Page 135 of Waiting for Redemption

“Tank, not now. You can punish me for it in approximately 6-8 weeks.” She smirks at me and I can’t help but laugh.

“Only you would still be flirting with me when you’re in the middle of having contractions.”

“Have you seen you? It’s hard not to.” I finally spot Asher by the front desk and call him over.

“What’s up boss?” Asher has come on as one of my first full-time employees and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have him here. I missed my guys when I left the Marines, so having him around full-time is something I’m really looking forward to.

“I gotta get my wife to the hospital. You remember everything we went over in case this happened?”

“Yup. Don’t worry, I got everything covered here. You guys go have that baby.” He smiles, earning a sweet smile from Ruby.

Yup, still don’t like when she gives those to anyone but me.

I do one more sweep of the room and make eye contact with Max and Tucker who are conversing with someone by the game room. I give them the nod and I know they know. We rush out to the truck and I drive as fast, and safely, as possible to get us there before she has this baby in the truck.

“I’m letting everyone else know we’re going in. Lauren can bring Hendrix in a little bit,” Ruby says, typing quickly on her phone.

We make it to the hospital in record time, and I grab the bags we’ve had packed in the truck for atleastthree weeks now, before running over to her side to help her out. As soon as her feet hit the ground, her water breaks. My eyes grow wide as her head snaps up to look at me.

“Up you go, Honey.” I throw the duffle bag strap over my neck, scooping her off the ground, before booking it inside. We barely make it to the room before she’s telling us it’s time for her to push. I stand back, watching as my wife breaths through every contraction beautifully, planted firmly at her side as she squeezes my hand.

The doctor rushes in just in time, and as soon as he tells Ruby to push again—she does. Barely making as much as a grunt as he encourages her.

“Beautiful job. I see a head so big push with the next contraction.” She shakes her head, breathing deeply as she waits for her next contraction. I look down and see the baby’s head, as tears start to sting my eyes. I look back up at Ruby, her brown eyes fixed on me as she smiles sweetly, shaking her head before squeezing my hand again. She pushes hard, then rests, and with the last contraction, she pushes even harder– letting out one beautiful war cry before we hear our baby.

“It’s a boy,” the doctor announces.

We have a baby boy.

Our slimy, beautiful, mess of a baby boy. The doctor holds out the medical scissors,

“Wanna cut the cord, Dad?” I look at Ruby who, with tear-filled eyes, nods her head as encouragement. I cut the cord and let the nurses start cleaning him up, turning back to embrace my wife.

“You, are so fucking incredible,” I whisper in her ear, pressing as many kisses as I can to her temple, cheek, and head as she wraps her arms around mine.

“Here you go, Mama.” Ruby unties her robe, opening it to lay our baby boy directly on her chest, as she begins stroking his cheeks.

“He has your nose.” She smiles down at him, while I allow myself to completely fall apart. I rest one of my hands on his back, and the other on Ruby, doing my best to not let my heart beat out of my chest.

“I thought of a name.” Ruby looks up at me, and I take a moment to memorize every part of her in this moment. Her black hair, curly from her sweat and thrown into a messy bun on top of her head, her dark lashes that are still wet from her tears, and her tanned skin that’s absolutely glowing right now.

“What did you come up with, Honey?”

“What do you think of Poe?” I can’t fight the smile that takes over my face, looking down at our son again. I’ve read poetry to him every night since I found out about him, almost always something written by Edgar Allen Poe.

“I love it.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Are you ready to hold your son?” she asks, readjusting him in her arms to hand him to me. My heart bursts wide open as I prop his head up in the crook of my elbow. He lets out a little grunt and I look over at Ruby anxiously.

“He’s okay,” she reassures me. I can’t stop the tears that start streaming down my face as he opens his little eyes and looks up at me.

“Honey, he’s looking at me.” I tilt him a little closer to her so she can see that his eyes have opened.

“He looks just like you,” she whispers as tears well in her eyes.

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