And then she came right back.
He wanted to leave that room like he wanted someone to drill holes in his head.
But he had to.
He kissed the tops of two heads before he went, heading to the waiting room.
He walked in and all eyes came to him.
“It’s a girl. All systems go. Sadie is a fucking warrior,” he announced.
Cheers rang up.
Tex boomed, “Fuckin’ A, bubba!”
Buddy cracked open a box of cigars.
Ralphie and Tod hugged.
Eddie clapped him on the back then came in for a hug.
He got the same from several dozen more people before he found two sets of eyes.
Those two followed him back to Sadie’s room.
The instant she saw them, his mother babbled in Spanish until the tears overtook her, and Hector had to pull her in his arms.
Oncesu madregot her shit together, she got her first.
It was hard to get her away from her grandmother, but he did, then he took her to her grandfather.
Carefully, Hector eased his daughter into Seth’s arms.
The man stared down at her like he’d never seen anything so beautiful.
Obviously, he was right.
Nothing in history was as beautiful as the baby Hector and Sadie made.
Seth moved that look to his daughter.
“Lola?” he asked to confirm the name Hector already told them.
“Lola Elizabeth,” Sadie whispered the whole thing for the first time.
Hector heard his mother’s soft sob.
But he watched the tear slide out of Seth’s eye.
“She’s perfect,” he said gruffly, not taking his gaze from his own girl, and Hector suspected he wasn’t the only one in the room who wasn’t sure which “she” Seth was referring to.
Hector walked out, eyes to white sand that melted into sparkling turquoise, then azure, then Mediterranean blue.
But mostly they were on the three females playing on the beach.
One, a little black-haired toddler wearing a red and pink polka dot one-piece. One, a curvy strawberry-blonde fairy princess beauty. And the last, his mother.
He handed a bottle of Mythos to the man rocking in the rocker on the porch.