“Name her?” Shea gasped. “She wants me to name her?”
Christian just smiled and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “Relax, Shea.”
Shea shook his head. “I don’t think I can do this, Chris.” He choked, taking a step back.
Oh god, how could he have ever agreed to this? That baby was so small and fragile, and he was going to break her. He couldn’t be a father! He needed to get out of here; he needed to find Jackie and tell her that he changed his mind. He started backing away but Christian grabbed his shoulders.
“Hey! Shea, look at me,” Christian said, his tone clipped as he ducked his head to catch Shea’s wide gaze.
Shea swallowed hard as Christian’s rich brown eyes bored into his. “Everything is going to be fine. I know she is small, but she needs us. We are in this together, Shea. You are not alone, I promise. If you don’t want to hold her right now, that’s fine,” Christian said firmly, squeezing his shoulders.
“I…I can’t name her…” Shea stammered.
“Sure you can,” Christian assured him. “Why don’t we name her after your sister?”
“Skylar?” Shea frowned in confusion.
“Yes, Skylar.” Christian smiled, glancing over his shoulder at the baby. “I think she looks like a Skylar, don’t you?”
Shea pulled in a shaky breath and peeked over Christian’s shoulder at the tiny sleeping baby. “Yeah, yeah she does,” Shea agreed, feeling less panicked.
Christian smiled lovingly and pulled him into a hug. Shea sighed and wrapped his arms around Christian. “What would I do without you?” Shea whispered.
“Die?” Christian chuckled.
“Definitely.” Shea grunted in agreement.
They separated a moment later and Christian went over to the baby and scooped the swaddled bundle into his arms. Christian had plenty of practice with little babies. Shea’s been there from the beginning with his niece and nephews, but he always refused to hold them until they could hold their own heads up. Newborns made him really nervous, he was so afraid of hurting them somehow.
Christian cradled the baby in the crook of his arm and rocked from side to side. Shea didn’t even think that Christian knew he was even doing it. The baby looked even smaller now that Christian was holding her. She made him look like a freaking giant! Shea moved closer so that he could see her better. Christian slipped his free arm around Shea’s waist and tugged him even closer. Shea put his arm around Christian in return. Shea looked down at the baby girl still asleep snuggled tightly in her blanket. Damn, she was gorgeous! Her tiny little hand peeked out of the top of the blanket; Shea reached over - only having to use one finger – and slipped his finger into her hand. She immediately grabbed on, shocking the hell out of Shea.
“She’s hanging on.” He breathed in surprise.
Christian’s response was to kiss his temple.
“She’s beautiful,” Shea murmured quietly, afraid to wake her.
“Yes, she is,” Christian whispered.
Shea had no idea how long they stood there, but it seemed like forever before Jackie came back with the discharge papers. Christian put Skylar back into the swing and ran out to the car to get the car seat while Shea signed the papers.
Twenty minutes later, the three of them were on their way home. Christian drove while Shea sat in the backseat with Skylar – which had been put on her birth certificate – along with his name and Tara’s name. Jackie seemed pretty confident that the baby was his, and insisted that he fill the birth certificate out so that the baby could have a name. She was now Skylar Katherine Dempsey after his little sister and mother. Shea hoped that eventually he would be able to change her name to Skylar Katherine Beck, but one-step at a time.
The only people that were waiting at the house when they got home were Christian’s parents. Christian told his brothers to hold off coming over until they were settled in some, which they totally understood. Christian pulled into the driveway and parked. He got out and let Shea grab the car seat - he was okay with carrying her that way.
Anne clasped her hands over her mouth and nose when she first saw Skylar, tears welling up in her eyes. Shea put her car seat down on the floor in the living room. As soon as Shea set the seat down, the baby started fussing.
“Shit, what did I do?” Shea sighed.
“Nothing, she’s probably hungry,” Christian assured him. “The nurse said she’s going to want to eat every couple of hours and it’s about that time.”
Shea nodded tightly. Poor guy, he was such a mess right now.
“Mom, you wanna grab her while I make a bottle?” Christian asked and started rifling through the bag of stuff that Jackie gave them.
There were some diapers, wipes, binkies, nose suckers, and a few cans of powdered formula. Christian grabbed a can and headed into the kitchen to make a four-ounce bottle. By the time he got back, his mom was trying to soothe Skylar, but she was not having it. She was wailing. It was the first noise that she’s made since they met her. Shea was standing off to the side looking pale. Christian knew he was overwhelmed and he hoped that he snapped out of it soon, because Christian was going to need his help.