotic period of my life, there was no space for the long-term future. For years, it just didn’t exist. I didn’t have the capacity to think that far ahead.” She squeezed my hand. “You’re family, Sebastian. I don’t ever want you to doubt that. You’re my brother every bit as much as this lovable oaf.” She nodded at Blake, who chuckled under his breath. “You’ve both helped me so much. And Dylan made me see the future…” The two shared a glance that held more love than all my relationships combined. “I don’t have the energy to ramble on, so I’ll keep this brief. Dylan pointed out that we should have guardians for Isabella. Which reminded me that I never asked anyone about that when Teddy was born.”
“Ask me so I can say yes, goddammit,” I blurted out.
While everyone got a chuckle out of that and thought I was being funny, I was on pins and needles. I’d wondered about this before—and most recently when I learned that Dylan and Soph wouldn’t baptize the princess. They’d do an informal naming ceremony like Soph had done for Teddy.
God forbid something happened, but I couldn’t deny that having a title would mean a lot to me.
Soph mustered another sleepy grin. “I’m asking you both, Sebastian and Blake, to be Isabella’s guardians.”
“I’m in,” I said right away. “Now Teddy.”
“For chrissakes, darlin’,” Blake laughed. His gaze softened for his sister. “I’d be honored.”
“Good.” Soph smiled and glanced back at me. “With Teddy, we had to take a bit more into consideration, so given Dylan’s mom’s background as a middle school teacher—not to mention her heavy hinting the past several months—” she smirked when Dylan chuckled “—we’ve decided to ask her and Sebastian to be guardians for Teddy.”
That made a lot of sense, plus we were both local. And Blake already had bragging rights on being the uncle.
“You know my answer, and I think I need business cards for this,” I said. “The Guardian of Teddy and Isabella. That’s got a nice ring to it.”
Sophia giggled and got teary-eyed. Hormones, I presumed.
“You need to rest,” I reminded her. I leaned over her again and kissed her on the forehead. “I love you, sweetheart. Call us if you need anything.”
She beamed and puckered her lips.
I gave her a quick peck.
“So I’ve been here a while now, and no one’s said anything about Soph and Sebastian making kissy faces at each other a lot,” Blake noted.
We what? I quirked a brow.
Dylan snorted, amused. “They’re each other’s Will and Grace. I got used to it once Soph explained to me that he’d rather plant one on me if he had the option.”