And then almost like magic, one minute Bella wasn’t there, and the next she appeared, bloodied and wailing in the paramedic’s hands. Tears stung my eyes at the sight of her, and I didn’t bother trying to hide them.

As the EMT suctioned Bella’s nose and mouth, Mia squeezed my hand. “Is she okay?” she questioned.

The EMT smiled. “Looks fine—great, actually, considering everything. Of course, they’ll check her over at the hospital.” Turning to me, he asked, “Would you like to cut the cord?”

“Sure,” I replied, taking the scissors from him. Once Bella was freed from Mia, the EMT wrapped her in a blanket and handed her to me. “Sir, I’m going to get you to hang on to the baby while we get your wife ready for transfer to the hospital.”

Unable to correct him on our marital status, I merely bobbed my head. I couldn’t have spoken if I had wanted to. I was too enthralled by the tiny bundle in my arms. Even though she was still a little bloody and messy from delivery, Bella was the most breathtakingly beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life, next to her mother that is. Her lungs seemed to be working just fine because she was wailing her head off, her tiny features scrunched in anger. “Welcome to the world, my love,” I murmured in Spanish.

At the sound of my voice, she cut off her screams before popping her eyes open to stare up at me. “Holy shit,” I muttered before shaking my head. “Great, now I’m already cursing in front of you. You’ll have to cut your old man some slack, okay?” She continued eye-balling me like I was the greatest mystery in her new world. The truth was she was the greatest mystery in mine—the greatest treasure I could ever possess.

The EMT’s hand on my shoulder brought me out of my trance. “Okay, I need you to step outside with the baby, so my partner can get the stretcher for your wife.”

When I eased out of the limo, I found a throng of people had gathered around both the limo and the ambulance. Thankfully, our EMT’s partner, along with the police, had worked at erecting sheets up to block the view of any bystanders or paparazzi.

Through the faces, I caught sight of Jake and the others standing to the side of the ambulance. Walking as carefully as I could, I made my way over to them. “Hey,” I said lamely.

Jake snickered. “Dude, you like you’ve just come back from war. I thought it was Mia birthing the kid, not you.”

“Shut up, douchebag.” I glanced down at Bella before looking back at him. “Seeing her born, holding her in my arms—it’s the most fucking intense thing I’ve ever experienced.” At the f-bomb, I winced. “Great, she’s been here less than ten minutes, and I’ve cussed twice.”

Abby smiled as she leaned down to kiss the top of Bella’s head. “There are worse things you could do besides cuss in front of her. You’re obviously doing something right because she seems very comfortable.”

“I guess you’re right.” My attention was drawn over my shoulder where the rattling wheels of Mia’s stretcher came screeching up to the open ambulance door. Although she was pale and sweaty, Mia had never looked more beautiful to me. She gave a smile to the others before she was loaded into the ambulance.

“See you at the hospital, okay?” Abby called.

“Okay,” Mia replied.

“Congrats Big Daddy,” Jake said, before slapping me on the back.

“Thank you.” I smiled before turning to hand Bella to the EMT. I didn’t trust myself to climb inside with her in my arms. I hopped in and then slid across the bench. The EMT had handed Bella to Mia, and she was cradling her in her arms with tears streaming down her cheeks. When she glanced up at me, she smiled. “Thank you.”

“For making you have a baby in the back of a limo?”

She shook her head. “Thank you for giving me everything I hadn’t realized I had ever wanted.”

I leaned over and kissed her. “I feel the same way.”

26

Blinking my eyes, I tried remembering where I was. The antiseptic smell of a hospital assaulted my nose, and for a minute, I thought I was back on the Cardiac Care floor at St. Joe’s. But if I was on a shift, what the hell was I doing in bed? When I shifted slightly, a wave of pure exhaustion rippled through my body along with an ache between my legs so strong it felt like a Buick had driven straight through it.