Page 168 of The Rebel

“My insatiable man.” I smiled.

“That was for you.” He aligned our mouths. “This is for our baby.”

EPILOGUE

Cooper

“She has your eyes.”

Rowan’s voice was like a song against my ears as I lay with her in the hospital bed, our baby wrapped in her arms, positioned in front of us so we could take in every feature.

Features we’d been staring at nonstop.

Remembering every second.

Loving endlessly.

Healing from the whirlwind of the last twenty-four hours.

Rowan’s contractions had brought us right to the hospital, where she had the baby seven hours later. In that delivery room, I held her hand and the back of her thigh, and talked her through one of the most challenging moments of her life. Even with the help of an epidural, labor wasn’t easy on her mentally or physically.

I had been a nervous mess; it had been so hard to see her go through that.

But that woman was my fucking hero.

And her determination and strength gave me the most amazing gift.

My daughter.

A perfect, beautiful little princess with the biggest blue eyes and pudgy cheeks, a tiny sloped nose and thick, pouty lips.

A face as gorgeous as her mother’s with a set of lungs like mine.

“And she has your nose,” I told her, running my finger down our baby’s nose, her skin so soft that I was afraid I’d hurt it. “How is she ours? How in the hell did we make something so flawless? And how am I already thinking of all the men I’m going to kill if they even look in her direction a hundred years from now?”

Rowan laughed. “She got the best of both of us.” She adjusted the blanket. “I mean, look at these toes. I’ve literally never seen anything cuter.”

I kissed both of her feet as they lay still, our little one fast asleep, minutes after Rowan finished feeding her.

“And the hair.” I lifted her hat just enough to see the dark locks. “She definitely got your color.” I moved the fabric down again and put a finger under her chin. “I love you so much, it hurts.”

“I couldn’t have said it more perfectly.”

I turned to the woman who would soon become my wife.ThatI was sure of. And I kissed her forehead, holding my lips there, breathing her in. She didn’t even smell like the hospital. She smelled like the woman I’d fallen for—apples and cedarwood.

“The way you fought in that delivery room was nothing short of amazing. I hope you know that.”

“I focused on your voice, and you got me through it. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

I didn’t know about that.

The woman lying next to me had courage and a toughness like I’d never witnessed before. I didn’t know a single dude in my life who could have survived that labor.

Myself included.

But knowing I had been there for her, that I’d helped even in the smallest way, meant a lot.

“And now, we have her,” I whispered.

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