Page 62

“Bye, Mom.” I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.” She turned to Elizabeth, who was wilted and sleepy in my arms, her head on my shoulder. “Bye, little bug. See you soon.”
“Bye-bye.”
We finished our farewells, then headed to the car where I buckled Elizabeth into her car seat. She was asleep before we were out of the parking lot.
“That went well, I think,” Justin said, his tone unreadable. “I think they bought the dating story.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Too bad now my parents are in love with you.” I glanced over before we turned out onto the road. “I think it’s gonna hurt them when I tell them the truth.”
“They’ll understand.”
“Will they?” Now I wasn’t so sure I shouldn’t have just been up front about everything, starting with telling my entire family about what happened in Italy with Christoph.
He was silent as we drove to the hospital.
I had to divert around the couple of news vans parked outside, apparently hoping for the scoop on the new arrival. The idea made me cringe. This was my brother, my family. My baby niece wasn’t a morsel available for public consumption. Still, I knew both my brother and sister-in-law had fans who were ravenous for any tidbits about their private life. Hell, their engagement and wedding had been one of the most covered by the press last year. Blew my mind.
I parked in the parking garage and carefully got Elizabeth out of her car seat while Justin got her stroller out of the trunk. It was weirdly comforting how we’d found a rhythm in the short time we’d known each other and were able to work in tandem without a word and get that done and get inside the hospital without incident.
We moved to the bank of elevators and made our way up to the maternity floor. As we checked in, it was not lost on me how the nurses were all checking Justin out. Seriously, who could blame them? The man was pretty epic in a suit.
“Here you go, Mr. Ashford.” The pretty redheaded nurse handed him his visitor sticker with a flirty smile.
He didn’t seem to notice, taking it without acknowledging her.
I took mine and thanked her, then we headed down the hallway toward the room she’d indicated.
It wasn’t hard to figure out which room was theirs. A big man in all black, much like the first day I’d met Justin, stood outside the door. I took in his chiseled profile and thick mocha-colored hair and recognized him as the man from the SUV outside my house. “Is that...?”
“My boss, Kade.”
The boss protected my brother and Vanessa personally. Guess that made sense.
Kade turned his head when he heard our approach, his dark eyes assessing us in one smooth stroke. “Ashford.” His face softened as he took in me and Elizabeth. “Ms. Creed.”
“Olivia is fine.”
He nodded, then moved aside so we could enter, their body language clearly communicating that they would speak later.
I knocked and waited a moment until I heard my brother’s voice calling out it was okay to come in. When I pressed open the door, we were greeted by a burst of color and fresh scent, balloons and flowers on every available surface.
Vanessa smiled at us with a sleepy but content expression from her bed, her breakfast tray beside her ready to be eaten. Across the room, Camden rocked in the rocking chair in the corner, his new daughter bundled in his arms and his face as peaceful as I’d ever seen it.
I approached quietly, Elizabeth still asleep in the stroller. I felt Justin’s presence pull away as he quietly remained near the door. “Hey,” I whispered, gazing down at my new niece’s face. “Congratulations, Daddy. She’s beautiful.”
Camden looked up at me. “Hey, sis. Thanks for coming.”
“Of course.” I parked the stroller in the corner next to the couch that had been his bed the night before, then turned to give Vanessa a hug. “You did good, Mom.”
She tilted her head toward my brother. “I couldn’t have done it without him. He got me through it when I was about to melt down with a panic attack. I mean, I knew this was coming and I was going to have surgery, but... it just came on so fast and I started to worry what if—”
She didn’t have to finish her thought. I was a mom. I got it. She couldn’t help but worry that something would go wrong again, just like it had with Isla. I reached for her hand and squeezed. “That’s understandable. But you did great.” I glanced at Cam. “All three of you did.”
“Yeah.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I can’t wait until your parents bring Isla by to see her.”
“She’s going to love her.”