Page 45 of Healed Hearts (Mended Hearts #2)

Holden-6 months later

T he call comes in the middle of the night.

I sit up and grab my phone, listening intently to the person on the other end of the line, trying very hard to keep myself calm and not cry. When I hang up, I stare blankly at the wall for a second, before nudging Julian. “Jules?”

He hums, patting around the bed, looking for me, and then grabs me and yanks me closer to him when he finds me. I smile, but my heart is pounding, and we really need to get up. Like, right now. “Julian, you’ve got to wake up.”

He grumbles a bit, but finally does, rubbing at his face sleepily. “Whatsamatter?”

Not a damn thing. Not one single thing. “We have a placement. We need to go get him.”

That does it. Julian sits straight up and locks eyes with me. “Really?”

I grin, but it’s a little shaky. “Yes, really. A little boy. He’s two weeks old. His mom dropped him in a safe haven box. He had a note on him. His name is Warren.”

Julian laughs. It’s so fucking happy and perfect that it almost makes my heart explode. “Wren and Warren.” He chuckles again. “That’s perfect, darlin’. Let’s go get our baby boy, then.”

My stomach flips in excitement. “Holy shit. We’re about to have a baby, Julian.”

He wraps an arm around me and tugs me into his lap. “We’re about to have a baby, darlin’. Our family is growing.”

I can’t resist. I close the distance between us and kiss him. I’m so fucking happy and relieved and all the things. When I pull back, he’s smiling. I take a shaky breath. “Wren is a big sister,” I murmur.

Julian smiles right back. “Well, how about we go wake her up and go meet her baby brother?”

I’m so excited that I practically jump out of the bed to go get Wren.

When our social worker, Tara, comes out of the room with a tiny bundle in her arms, it’s all I can do to keep from breaking down into hysterics.

By the time she gets to us, I’m practically vibrating with nerves. I adjust Wren on my hip and lean into Julian’s side as she gets to us, half-convinced I’m going to fall out on the floor if he can’t help me keep my legs under me.

“Hey, guys. I have a special delivery for you,” she says with a smile.

Julian carefully takes the baby from her and cradles him to his chest. It’s almost comical how tiny he looks in Julian’s arms, but if I know anything, it’s that he won’t find a safer place than where he is.

“Baby,” Wren says, leaning forward to try to get a look.

“Yeah, pretty girl. That’s your baby brother. Do you want to meet him?”

She nods, her grin growing.

Tara gestures to the couch on the opposite side of the room. “You guys are more than welcome to sit and get to know each other while I get the documents I need together.”

“Sounds good,” Julian says, already striding toward the couch. Damn, watching him in In Control Dad Mode will never not be hot as hell to me.

Wren and I follow along and sit down beside him. He turns the baby in his arms until Wren and I can see his tiny face.

He’s asleep, but I already know I would die and kill for him. Just like his big sister.

He’s adorable. All pudgy cheeks and a tiny button nose. He’s got a head full of blonde hair, and the tiniest fingers I’ve ever seen in my life. I inhale a shaky breath, trying to keep my emotions under control.

“I wanna hold him, Daddy,” Wren says, turning to me with pleading eyes.

I can’t deny a sweet request like that, so I scoot over just a bit and sit her between Julian and me.

She waits patiently for Julian to hand him over. “Gotta support his head, baby girl,” he murmurs, adjusting the baby and Wren’s arm until his head is resting in the crook of her elbow. You can tell Julian’s an old pro because he gently cups Warren’s head to offer a little more support.

“Hi, baby,” Wren whispers, then she leans down and places a soft kiss on his forehead.

Oh shit. I think my heart may actually explode.

My eyes find Julian’s, and he’s already looking at me. There’s so much love and happiness and emotion swirling in his deep brown eyes that if I wasn’t sitting down, I think my knees would be weak.

“What do you think of that baby?” Julian asks.

“I love him. He’s little,” Wren says, tearing her gaze from Warren to look at Julian.

“He sure is,” he says, smiling down at her. “Should we let Daddy hold him?”

She glances back at me and shakes her head. “No. He’s my baby. I’ll hold him.”

I let out a choked laugh. Julian and I talked this decision to death, but I still worried that Wren wouldn’t adjust well, or that she’d feel left out. I never once considered that she would steal the baby and not want to give him back.

Julian smiles. “Wren, you’ve got to share. He’s not just your baby.”

I shake my head and place my hand on his knee. “It’s okay. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of late nights with him. She can have him for now.”

As I watch Wren stare down at her new baby brother, tears fill my eyes. I’m so incredibly thankful to have this life. When I think back on the kid I once was, the struggles I’ve had to endure, and the people in my life who have shaped and molded me into the person I am today, it fills me with so much joy and gratitude. I almost can’t contain it.

Julian

When I walk into the house from the grocery store, I expect there to be chaos like there usually is. But I’m met with silence, and it doesn’t take long to figure out why.

Holden is lying on the couch, Wren stretched out against his side with her head on his chest, and Warren cradled in his other arm. They’re all three dead asleep.

I barely remember Wren being a baby. Everything from back then is tangled up in grief and anxiety and heartache. I wasn’t sleeping much anyway, so waking up with a baby was the least of my worries.

Warren is a great little sleeper, usually only waking up two to three times a night and then falling right back asleep after he eats and gets a diaper change, but it still takes a toll.

Holden has taken to being a dad just like I knew he would. Not just with Wren, but also with Warren. He’s kind and attentive and patient. But he’s also firm and knows how to enforce boundaries when needed.

And Wren. She’s the best big sister in the world. She loves to feed him and play with him, even though he’s not doing much playing just yet. Her entire camera roll is Warren. Pictures of tiny toes, and itty bitty fingers. Pictures of her holding his hand, and selfies of her kissing his cheek. I couldn’t be more proud of her.

I pull my phone from my pocket to take a photo of them all cuddled up together. I have about a million at this point, but I don’t care. One more never hurts.

I’m careful to not wake them as I make my way to the kitchen to unload the groceries and put everything away. We’re hosting a family dinner at our house tonight. Beck and Roman are coming, along with Beck’s parents, and even his friend Riley. I haven’t met her yet, but just from what everyone has told me, I already know I’m going to love her.

Ruby and Henry are coming too. And they’ve already claimed Warren as one of their own, referring to themselves as Poppy and Mamaw. I have no idea how I got so lucky that this is my life, that I get to live this way.

My heart gives a little squeeze as I think about how this time last year, I was alone with just Wren. Occasionally visiting Ruby and Henry, not really sure where I fit within the world anymore.

And then I started drowning in emerald green eyes, and instead of suffocating, I felt like I could breathe.

“Julian?” Holden’s raspy, tired voice comes from the edge of the kitchen, and I turn just in time to see him walking toward me.

“Hey, darlin’. Did you have a good nap?” I ask, holding my arms open to him.

He steps into my embrace and rests his forehead against my chest. “I did. Missed you, though.”

I lift him into my arms and hold him against my chest. It’s not something we’ve done a lot of in the last couple of weeks. “I missed you too.”

He wraps his arms around my shoulders and buries his face in my throat with a long, happy sigh. Everything falls away, just like it always does when he’s in my arms. I hold him to me, breathing in the scent of citrus, and reveling in his warmth for a long time.

It’s not until Warren wakes from his nap and starts wailing from the living room that Holden finally pulls back from me. Before I set him down, I kiss him languidly, trying to infuse all the love I have for him into it—into the few precious moments of time we have in between one moment of chaos and the next.

I reluctantly let Holden down from my arms and the second his feet touch the ground, he smiles at me. So fucking bright and pure and full of love that it almost stops my heart.

When he clears the kitchen, Warren’s crying ticks up, turning from I just woke up tears to feed me right fucking now tears. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive all three of them with their hangry attitudes.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming. I’ll get you fed. Yes, I know, you’re starving, aren’t you? Just wasting away, huh?” I hear Holden say, and my lips quirk up in a smile.

Chaos.

I wouldn’t change it for the world.

THE END