Page 41 of Knocked Up in Alaska

Chapter Twelve

Lilah couldn’t take her eyes off the baby, and he couldn’t take his eyes off Lilah. Radiant. She was radiant.

Light flashed. He looked over to see Bridget lower his phone. “Another keeper,” she said in a hushed voice and handed it to him with a repentant smile. Sorry, she mouthed.

Unwilling to attempt more speech because of all the unstable emotions lodged in his throat, he shook his head. Bygones. Lilah had needed a boost and Bridget had used him as the lever. Basking the glory of the outcome made it impossible to hold a grudge.

She snuggled into the bed on Lilah’s other side to adore her niece. “What are you going to name her?”

Lilah stared into her baby’s eyes. “I want to name her Shayla. What do you think?”

Bridget swallowed and blinked fast. He felt the same stinging pressure behind his eyes and hoped Bridget would find a way to respond so he wouldn’t have to risk it yet.

“I think that’s a wonderful name,” she managed. “A mix of both parents. Shay would love it. He’d be over the moon.”

So, that was settled. Lilah continued to stroke and murmur to the baby, and Bridget offered endless compliments on the little one’s finer qualities, but he recognized the rest of the room had mostly fallen away for Captivity’s newest mother. Right now, her world consisted of her baby. As it should.

Soon, he warned himself, it would be time to extricate himself and figure out next steps. Let mother and daughter bond without him hanging around, feeling primitively and inappropriately possessive. Not yet, because the doc and Bev—both of whom he wanted to hug as if his life depended on it—quietly saw to post-baby things he didn’t want to think about, much less witness. He kept his focus on Lilah, so wrapped up in the wonder of her and the baby he nearly jumped when Bev put a hand on his shoulder and held out a pair of surgical scissors. “Would you like to do the honors?”

“What honors?”

Bev laughed. “You’ve been a real trooper. Would you like to cut the umbilical cord?”

Him? Hell no. He could, if necessary, kill an adversary with his bare hands, but he was the wrong guy for this job. “Uh…I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“It doesn’t hurt,” she quickly assured him. “Neither of them will feel a thing. It’s just a nice bit of closure.” Still smiling, she winked at him. “And bragging rights.”

“Twenty bucks says you can’t man up and do it,” Bridget drawled from Lilah’s other side.

He dredged up a snarl for her and held out his hand for the scissors. With a snip that left his insides a river, he completed his task.

“Nicely done,” Bev said, took back the scissors, and retreated to the other end of the bed.

“Twenty bucks,” he said to Bridget.

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m good for it.” Her gaze found his. “Did anybody call…” She glanced at Lilah, then back to him.

He shook his head, motioned to the hallway. With a reluctance that shocked him, he kissed Lilah’s cheek and said, “Be right back.” She smiled at him and then resumed staring raptly at the baby.

“I would have called her if Lilah had asked, but she didn’t,” he told Bridget when she joined him outside the curtain. “Overall, that’s a tragic thing, but also a blessing since Rose wouldn’t have been able to get here in time if I had called. She’s in Anchorage overnight. With Ray.”

Bridget’s eyebrows disappeared behind her spikey bangs. “Ray Sandoval?”

“Yep.”

“Huh. That’s…interesting. Still, somebody should call her and let her know she’s a grandma.”

Ford knew the value of silence and wasn’t afraid to use it.

Bridget patted his shoulder. “Okay. I’ll call. You’ve had a crazy afternoon.” Stepping back, she crossed her arms and assessed him. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” he answered automatically, then thought back on the sweaty-palmed insanity of the last several hours. “I’m not close with my mother, but I think I’ll send her some flowers.” Jen, too. And Lilah. Lots and lots of flowers to Lilah.

“Yeah.” Bridget laughed. “I might do the same.”

“Have you and Archer set a date?”

Her smile turned quizzical. “Not yet, no. Possibly summer. We aim to keep it simple.”

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