Page 132 of Rival

“Here we go. I’m going to place my hand right by baby girl’s head. Bear down and use those muscles to push her toward me. That’s it… that’s the exact push I need!” Cheering her on, Edith goes silent as she concentrates and only the air moving in and out of her nose fills the room. Both Jaxon and I have a firm hold on her legs as she tightens her muscles, and Griffin is laying his head against hers in complete peace.

As soon as the contraction lets up, she relaxes and a soft whimper escapes as she lays her head back against his chest. Running a hand over her hair, he murmurs, “That was so beautiful, darlin’. You did so good.”

“It was perfect. Those are the pushes we need,” Dr. Willet adds. “We’ll wait until the next one, then try again.” To her nurse, she asks for a few items, and the woman hurries to grab them. As the doctor works on Edith, she asks, “Have you decided on a name for this little girl?”

“Y-Yes,” Edith gasps out.

That surprises me. I jerk my head up to Jaxon who seems just as surprised.

“Want to share with the class? Or are we keeping it secret?”

“I w-want to meet her f-first to make sure it’s the right name.” Dr. Willet nods her head in understanding. Flicking her eyes over to the monitor, she smiles gently at Edith. “Alright, we’ve got another one coming up. I don’t think it’ll take many more. You’re a pro at this. Let’s go with some more pushes.”

She was wrong.

Edith pushed for another forty-five minutes. My shirt is sticking to my back, the room getting warm with all the bodies, but Edith is incredible through the whole thing and I’m awed by her strength. By the time she hits another big contraction, she’s almost spent, but we’re all at the point where we’re cheering and encouraging her to push hard, then praising her for how well she did.

“This is it. I’ve got her head. One more push, honey, and we’ve got her!” Dr. Willet calls out.

Screaming loudly, Edith gives it everything she’s got and finally, our little girl slips almost too easily from her body. The hospital staff is quick to hand the doctor a suction to clean out her mouth, then the first cry of her voice fills the room.

Edith tries to sit up, reaching for her baby with a sob. I was able to catch the moment she slipped free, and my mouth dropped open in complete shock. The fact she was able to do something this incredible has me stunned speechless.

“Oh, Edith. She’s just beautiful.” Dr. Willet places our squalling baby on Edith’s chest, who is sobbing as she hugs her gently, touching her head and back with shaking fingers.

“She’s al-alright?” she asks, looking at all of us for reassurance, then back to her baby.

Nodding with a smile, Dr. Willet giggles. “She’s perfect. We’ll get her settled in a moment, but take your time while we finish things up.” I know they’ve got more things to take care of downthere, but I don’t pay attention. My eyes are only for Edith as she stares at our daughter.

A swell of emotion clogs my throat as I see the way Griffin and Jaxon are staring down at them, and I can’t help feeling overwhelmed that we’ve all just created this family, locked into place the moment we heard that first wail.

Not wanting to let her go, Edith fights handing her over to the nurse, and I follow them to a station they’ve set up to take all her vitals.

The baby’s arms flail as she’s moved from side to side, getting checked over. I watch the nurses clean her up and place goop in her eyes, then do all the weighing and measuring as she screams her displeasure in the room. Then I catch sight of something that settles deep into my chest.

She’s mine.

Chapter Fifty-Six

Edith

Baby Girl – 2 hours old

Ican’t stop staring at her.

Running my fingers over her puckered mouth, I giggle when she purses and smacks her lips, then I touch her wrinkled forehead. She’s so grumpy already and is getting annoyed by my constant poking, but I can’t help it.

“She’s got all ten though? Ten fingersandten toes?” Griffin asks from his position to my right. He’s leaning his arms on the bed, a hand resting on my knee as he watches us together.

Smiling at him, I can only keep my eyes away from her for a moment before I’m back to her gorgeous little face. “I counted them like eight times. They’re all there.” My fingers reach to her hands, and I touch the soft skin to count them one more time.

Catching Jaxon’s eyes, he’s grinning at me as I count softly. One of the nurses already came in and took an extra tiny sample of her blood for a DNA test, which I had expressed to them I wanted done immediately after she was born.

Nodding his head, he seems serious as he asks, “How areyoufeeling?”

“I don’t feel anything right now,” I admit. It’s true, too. Even if I had some aches, I’m too absorbed with this baby that it doesn’t matter. “Do you want to hold her?”

I feel bad when his eyes bulge with surprise, but he hurries to my side and carefully takes her from my arms. Cradling her to his chest, he holds her gently as he turns to walk toward his chair. My eyes water with the way he’s whispering loving words, and I just know this little girl is going to be loved no matter what.