Page 59 of The Regrettable Mistake

“Thank fuck for that,” I muttered.

“Language,” Steph chastised which made me grin down at her. She had always been a momma bear and it looked good on her.

“Your son will be here in about fifteen minutes.”

“Let’s get you to your room, so your visitors can meet you there.” One of the nurses took charge then as the doctor promised he would be by to check in on my ex-wife later.

Once Steph settled into her room, the high of holding our daughter for the first time started to wear and the exhaustion from giving birth hit her. I had our daughter in my arms when my mom and Denmark got there.

“Momma Steph! I’m here. Can I meet my sister now?” We hadn’t found out the gender of the baby, but Den had insisted since he found out that he was having a sister. It was good that he was right because otherwise he might have accused the hospital of switching the baby or something.

“Shh,” I leaned down to his level. “Carolina Harlow Burton is right here,” I whispered.

“What about Momma Steph?”

“Mom is sleeping, buddy. She had a rough time bringing your baby sister into the world. Come say hi, but you need to be quiet so we don’t make your mom up.”

Denmark threw his arms around me in the tightest hug I think he had ever bestowed me with. “Always knew she was my mom too.”

Damn. My lengthy fuckups didn’t seem ready to stop gut-checking me anytime soon. “Of course, she’s your mom. The only one that’s been there for you, buddy.”

“Yeah, she is. I love her.”

“Me too.”

“But Grandma said you aren’t married anymore.”

“Nope, but one day we’ll be married again.”

“Son, I really don’t think you should tell him that.”

“Why not?” Denmark asked my dad.

“Your dad meant to say that he hopes your mom will marry him again one day. Your mom gets final say in that.”

“I know she’s still mad at him, a little bit,” he tacked on at the end. “But I hope she does. Then we can all live together again.”

Dad took my daughter in his arms and smiled down sweetly at her. “Hello there, Carolina. You’re as pretty as your momma.”

I beamed at them. “Isn’t she?”

“How are you doing, honey?” I turned to see that Steph was awake and my mom was talking to her.

“Sore. Tired. So excited.”

“That about sums it up.” Mom smiled back as she leaned down to kiss the top of Steph’s head. “You did really well, honey. And I love her name. It’s beautiful.”

“It was a close call, the nurse took Steph’s joke seriously and wrote in a stripper name for our girl. We had to have them change the birth certificate information before we signed it.”

Mom and Dad chuckled. “What was it?” Dad asked.

“Trixie.” They both rolled their eyes.

“What’s a stripper?” Den asked as my dad helped him hold his sister for the first time so I could take a picture.

“Um, a special kind of dancer.”

“What’s so bad about that? Maybe my little sister wants to be a dancer when she grows up. My mom and Steph both groaned as Dad laughed.

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