Okay, so she probably would let him. After all, she did love him with all her heart and was loved by all of his heart.
“Breathe, honey.”
She was breathing. Trinity grimaced at her husband, who dabbed at her sweaty face with a washcloth. Her calm, patient, always-positive husband who had brought so much joy into her life. So much happiness. So much security and magic.
He’d given her Christmas.
And so much more.
“When the next contraction hits,” the obstetrician said, “and when I tell you, I want you to push as hard as you can.”
She felt as if she’d been pushing for hours, but in reality not that much time had gone by. She’d woken up during the middle of Christmas Eve night, had found Riley missing from bed and had gone to look for him. Not surprisingly, she’d found him beneath their Christmas tree, playing Santa.
What had been surprising was that before she’d been able to say anything she’d felt a gush of liquid between her legs. A gush of amniotic fluid as her waters had broken.
According to the clock on the wall, it was barely nine on Christmas morning. She was in the hospital. With her husband, The pink hightops she’d insisted on wearing digging into the stirrups. With their soon-to-be-born baby on its way. And their family anxious in the waiting area. The entire Williams clan.
“Push, Trinity,” Riley encouraged, clasping her hand and focusing on her. “Look at me and push.”
She tried to look at him but kept squeezing her eyes closed in pain as she attempted to turn her insides out.
“Breathe, baby. Breathe.”
Breathe. Push. Pant.
Trinity felt a gut-wrenching pain then horrendous pressure.
“The baby’s head is out,” the doctor praised. “There’s lots of hair.”
Another contraction, a few more pushes and Trinity cried.
“You have a baby girl,” the obstetrician informed them. “Congratulations.”
“A girl.” Riley said the words with absolute wonder. “We have a daughter.”
Exhausted, but amazed at the man smiling at her with all the love a man had ever felt for any woman shining in his eyes, Trinity nodded. “A girl, born on Christmas Day.”
“The most precious gift anyone has ever given me.”
Trinity tried to point out that Riley was the one who’d given her the precious gift of their daughter.
“Joy Noelle Williams.”
Trinity glanced down at the baby in her arms. “I have this feeling that my role as princess is going to be booted by this little sweetheart.” She smiled at the man who’d brought so much joy into her life. Who’d made her part of his family, given her a family of her own. “I think you may have a hard time topping this year.”
“Perhaps in your delicate condition you’ve forgotten, but I’m a man who aims to please, so just you wait and see.”
Her eyes widened because she recognized that determined look on his face.
He just grinned. “Merry Christmas, darling.”