Page 328 of Second Sets Omnibus
“You did so good, Little Brat. She's gorgeous,” Ash sniffles, carefully walking toward me with our bundle in his arms. She coos against him, attempting to root around with a few grunts, aching for her first taste of milk.
“I…I'm sorry we missed this with Lyric,” Kieran softly says. Shame coats his expression as he watches Ash and our baby,who doesn't have a name yet. “We missed all the firsts, River Blue. Her birth. Birthday. First steps.” He chokes up a little, bringing his fist to his lips.
This isn’t the first time Kieran has apologized with tears in his eyes about all the things they missed with Lyric. They’re making up for it now, though.
“But you were here for this one,” I say, gently squeezing his hand. “And you’re here now. That’s all that matters. Ly loves you guys so much.”
“It doesn't feel like enough,” he mumbles. “If we had known…if…”
“There's a lot of ifs in there, Rock Star. You didn't know because your mom was a cunt and a half. Everything that happened was her fault.”
I’m so glad that dirty, lying bitch is rotting away in prison for all the money she stole from Kieran. Oh, and so much more. Who would have guessed that Gloria was such a thief? I did. But that’s beside the point.
“You know that's not true,” Asher sniffles, resting on my other side. Gently, he kisses our baby's dark head of hair. “It was me, too.” My heart hurts at the guilt clouding his features. He’ll forever feel terrible for what he did when he was a desperate kid trying to get away from the abuse of his father.
I know how sorry he is because he’s shown me time and time again what I mean to him.
“We've been through this,” I say, shaking my weary head.
“Yeah, well, some people don't think we did everything good enough,” Rad scoffs. “Can you believe that? We got on our knees for you. We stepped up. Said we were sorry. We showed you through our actions how much you mean to us. And some people, not naming names.” Rocco. He means Rocco thinks they didn't grovel enough. “Still, I thought we made it up to you sowell. I mean...” He wiggles his brows, earning himself a slap from Callum. “Rude,” he mutters.
“The past is in the past, right? We know we're in a good place. You guys more than made it up to me.”
“We love you, Little Star,” Callum murmurs. “You're the light to our darkness. And you've given us one of the best gifts around.”
“I did,” Rad quips with a goofy grin, pointing to himself. “I gave you that gift.”
“You do realize once we've DNA tested, and it proves you're the father. When we go to do this all over again, you're kicked to condoms and back door only.” Kieran raises a brow when Rad's face falls, and his lips pop open.
“That's not fair!” he hisses, shaking his head.
Kieran rolls his eyes. “Play by the rules. I had to.”
Rad pouts, crossing his arms over his chest. “Fine! We’ll be the condom, backdoor bros from here on out.” He rolls his eyes, muttering about how unfair it is under his breath, and then sighs, “Well, maybe we should pick a name.”
“Here,” Ash says, gently handing me the baby as she begins to cry softly. “I think she's hungry.”
Kieran helps me sit up and covers me as I bring my breast out, and she latches on without a fight, perfectly sucking the first streams of milk from me.
“Okay. Did you bring our list of names?” I ask, cradling her head.
Rad nibbles his bottom lip. “I had one come to me that wasn't on the list.”
“What is it?” I ask, watching as he nervously twitches, which is beyond his usual. Rad is the most confident guy I know. He's never afraid to spill what's on his mind.
“Lyrics come from the heart, but melodies are all around us. Like air. Like Aria. It means melody and tune.” He swallowshard, stepping forward. “I want to name her Aria West. If everyone agrees?”
“Aria,” I murmur, running a finger through her dark curls.
I picture her life in the future, full of dark curly hair and big brown eyes. A mini Rad, running around and getting into trouble. Her name being yelled through the large backyard because she’s out after the sun has gone down. Her digging through the mud in her clean dress. Her with a mischievous smile on her face after doing something naughty. And it fits. Every fucking piece of it seems to suit her perfectly. Aria West.
“I...I love it,” I whisper, unable to hold back the tears in my eyes. Damn you after birth hormones for making me cry at the drop of a hat.
“It's a good name, dude,” Cal says, slapping Rad on the back.
“I like it,” Kieran and Asher agree with a nod.
“Then it’s settled,” I say, lifting my gaze from Aria. “Her name is Aria Jenny West.” I smile when Cal sucks in a breath, squeezing his eyes shut.
