Page 68 of A Second Chance

“I will,” Gwen promised.

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Jason knocked lightly on the hospital room door and waited for an invitation to enter. With one hand holding Gwen’s, he pushed into the room already crowded with the group. Hannah, Autumn, and Brandon were at Rebecca’s bedside while Ben, Dan, and Justin held up the far wall. Gwen greeted everyone, but Jason’s breath caught in his chest. In the middle of the room stood Weasel holding a tiny bundle wearing a little pink hat, close to his chest. And from the look on his face, the big, rough and tumble, rowdy and foul-mouthed cop was already wrapped around the tiny pinky finger of that baby.

“This is Riley Gilbert Anderson,” Weasel said.

“Are you gonna let anyone else hold her?” Hannah asked, clearly annoyed.

“In a minute,” Weasel said, clearly not giving a shit.

“When did you go into labor?” Gwen asked, letting go of his hand and moving to Rebecca’s side. He felt the loss, but moved to the back wall with the others.

“I’d been having contractions on and off for three days, my water final broke around one this morning. We got here around 1:30 and she was born at 4:17.” Rebecca laid propped up in the hospital bed, covered up and her hair sticking out everywhere. Of course, she looked tired, she’d been up all night delivering a baby. But as she spoke, her gaze never left Weasel, watching him watch their daughter, and she glowed.

“She was incredible,” Weasel said. “I’ve never seen anything so amazing in my life.”

The group let out a simultaneous aw and he sighed. “Shut up.”

“Hon, let someone else hold Riley for a bit, all right?” Rebecca said. Jason wondered if she suggested that because she was afraid if no one else held the baby, then they’d never leave. If he were in her shoes, he’d want to be alone right now. For her sake, he hoped her IV contained pain medication.

Weasel reluctantly handed over his daughter to Hannah, who grinned like a maniac and cooed. Gwen and Autumn flanked her on either side, smiling down at the sleeping baby. What did Gwen think of kids? Christ, where did his mind go? He reeled back to reality because there was no way he was ready for kids, and they hadn’t been together anywhere near long enough. This train of thought resulted from being around all of Avery’s wedding planning and Rebecca’s pregnancy. That was all.

“Who does she look like?” Autumn asked, staring down at the bundle.

“Are you kidding?” Weasel asked, he hadn’t moved from where he’d handed her over, guarding Riley and he would snatch her back in a second if someone made a move he didn’t approve. “She’s gorgeous, Rebecca all the way.”

“This will be interesting,” Justin said.

“What’s that?” Weasel asked.

“You, with a daughter,” he answered.

“Someone’s probably going to die,” Ben chimed in.

“That’d be a teenage boy in about sixteen years,” Dan said.

“He will not kill any teenage boys, now stop it,” Rebecca said. But Weasel nodded like cleaning his weapons while a boy picks up his daughter for a date was an easy decision.

“Well, the only thing you have to worry about right now, is this smell,” Hannah said, handing Riley back to Weasel. “Here you go, dad, happy diaper duty.”

Weasel shocked everyone by taking Riley over to the little plastic bin they put babies in at the hospital and started unwrapping her blanket without hesitation.

“Oh, he changed the first diaper,” Rebecca said. “He’s changed more than I have, so far.”

“You did the hard work, babe,” he said, tending to the diaper. Riley let out a wail that showed her displeasure at being unwrapped and cleaned. Weasel spoke in hushed tones to her and worked with efficiency; soon, he had her bundled back up and held against his chest. She settled for a beat against him, then screwed up her face in another complaint.

“She might be hungry again,” Rebecca said. “I’m trying to learn to breastfeed.” It was his sign to get the hell out of dodge. He and every male, except Weasel, made a beeline for the door.

“I’ll be in the hall,” he whispered to Gwen in passing.

“Make that the cafeteria,” Dan said.

They sat around a table with coffee and muffins, shooting the shit with each other. Though his brain couldn’t turn off the mental image of Weasel cradling the newborn and not wanting to let anyone else touch her, then changing a diaper with ease. He’d just gotten used to the idea that the crazy dude was married, and now he could seemingly add hands-on father to the list. And he had to admit that a little jealousy rose in his gut, and he didn’t know why. His relationship with Gwen was better than he’d ever expected, and he felt happier and healthier than he had in years. It’d only been six months since they’d made their relationship official after leaving his parents’ house that night. Part of him believed they should count the first few weeks before their short break, but there was no need to rush. Without a doubt she was it for him.

“Where are you?” Dan asked, swiping a hand up and down in front of Jason’s face.

“From the looks of it in La-La Land,” Brandon said.

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