Page 34 of Guarded

“Thanks,” he murmured and quickly wiped at his eyes, completely overcome.

She grinned. “You’re welcome. Moments like this are my favorite part of the job. They more than make the long shifts worthwhile.”

Matt went back to studying his daughter, talked to her some more. God, he wished he could hold her. Cuddle her right to his chest so she could feel his heartbeat. She recognized his voice, right? He’d read that somewhere. “You’re so beautiful. Your mom and I love you so much already. You’ve had kind of a rough start, but everything’s gonna be okay now.” He stroked the back of that little hand with his thumb, drank in every last detail of her, unable to look away.

“I need to check her vitals again,” a nurse said gently behind him.

Matt moved aside but didn’t pull away, his daughter still clinging to his finger. It slayed him.

Reaching beneath his scrubs into his back jeans pocket, he pulled out his phone to take some pictures. He zoomed in on that tiny hand wrapped around his finger and hit the button, convinced it was the most beautiful and amazing picture anyone had ever taken.

“Here, let me get some of the both of you together,” another nurse said.

“Great, thanks.” Matt handed her the phone and posed, didn’t have to put any effort into the smile that was damn near splitting his face it was so wide. Briar wouldn’t be able to come up here for a few hours yet, but he could take this to her along with some video at least. He was so fucking proud of her. She was a fighter, his wife, and the mother of his child. Today she’d given him the most amazing gift in the world.

The nurse gave him back the phone and he sat next to the incubator for another ten minutes before reluctantly pulling free of his daughter’s grip. It tugged at something inside him to leave her, but he needed to see Briar, reassure her everything was fine and make sure she was okay.

“I have to go see your mom now,” he told the baby. “She’ll be anxious to see these pictures and hear what’s going on. But I’ll see you soon.” He stroked her unbelievably soft cheek with his fingertip. “Love you,” he whispered.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of her,” one of the nurses said. “And when your wife comes up from recovery they’ll bring her in to see baby.”

Matt nodded. “She’d like that.”

On the way down to see Briar, a million thoughts and feelings raced through his mind. He was so unbelievably grateful he’d been here for this, but his job had almost prevented it.Thiswas what was important. Not his career. Not his team. Not whatever crisis he needed to respond to.

Briar was throwing up into a tray when he entered the recovery room.

Shit.Matt rushed over to wrap an arm under her shoulders to hold her up while the nurse assisted. He laid her back down, took the cloth the nurse handed him and wiped at Briar’s damp face.

“This been going on long?” he asked her, smoothing her sweaty hair back from her forehead.

“Long enough,” she groaned, and reached for his hand. “How is she?”

He couldn’t help but grin. He was so damn proud, totally in love. “She’s perfect.” The most perfect baby ever born, as far as he was concerned. “She’s breathing well, she’s warm, and everything’s working as it should. They’ve got a feed tube in her. She held my finger, look.” He pulled out his phone and showed her all the pictures.

Briar stared at them all, her eyes suspiciously moist. “I want to see her.”

“You will, as soon as they take you upstairs,” he promised. God, he wanted to hold Briar, but she was sick and he didn’t want to hurt her. “I know we didn’t get the chance to talk about this much, but what do you want to name her?”

“I thought she was a boy, so I only picked boys’ names. Did you have any girls’ names picked out?”

“A few, but I changed my mind once I saw her.” He laced their fingers together. “What about something with Rose in it?” Her parents had named herWardah, Arabic for rose. Her Valkyrie handlers had changed it to Briar.

Something soft and vulnerable flashed in her eyes as she gazed up at him. “Oh. I like that.”

He did too. And after all Briar had been through, she deserved to have something to honor her past. “Rosalie? Roseanne. Rosemary.” No. “Roselynn?”

Her expression brightened. “Roselynn Patricia. After me and your mom.”

It touched him that she would suggest it and include his mom that way.

She reached for his phone again, scrolled through the pictures and stopped on the best shot of their daughter’s face. “Yeah, Roselynn. But Rosie for short. She looks like a Rosie.”

“Rosie,” he said, testing the sound of the name. Yeah, it suited her. “Perfect.”

Briar smiled at him. “Rosie DeLuca.” Then the smile faded and she expelled a hard sigh. “I need to see her.”

Matt leaned over to kiss her forehead, squeezed her hand tight. “Soon. I know it’s hard. You’ve both been through a lot, but the tough part’s all over and I’m here now to look after both my girls.”

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