Hugo takes that as his cue. “I’ll, uh…go find some coffee.” His voice is tight. Without another word, he pushes off the wall and heads down the corridor, stride quickening until he’s nearly running.
Landon doesn’t seem to notice as he brushes past me into the room. The moment he reaches Elise, her expression crumbles.
“I’m so sorry!” she cries. “I love you. Can you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive, sweetheart.” He takes her hand and brings it to his lips. “Not a single thing.”
I move to the other side of the bed as the midwife positions herself at the foot.
“Okay, Elise. On the next one, I want you to push.”
Elise screams, the animalistic sound ripping from deep inside her. Her knuckles turn bone-white around Landon’s hand as her body arches, tendons straining in her neck.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.” Landon’s voice stays steady. “One more. For me, baby.”
On the next contraction, she bears down with determination.
“Good,” the midwife says. “There we go. You’re doing great, honey.”
Push after push, Elise gives everything she has. Sweat beads on her forehead. Her voice grows hoarse, her grip on Landon’s hand unrelenting. I wipe her brow with a cool cloth, murmuring encouragement between contractions.
“You’re almost there.” Excitement colors the midwife’s tone. “The head is crowning.”
Elise lets out another guttural scream, and the moment that first cry splits the air, it arrows straight to my heart.
She collapses back into the pillows, gasping, crying, and laughing all at once.
“You did it,” Landon whispers, tears tracking down his cheeks.
The midwife works with practiced hands while the nurse checks the baby. Minutes later, the swaddled bundle is placed on Elise’s chest, and his furious cries soften into indignant hiccups against her skin.
She looks up at Landon, eyes wide and swimming with tears. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
“Don’t apologize.” He brushes his lips across her forehead before pressing a kiss to the baby’s wrinkled brow. “He’s perfect. He’sours.”
My heart’s so full I can hardly breathe.
Landon glances at me, fatherly pride turning his smile radiant. “Want to hold him?”
“I’d love to.”
Elise passes me the baby, wrapped tight in a striped hospital blanket. He has her nose and chin, and Landon will teach him what it means to be kind, because this little boy is theirs.
Never Jerome’s.
“He’s an angel,” I whisper.
Warmth blossoms in my chest as I cradle him, his soft weight settling into the crook of my arm. The scent of baby powder fills my senses, and a vision sparks to life.
A baby of my own with Sebastian’s ocean eyes gazing up at me.
I stroke the newborn’s tiny cheek. Beneath the wonder, a sudden realization makes my pulse flutter.
I could be pregnant right now.
And that thought takes me to Lilith, whoiscarrying Sebastian’s child. I recall the day I found her sobbing outside his door, terrified of being a mother without him. She’s still mourning him, not realizing her grief is unnecessary.