“See?” Beth said. “The same thing will eventually happen with your children, Valerie. I can’t imagine them not liking Ghost.”
Valerie nodded. She could hope, right?
It must be around midnight, Zachary thought, as he wiped Jessica’s face with a cool cloth. Despite the air conditioning, he felt as if he was in a sauna. As if he’d been in a firefight for hours.
Except…in this battle, his Jessica had been doing all the work. Labor didn’t come close to describing the trauma of birthing a baby.
At the foot of the bed, Fay, the midwife, was humming along with the soft music of Clannad.
Although their friends were outside, he couldn’t hear them—he’d had excellent soundproofing installed before moving in—and he’d been able to reassure Jessica they couldn’t hear her when the pain grew too much for her.
Sophia would be in bed by now. She was going to be so excited to have a baby brother or sister. Every day, she’d been patting Jessica’s stomach and asking if her baby was ready to come out and play.
Jessica’s hand clamped down on his as she went through another contraction.
He waited for what seemed like an eternity before she relaxed. She was exhausted, dammit.
He kept his voice low, trying for encouraging rather than strained. “Almost there, kitten.”
Her green eyes flashed at him, and he tensed, but then she laughed. “I know. I’m so ready to push.”
“Are you now?” It seemed the swearing portion of labor was over. Sophia’s birth had given him occasional nightmares about the hellish period called transition. He’d undoubtedly have new ones after tonight.
“Agreed. You’ve made your ten centimeters.” At the foot of the bed, Fay smiled. “Push now, Jessica.”
Jessica’s hand tightened around his in an unbreakable grip. Her head lifted, and her neck muscles stood out with the strain as she groaned and bore down.
“Perfect. This child is going to have dark hair.” Fay looked up. “Want to catch your baby, Zachary?”
Torn, he turned to Jessica. “I can stay here, or I can play catcher. Which do you want?”
Her lips tipped up. “I’d like to tell our son or daughter you were there from the first moment. Go.”
Heart overflowing, he kissed her and went to help their child into the world.
A few minutes later, he held a baby girl, white-patched and pink, and he could feel her already wrapping herself around his heart. How had he forgotten how tiny a newborn was? How much of a miracle?
When Fay nodded, he laid the baby on Jessica’s now flaccid belly, letting the bond between them begin.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he kept one hand on the newborn, needing to feel the reassurance of her chest moving.
Still pale but content, Jessica turned her head. “We did good, huh?”
“We did.” He touched his forehead against hers. “Thank you for our daughter. She’s perfect.”
“Zachary.” Interesting. She rarely used his given name.
He could feel the surge of determination from her and tilted his head in inquiry. “Tell me.”
“Did you want… Are you disappointed this baby is a girl?”
She would worry, wouldn’t she? “Jessica, I’m pleased,” he murmured. “I’d hoped for another girl. How about you?”
The crease between her eyebrows disappeared and she relaxed, then kissed him. “Me, too. Now we have two sons and two daughters. We’re balanced.”
It’d taken a while for his grown sons to accept Jessica, but now they adored her and treated her somewhere between a mother and a beloved big sister.
Being Jessica, she simply thought of them as hers.
“I love you, kitten. More than I can say.”
On Z’s patio, Ghost waited on a carved wooden bench with Valerie beside him. Word had gone around the Shadowlands community that Jessica was in labor. Couple by couple, they’d gathered to lend silent support.
“How much longer?” Cullen muttered. “This can’t be good for a woman.”
Anne chuckled and smiled at Ben before blowing a raspberry on her son’s bare belly. “Having a baby too quickly isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Trust me.”
Ghost shook his head. After Wyatt’s birth, Ben had told him about how fast the labor had gone. How terrified he’d been.
“Yeah, but Z said she started this morning, for fuck’s sake.” Cullen scowled. Which was why Valerie, as well as the other Shadowkittens, had been in and out of Z’s house all day.
The Doms had been here off and on, too, although they’d stayed outside…and worried. The thought of petite Jessica being in pain was unsettling, especially for those who’d known her the longest.