Page 60 of The Alpha: Part Three
“You're doing so good, darlin. It won't be much longer. You squeeze my hand as hard as you need to, I won't break.”
I shouldn't anyway. At least not the bones in my hand. But Jesus fuck, it's been nineteen hours. And the last one has been dedicated to pushing every two minutes. The twins and I are shouldering as much of her stress and pain as we can, but this is too much. It can't be normal for someone to hurt this much for this long.
“Here, baby. Turn toward me.” Ben puts a small ice chip into her mouth and pushes the damp hair off her forehead. “It'll be over soon.”
“It's never going to be over,” she groans. “I'm so tired.”
I glare down at Obi. He's sitting at the foot of the bed like he's about to catch a baseball, all he's missing is the goddamned baseball mitt. “Why is it taking this long?”
The bastard has the nerve to smile. “These things take time, Seth.”
“It's taking too much time,” Michael growls. “She's exhausted. Are you sure there's nothing wrong?”
Another contraction takes her and she tightens her grip on my hand.
“Nothing's wrong, Michael. Be quiet,” Obi chirps. “Push, Desir'ee. You're almost there. Keep pushing. There you go. Hard part's coming.”
“Crowning?” she asks through gritted teeth.
“Don't talk. Yes. Keep pushing, keep pushing, almost, stop!”
Desir'ee groans and pulls my hand against her cheek. “Is your mom here yet?”
“She's in the kitchen. She's going to make cookies. She says it's her first grandmotherly duty.”
“Get her,” she hisses. “Quick. I want her in here.” Then she reaches for Michael's hand and takes a long breath.
I yell for my mom as loud as I can and then Desir'ee pulls against mine and Michael's hands so hard that she almost throws us off balance.
“Not yet, honey,” Obi says gently, pulling another towel from the stack beside the nest. “Just a second. Okay, now. Push. Keep going. Keep going.”
“I'm here,” my mom says as she runs into the room. “I'm here.”
“Keep pushing, Desir'ee. Don't stop,” Obi urges.
Desir'ee pulls our hands again, but we're ready for it this time. Then between one breath and the next, the baby is out and screaming in Obi's hands. He lifts the baby up for us to see and beams at us. “Meet your beautiful, strong son.”
Desir'ee reaches for him and Obi gently lays him on her chest. He stops crying almost immediately. Michael touches his hand and he instinctively grasps Michael's finger. Ben bends down to kiss Desir'ee's cheek as she smiles up at him. I can't stop looking at them. There is so much pride and relief and joy flooding through me that my chest hurts.
“Look at him,” she sighs. “He's so perfect.”
I touch his tiny foot with the pad of my finger, smiling when he balls it up. “He is.”
“Do you know what you'll call him?” my mom asks. She's sitting at the desk by the door wiping her eyes.
Desir'ee nods. “Calian. Come look at him. Do you know what you'd like to be called?”
“Oh,” my mom sniffs, “I thought plain old Grandma might be good, if that's alright?”
Desir'ee turns Calian so that my mom can see his face. “Look little boy, this is your Grandma.”
That's more than my mom can handle without bawling. She touches the back of the little fist that's still wrapped tightly around Ben's finger and cries her eyes out. Then she reluctantly pulls away and gives Desir'ee a watery smile. “Alright, sweetheart. I'm going to go put together something for you to eat. You're going to be starving in a minute or three.”
The house stays full of the people we call family until after dinner. I was unsure about having everyone there at all, much less for the whole day, but Desir'ee was adamant that our house be full of our family for our baby's first day.
Our son. We have a son. He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. He looks exactly like Ben and Michael. Exactly. I love him so much. I know, for a fact, I'm going to be one of those insufferable, overprotective parents that hovers over their children to the point of annoyance. Trent's going to have nothing on me.
The triplets were so gentle with Calian. Dutch was even quiet. Iris decided that Calian is her baby and she's probably going to try to move in with us at some point, and Zetty seems to be less opposed to me now that I have a child of my own. I'll take that miracle and run with it.
