Page 55 of Healed Hearts

Roman sighs, and with it, I know that whatever kind of parents he had, they fall on the side of the type of parents Holden and I had. “No,” he says with a small laugh. “I guess I didn’t expect anything less. He’s pretty great, huh?”

Holden snickers. “God, I thought you getting him back would make you less insufferable, not more.”

“Shut up, Hold,” Roman grumbles.

Beck laughs at Wren, pulling their attention back to him. “Hey, beautiful. We should have a baby.” Roman lets out a loud laugh, but Beck is not deterred. “I’m serious. Why are you laughing?”

That gets Holden going too. He tilts his face up to Roman and the two of them share a look that sends them both into a fit of giggles. Roman recovers first. “If I could remind you that not ten minutes ago, you told me I couldn’t get a dog. A dog, Beck. Besides, you don’t even want kids unless I missed something.”

Beck sticks his lower lip out, and Wren giggles at his facial expression. He grins down at her and picks her up, turning her in his lap until she’s facing Roman. “But look at her. She’s so cute! We should have one.”

Roman shakes his head. “In case you missed it, baby. We both work sixty plus hours a week. What would we even do with a kid?”

Beck shrugs. “I don’t know. Sing to them and sh—stuff,” he corrects.

Roman gives him an unimpressed look. “Why can’t you just sing to Wren? Think of how much more fun it will be if we’re fun uncles and get to come steal her so Hold and Julian can havedate nights, and then we can send her back, hyped up on sugar and Mountain Dew.”

Fun uncles.They reallyarejust jumping right in with zero hesitation. Holden’s outraged gasp interrupts my thoughts. “You can’t give her Mountain Dew!”

“It was a joke, CT,” Roman returns.

“You two suck. I need to figure out a mean name to call you.”

“It’s not a mean name, Hold,” Beck promises, his expression earnest. Holden ignores them in favor of moving his head from Roman’s shoulder to mine. I may preen a little, but that’s my business, thank you very much.

“They’re being mean to me,” he grumbles.

“Do you need me to save you, darlin’?” I ask, brushing his hair back off his forehead.

He looks up at me with pink cheeks and a wide grin. “Would you?” he asks, and duh. That’s not even a question.

I stand and grab him, throwing him over my shoulder. He gasps before laughing. “This is not quite what I meant,” he says through his giggles.

“Hey, beggars can’t be choosers, and you didn’t specifyhowI was supposed to save you.” I walk toward Beck, and he’s grinning at me in a way that tells me he approves, before I reach down and do the same with Wren, throwing her over my other shoulder.

She giggles and Holden echoes the sound. Fuck, I love this. “Hi, Holden,” Wren says, the smile in her voice making my heart swell.

“Fancy meeting you way up here, pretty girl,” he responds, giggling the entire time. I could so fucking get used to this. I carry them down the hall and straight into Holden’s room before dropping them both on the bed.

I lean forward, giving them both forehead kisses. I’m so fucking happy right now. I forgot it was even possible forthis much happiness to exist, but here it is. I’m going to do everything I can to keep it.

Chapter Nineteen

Holden

After spending the last two days with Julian and Wren, I’m dreading going back to work. I can hear the two of them talking from my spot in front of Julian’s bathroom mirror. I smile to myself as I apply my liner. The only silver lining is that Julian is bringing Wren in today to talk to the doctor, so I’ll get to see them. But it still sucks. My four days off went by entirely too fast. And per our agreement, I’m going home tonight after my shift. I probably could ask Julian to stay, and he’d let me, but I don’t want to push it. I know he said he has feelings for me, andGod knows I have feelings for him, but I’m not going to push it or give him any reason to not want to be with me.

I finish my eyeliner and step into the bedroom to find Wren jumping off the bed into Julian’s arms. She’s lit up like the sun, and they’ve clearly done this a few times, but it’s making me a nervous fucking wreck, so I have to turn around. I have no desire to tell him how to parent his child, but I’ve seen too many kids come into the ER with injuries from stuff exactly like this.

“I’m about to head out,” I say, interrupting their fun.

Wren jumps one more time, with Julian easily catching her, before he turns to me with a grin. “Okay. Can I walk you out?”

I nod, completely overwhelmed by the depth of my feelings for him and Wren both. I’m trying extremely hard not to let it show, but something about Julian makes it really hard to keep my mask up for too long. I’ve never had that issue before with anyone. I’ve always been so good at hiding how I feel, but it’s like when he’s staring into my eyes he’s looking right into my soul, peeking at all the parts I’d like to keep hidden. Or at least the parts I rarely show to people. It’s terrifying and yet also the most calming thing I’ve ever experienced.

Julian shifts Wren until she’s on his hip and takes my hand, leading me out of the bedroom and through the front door. After leaning in to give me a soft kiss, Wren takes her turn—smacking a wet kiss on my cheek that has both her and me giggling. “Have a good day, pretty girl,” I tell her. “I’ll see you later on, okay?”

She gives me a bright smile and a frantic nod, and I can’t help but chuckle.

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