Jameson (In the Company of Snipers #22) - Irish Winters Page 0,6
grandmother again. The grandparents who’d raised Alex, Patrick Bradley and Patricia Rose Southerland Stewart, Paddy and Pat, were here as well, both beaming down on him, Kelsey, and Bradley with love and pride. Probably tearing up, too.
The thought struck Alex hard. Because that meant Sara, his first wife, had to be here as well, and Abby, his first darling daughter, had come with her mom to meet her brother. The thought unnerved him, nearly unmanned him. But Kelsey’s arms were stretched open wide, waiting. Smiling. With his nose still flat against the head of the tiny man in his arms, Alex leaned into the woman he adored with his whole heart, and whispered, “Here’s your son, Mama.”
Of course, tears were streaming down her cheeks by then. Kelsey was a crier, and today, Alex was, too.
“Ohhhh,” she mewed, as she too, flattened her nose and lips to their son’s damp head, kissing Bradley while she breathed him in the same way Alex had. “I love you, Bradley Patrick, and I love your father so, so much. I can’t wait for you to meet your older sister. Lexie is so excited to meet you.”
“She was wrong. She thought we were having a baby sister.” Lexie had, in fact, insisted lately that all new babies were girls.
“She won’t care once she holds him. You’ll see. He’s got your hair color and your blue eyes. He’s going to look just like you.”
“All babies have blue eyes,” he reminded his sweetheart. “And no kid wants to be as ugly as me.”
She shook her head. “No, Alex. Trust me. This boy will grow up to be strong and noble, like you. He’s your son. He’s… he’s beautiful.” She kissed Bradley again and again, her lashes spiked with tears, as she sobbed into his perfectly round head. A head that was probably as hard as his dad’s.
Alex never argued, just closed his eyes at Kelsey’s unrelenting love for him, and let her believe whatever she wanted. That was the one rule of marriage he’d finally learned: Never argue with the woman you love and always trust her intuition. Why not? He’d trusted his gut, why shouldn’t she trust hers? Those two inexplicable gifts might just come from the same place.
He pulled up a chair, content to sit with his wife and son for as long as he could. This was the closest he’d ever get to heaven. Why not bask in the glory?
His trusted senior agent, Mark Houston, would run The TEAM for the next two weeks, maybe longer if Alex decided to extend his family leave. Mark was capable. He and his wife Libby were two good friends. They’d understand.
“Would you like to try to nurse him before we invite the horde in?” McKenna asked, from the other side of Kelsey’s bed.
“They’re still out there?”
“Yes,” Alex confirmed. “They’ve been here all night.”
Kelsey smiled through her tears. “Guess they’ve waited long enough then, huh? Sure, let’s see if this little guy’s hungry after scaring his daddy to death.”
“I wasn’t scared,” Alex declared, but then added, “much.”
He smiled at how easily Kelsey bared her breast and handled this little boy like she knew what she was doing. There was a day not too long ago that she’d been timid and shy, afraid of everything, and so damned modest. Not anymore.
Hungrily, the little guy’s prehensile lips searched, then quickly, he latched onto his mama’s dusky nipple. Alex’s heart swelled with pride. He huffed out a soul cleansing breath, part relief and part job well done. His son knew just what to do with that nipple. Damned straight.
McKenna’s cell phone chirped. Lifting it from the pocket of her scrubs, she glanced at the screen and grinned. “It’s Beau again. He wants to know if they can come in yet?”
Kelsey drew the blanket up, covering herself and Bradley. “Sure. Let everyone in. Bradley might as well get used to his rowdy uncles and aunts.”
“Are you sure?” Alex had to ask. That was his brand-new baby son slurping like a little pig at his wife’s breast underneath that blanket. He wasn’t even an hour old yet. The whole damned world could wait a minute.
But right on cue, sweet Kelsey exclaimed, “Sure. I want to see Beau blush again.”
McKenna chuckled. “Oh, trust me, breastfeeding doesn’t embarrass Beau. But your unmarried agents might feel uncomfortable. Let’s find out.”
Walking briskly to the door, she flung it open, and in they came. Beau led the pack, then Mark Houston and Libby. Gabe Cartwright and Shelby. Maverick