I wasn’t sure if I could ask it, but I figured what the hell. I was scared to get the answer given how he’d been the last time I saw him, but I needed it all the same. He was family. “How’s Lily’s dad, Peter James?”
“He’s in surgery still, but the last we heard he was doing better,” she replied, looking around us to make sure no one was around to hear her.
“Lily’s mom is on her way,” Levi added, getting my attention. “Mom was on the phone to her when we were waiting outside the room Lily was in before they took her to surgery. She’s told them they can talk to us in her absence, but she expects to be here in the next…” he checked his watch, “hour or so.”
“That’s good, that’s good,” I muttered, thinking it all over. “But he’s ok?”
Nodding at me, she shot me a comforting smile. “He’s better than he was.”
Shit, that could mean anything.
“Tate, this is Charlotte,” Levi told me, pointing to the nurse. “She’s been looking after you and feeding back information to us all about Lily and her dad.” His tone made it clear I was to say thank you.
Raising the eyebrow that didn’t have a big bandage over it, I gave her a grateful smile. “Nice to meet you, Charlotte. And thank you so much for everything you’ve done for us today.”
Bursting out laughing, she shot me a grin over her shoulder. “You’re very welcome, Tate.”
Inserting himself into the conversation, Levi added, “You’ve done a lot for us, Charlotte. The whole family are very grateful.”
Rolling her eyes at me, I smiled my first real smile in a long time – well, since I’d turned up at The Bar and saw it on fire, that was. This woman didn’t take any shit and I could respect that. I respected it even more that it was Levi she wasn’t taking the shit from.
“Where’s everyone else?” I asked, looking for my family like they were hiding. To be honest, it wouldn’t surprise me if one of them jumped out at me just for shits and giggles.
“They’re with Lily helping her out.”
As I took the first step in, I ate up the sight of Lily sitting upright in bed with a tube under her nose to give her oxygen. Someone had washed her face clean of the remnants of the fire, so she looked much better than she had when we’d first gotten here, regardless of how pale she was. She was also holding a tiny little person in her arms, and even though she still smelled like smoke (and was so pale she’d make milk look tanned), she’d never looked more beautiful to me.
I’m not going to lie, looking at her brought back the horror movie I’d seen when I’d stood up in that operating room, and I’d seen the guts, blood and body parts all over the place, but I forced it down and focused on the now.
Until she said five words that stopped me in my tracks.
“Congratulations, Daddy, it’s a girl!”
Freezing in place, I stood waiting for her to say it was a joke, but instead, my family released the pink balloons and held up the teddy bears they’d been holding behind their backs and yelled, “Surprise!”
With Levi pushing me from behind, I put one foot in front of the other and walked over to the side of the bed, looking down at the most precious and perfect little human being I’d ever seen. She had my hair, my nose, her mama’s lips, and when she opened her eyes and looked at me, I fell head over heels in love with her.
“Seeing as how it’s a girl, I got to pick her name,” Lily told me, smiling down at our daughter.
Our daughter.
Oh shit on me, Lily got to choose her name.
“What…” I whispered, nervously licking my lips. “What did you call her?”
“Can you pass her to her daddy?” she asked Levi, waiting for him to bend down and take her from her.
Seeing such a tiny baby in his big arms, everything inside of me froze.
“Hey, cutie, I’m your Uncle Levi,” he whispered, smiling down at her. “I’m going to look after you and shoot all the boys. If anyone makes you cry, you come tell me and I’ll kick their a…”
“Um, Levi,” Charlotte interrupted nodding in my direction. “I think she needs to meet her daddy.”
Looking like he was he going to argue, he eventually sighed and leaned in to give my daughter a soft kiss on her nose, grinning when she wrinkled her face and squeaked. “She’s perfect.”
When he turned around and started to hold her out to me though, I panicked. “I can’t,” I stammered, taking a step away. “What if I drop her? She’s so tiny and I’ve got big hands, see?” I held them up taking another step away. Each time I did it, the asshole took a step toward me. “Seriously, what if I sneeze and snap her in half by mistake?”