Page 829 of The Tempted

Please don’t follow in your Daddy’s footsteps.

Live.

Love.

And always find your sunshine.

I’m just about to turn my attention to Reina and thank her for the gift she’s about to give me when the doctor lifts the tiny miracle Sunshine and I created together into the air.

A strong pair of lungs lets out a shrill cry that echoes through the room.

“It’s a boy!” The doctor announces.

I hear him.

My boy, I hear his cry.

“That’s it boy, sing for Daddy,” I say with a smile, tearing my eyes away from my perfect boy to his perfect mother. “Sunshine,” I rasp.

“We have a son,” she cries into my chest.

“Dad, would you like to cut the cord?”

I lift Reina’s head from my chest and press my lips to hers.

“Thank you,” I whisper against her mouth. Two words.

I wink at my wife and turn to the doctor, taking the scissors from his hand and cut the cord. They clean him, wrap him tightly in a blanket and place him into Reina’s waiting arms. I move to stand beside her and lean close to them. He’s perfect, absolutely perfect.

“Welcome to the world, Daniel,” Reina tells our boy, rubbing the tip of her nose against his tiny one. I watch as mother and son bond for the first time and I feel a pang in my heart, the familiar dull ache for the boy I lost.

Don’t you worry Jack; your old man won’t ever forget you.

I bend my head and press my lips to my son’s bald head and stare into his precious face, watching as he yawns and struggles to open his eyes.

“You,” I whisper to him as his eyes flutter open and he stares back at me.

I don’t know how long the three of us stayed like that, wrapped up in each other’s arms blocking out the rest of the world, but I wouldn’t have minded staying like that for the rest of my life. The doctor had a different plan though, insisting they take Danny to the nursery as they moved Reina into a regular room. I guess it was a good thing they kicked me out or else I would’ve forgotten all about the people in the waiting room

’ve done a lot of shit in my life, committed a ton of sins and probably don’t deserve to be smiling like I am, but hell if it doesn’t feel good. I push the doors to the waiting room wide open and watch as every pair of eyes turn to me.

My daughter.

My right hand, best friend and future son-in-law.

Grace Pastore.

Her two daughters.

Michael Valente.

Anthony Bianci.

Riggs and his Kitten.

The three new brothers patched into my club.

My family.

Every person in this room is mine. They are all Property of Parrish.

“It’s a boy,” I beam as the smiles spread across their faces.

Together we mourned and now together we’ll rejoice.

We buried one of our own today but gained another.

God works in mysterious ways, he makes sinners become believers.

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