Page 61 of Sweet Chaos
The next morning, I arrived at the hospital with flowers and a gold-foil box of candy. As if a hundred-dollar bouquet and a dozen hand-dipped chocolate covered strawberries would make up for a damn thing.
My memories of the night before were hazy. I hadn’t remembered calling Scarlett, but I did remember that she drove me to the hospital. I remembered when Shane came in to the waiting room and told me it was a boy. And I remembered begging… fuckingbegging… Scarlett to stay with me. It was humiliating how much I’d needed her. When I woke up this morning after a fitful sleep, I was still exhausted, and Scarlett was gone.
Now, in the harsh light of day, with the mother of all hangovers, I was going to meet my new nephew. I checked the text Shane had sent with Remy’s room number. 503. The baby’s name was Kai James Wilder, a healthy boy born at 1:42 AM, weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces. Remy was okay. Mother and baby were doing well, he’d assured me.
When I entered Remy’s room, she looked over at the doorway, her face lit up with a smile. My sister had always been beautiful, but today she was stunning. She was happy. She had her own little family now.
The sun shone through the tall arched windows of her suite that overlooked the hospital campus, a green park with benches and a playground, not a single cloud marring her joy. And I knew I couldn’t tell her about our mother today. I didn’t know when the right time would be but it sure as hell wasn’t now.
“Dylan. You’re here.” She looked down at the baby in her arms and fuck, he was so tiny, a little blue hat covering his head, his body wrapped in a white cotton blanket like a baby burrito. “Can you believe this?”
I couldn’t. It was amazing.
I handed the flowers and chocolates to Shane to deal with. He scowled at me, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with the gifts I’d just foisted on him. But I knew he wouldn’t have said anything to Remy about the state I was in last night. He wouldn’t have wanted to upset her. And finding out that her brother had turned up at the hospital too drunk to string a coherent sentence together might have upset her.
“I would have brought you a celebratory cigar or a blunt, but you don’t smoke,” I told Shane.
“It’s the thought that counts.”
“Do you want to hold him?” Remy asked with a soft smile.
I nodded and moved closer to the hospital bed.
“What happened to your face?” she asked, her voice tinged with worry.
“Just sparring at the gym,” I said, the lie ready on my tongue. Thankfully, she bought it and didn’t question me further.
“Well, next time tell them to stay away from your pretty face.”
I snorted. “Cover up your tits, would you?”
“Like you’ve never seen boobs before,” she scoffed. I didn’t need to see my sister’s and they were practically hanging out of the bra she wore under a black robe. “He might be small but I’m starting to feel like the Dairy Queen. Here. Take him.”
I had no idea how to hold a baby, but I leaned down, and she transferred him into my arms and adjusted her robe for modesty’s sake. “Just make sure you support his head. Other than that, just love him,” she said as I straightened up, the baby in my arms.
Shouldn’t be hard. I already loved the shit out of this little guy. Unconditionally.
Shane pulled up an armchair next to his and I took a seat, making sure to support the baby’s head as I settled in and studied my new nephew’s face.
Let’s face it, on the whole, babies were funny-looking. But this baby was fucking perfect. Beautiful. I was in awe of his tiny fingers and his pink pursed lips. The thin veins underneath his closed eyelids.
So fragile. So needy. So trusting.
“How are you feeling?” I finally thought to ask Remy.
“Tired and overwhelmed but I’m good.” She smiled at Shane who looked a little worse for the wear. If anything, Remy looked more well-rested than he did. “You should go home and get some rest,” she told him, squeezing his hand.
“I’m not going anywhere. Stop trying to get rid of me.”
“Never. I’m keeping you forever.”
“You doing okay?” Shane asked me. His voice sounded casual but the look on his face told me a different story.
I grunted and shrugged one shoulder. The beauty of being me was that nobody really expected me to converse like a normal person would.
“He’s overwhelmed by his new uncle responsibilities,” Remy teased.
“That must be it.” Shane eyed me skeptically.
