To Love and Protect (Must Love Diamonds 4)

“Hello, Ava,” she whispered while gazing down at the tiny bundle. “So glad you finally decided to join us.”

“Let’s hope that isn’t a sign of things to come with her,” Honor said from the hospital bed. “I was getting desperate when we hit the second day past my due date.”

“Tell me about it,” Asher said as he went to lie next to his wife on the bed with a tired grunt. “She was begging me to have sex with her just to get the labor started.”

Honor backhanded him on the chest. “I was not.”

Shelby glanced up from the baby’s sweet little face with a soft laugh. “Not that I want to know anything about your sex life, but I have heard that works.”

“Told you,” Asher said.

“I didn’t doubt you.” Her sister-in-law rolled her eyes as she met Shelby’s gaze. “Now you know who was begging for sex. Like that was going to happen when I felt like a beached whale—looked like one, too.”

Asher reached across to turn her face to him. “You were beautiful then, and you’re beautiful now.”

“That’s sweet, Romeo, but it’s gonna be a least six weeks.”

“That’s not why I said it,” he defended.

She gave him a smile as she leaned in for a kiss. “I know.”

Shelby peeked at them from under her lashes before returning her attention back to Ava’s delicate little lashes fanned against her cheeks. That hint of envy tugged at her heart again. Someday she’d hold her own baby Diamond—or whatever her last name became.

That made her think of Dev again. There was a time she’d dreamed of becoming a Torrez. Until he broke her heart and walked away. He’d made sure to stay away, too. From her, anyway. She knew he’d kept in touch with her brothers over the years.

“Am I the last one to make it here?” she asked as Honor scooted down in the bed to lay her head on Asher’s shoulder.

“Except for Grayson,” he confirmed. “And while I don’t expect we’ll see him here at the hospital, what took you so long?”

“Some of us do work—and not for ourselves.”

“On a Saturday?”

“It was the monthly feline spay and neuter day at the animal hospital to help keep the feral cat population in check. All hands on deck. ”

“Ah. Got it. All the grandparents made it last night. Loyal and Roxanna, and Celia and Robert came this morning, and Merit and Mae left just before you got here.”

“I ran into them downstairs.”

“Don’t forget Devante,” Honor said with a yawn.

“Yeah, even Dev beat you to it, slacker.”

Heat flared at the mere mention of his name, and she turned her face down to the baby. “I saw him on my way in, too. Kinda surprised, I might add.” Kinda—hah!

“I ran into him downstairs on his way out of physical therapy and invited him up,” her brother explained.

That made a lot more sense than him coming to the hospital just to see the baby. From what she’d heard, he’d been a bit of a recluse since coming home.

Since his medical discharge from the Army.

Not that she’d kept her ears peeled or anything when she’d heard her mother and his talking in the kitchen after Christmas.

Now, after seeing him, and seeing the after effects of what he’d gone through, she wondered if she should’ve gone to see him.

One split-second flash of his cold, angry eyes made her shiver as if a winter wind had snaked down her spine. No. He wouldn’t have welcomed her visit.

A soft snore drew her gaze from the baby’s face. While it was her brother who’d made the sound, another yawn from Honor told her it was time to let them have some peace and quiet. Ava had fallen asleep in her arms, and remained sleeping when she laid her in the bassinet. Shelby gently rolled it next to the bed, silently waved goodbye to her sister-in-law’s whispered, “Thank you,” and left.