Page 28 of Always and Forever

“Fuck me, having kids is making me soft as fuck.”

Jasmine laughs out loud, and I lean forward and kiss our new baby girl on her head.

“What are we going to name her?” I ask.

“I’d like to call her Rose Maria. Rose is my favourite flower, and Maria after your mother.”

Right then and there, I never thought I could possibly love this woman any more than I already do. Leaning down I kiss Jasmine on her lips, and whisper, “I love you, baby. You’re so beautiful.”

She smiles against my lips. “Thank you, baby, but I doubt I look beautiful.”

I tuck some loose hair that’s fallen from her ponytail behind her ear. “You’re always beautiful to me, baby.” Then I kiss her, like my life depends on it.

I pull back and Jasmine asks, “Do you want to hold her?”

I smile and take her out of Jasmine’s arms, carefully making sure I don’t mishandle her in any way. A knock sounds at the door, and the nurse opens it, allowing Jasmine’s parents to walk through, Jack in their arms. Jasmine’s parents decided to come down for Jasmine’s last trimester, so they could help us with Jack when Jasmine went into labor. And I’m so glad they did. They’ve been staying at Luisa’s parents’ house, who moved down to New York to be closer to Luisa and Hawke and the twins. We’ve been trying to convince Jasmine’s parents to move down, but Jasmine’s old man needs a little more persuasion. He loves his ranch, and I don’t blame him one bit but I know Jasmine would love them to be close by, so I’m working on it.

Jack puts his hands out as soon as he sees Jasmine. Ana lets him go, and he quickly rushes to his mom’s side, trying to climb the bed. Jackson helps him up, and he’s quickly hugging his mom, then asking for baby.

“Here, little man,” I say, bending down to show Jack his baby sister, Rose. “Her name is Rose, Jack.”

“R… ose,” he repeats.

“That’s right. You wanna give her a kiss?” He does exactly that, placing his lips on Rose’s head and pressing gently. Jack’s green eyes look at me, and he smiles. He has the same eyes as his mom, green like poison ivy, and black hair, just like me.

“Sorry, everyone, but Jasmine needs to feed baby Rose here. Would you mind coming back in a few minutes?” I hand Rose back to Jasmine, and kiss her head.

“We’ll leave you to it, son,” Jackson says patting my shoulder. He walks over to Jasmine, and kisses her on the head before he kisses Rose. “We’ll be back soon to see you. I’ll take Jack with me to get him something to eat.”

“Thanks, Daddy.”

Ana then walks forward, kissing Jasmine on the cheek. “You did good, Jasmine, she’s gorgeous.” She runs her knuckles softly down Rose’s cheek.

“Thanks, Mom, I’ll see you soon.”

They walk out of the room with Jack, and I watch in awe as Jasmine opens up her hospital gown and pulls her breast out to let baby Rose feed. “Baby, I’m just gonna step out the hall and call my mom to let her know. She’ll be thrilled.”

Looking up from Rose, she nods her head. “Sure, baby, you go.”

I kiss her lips lightly before stepping out. A girl, a fucking girl. I grin to myself, and make that call to my mom.

Hanging up from my mom a few minutes later, I smile to myself. My mom was so excited over the phone. I’m so glad to hear her happy again. It’s been hard since my father died, and she’s been struggling. I’ve helped her as much as I can, but I flew her sister Helen down from Cuba to stay with her for a while. I’m about to step back into Jasmine’s room, when Hawke and Luisa show up, huge grins on their faces.

“Congratulations, brother,” Hawke says, bringing me in for a hug. Pulling back I smile at him, then kiss Luisa on the cheek. She has a twin in each arm. Sienna and Lila are now eighteen months’ old, we’d found out after Luisa got shot she was pregnant, and having twins at that. Hawke surprised her with a proposal/wedding the day she got home from hospital, so now they’re married, with twin girls. Lila is blonde with blue eyes, just like her father, and Sienna is brunette, but also has her father’s eyes. Hawke thinks it’s because he has strong sperm, and I let him believe it.

“So, what is it, brother?”

I grin. “It’s a girl, man?” I say, and Luisa squeals.

“A girl,” Hawke states, bringing my attention back to him. He has a grin on his face, and an expression that says, “I feel for you, brother.”

I inhale deeply and drop my head. I look back up at his face after a moment to see sympathy written all over it. “Yup, a girl. We called her Rose.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet! You have two flowers in your life.”

Hawke looks at Lu, frowning at her. “Two flowers?”

“Yes, you silly man—Jasmine and Rose!”

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