Page 113 of Broken King

My eyes feellike they’re covered in sandpaper as I slowly try to pry them open.

The last thing I remember was being wheeled out of the delivery room and into an operating room. But I don’t think that’s where I am now. As my eyes adjust to the room, Cade’s soft voice catches my attention.

“I think your momma is awake.” He’s sitting next to me in a vinyl lounge chair, and our baby girl is wrapped up in his arms. “You are my warrior queen, Scarlet.” He stands, then leans down and kisses me.

“Is she okay? It’s so early. She wasn’t due for weeks.” My hands reach up automatically, needing to hold our baby, and Cade places her in my arms.

“He’s perfect,” he tells me as I move our beautiful baby girl to my chest.

I pull the soft blue hat gently from her head and run my fingers over a perfect little tuft of beautiful dark brown hair to match her long dark eyelashes, then run my finger down her nose, hoping she’ll open her sleepy eyes. “Why did they put her in blue?”

She immediately begins rooting around on my chest, and I open my gown to see how this nursing thing is going to go. Thankfully, she latches on right away, and it’s the strangest feeling. Tightness, but not pain, and a pulling sensation deep in my body.

“Duchess...” Cade whispers. “Dr. Esher was wrong. She’s a he. We have a son.”

A tiny little hand pops up, and I run the tips of my finger over his knuckles until he wraps his little fist around that finger. “A son?” I whisper, knowing I heard him right but still feeling a little fuzzy.

I have a son.

Cade sits next to me on the bed and lays his palm flat against our son’s back, startling him. “A beautiful son, Scarlet. His lungs are strong. He’s a little small. But they said he’s perfectly healthy.” He brushes his lips over mine. “We should even be able to take him home in a few days.”

A son.

“So, I guess Olivia is off the table now. We need to come up with a boy name.” I adjust myself to get more comfortable and lay my head against Cade’s strong arm as my eyes begin to close again. “What do you think of Killian?”

“Killian St. James,” he tries out the sound of the name. “It’s perfect.”

Welcome to the world, Killian St. James.

“Do you think you’re up for seeing Brynlee yet?”

I run my hand over Killian’s tiny pink cheek in absolute awe. “Yes. How about you go get our daughter so we can introduce her to her brother?”

Killian’s sucking slows down as his breathing evens out until I unwrap the blanket he’s bundled up in so I can see all of him. Big blue eyes look up at me slowly, and I wonder what he sees.

“Hey, baby. I’m your momma.”

He’s so tiny.

So perfect.

With ten little fingers and ten toes.

And the most heavenly new baby scent.

And… yup, there’s a penis. She’s really a he after all.

Minutes later, Cade pushes through the door with Brynlee on his hip. She’s still wearing her pink leotard and tights, but a shirt I’m guessing someone got her from the gift shop is layered over the top of it, declaring her the “Big Sister.” She looks at Killian and me with wide green eyes, so much like her father’s, then whispers, “She’s so little.”

Cade sits back down in the chair he was in a few moments ago and pulls Brynn onto his lap. Brynlee stares at Killian and me in silence.

“Guess what, sweetheart?” Her eyes snap up to mine, and unbridled excitement shines back at me.

“What?”

“The doctor was wrong. You don’t have a baby sister. You have a baby brother.” And I can’t remember why I was so hell-bent on having a girl all along.

Brynn’s head tilts to the side, and she thinks about that for a long minute. “Are we sure it’s the right baby?”

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