at me, watching me, glancing between my face and the baby in my arms, and I have no idea what he’s thinking, but God, it makes my chest ache.
The discomfort starts to spread into my throat, but I swallow it back and focus on my baby niece. “So, what are we naming her?”
“Daisy,” Billie answers, and my breath catches in my lungs.
Our momma’s name.
My heart fills with bittersweet emotion, and I grin at my sister. “That is the most perfect name for our girl.”
Billie smiles, her heart in her eyes. “I thought so too.”
Andrew walks over toward me and stares down at a now-sleeping Daisy. “She’s a beauty, guys,” he says and reaches out to gently touch her soft cheek with his finger. “Welcome to the world, Daisy.”
The tenderness in his voice and the sweetness of his words make me feel oddly sad. Like, it’s painful to see how wonderful this man really is. Like, deep down, I made a mistake the way I handled things in Memphis.
Pretty sure you mean you shouldn’t have given a fuck about the media and just followed your heart.
“I’m so glad I got to meet you, sweetheart,” he whispers down to my niece. “But I’m going to let you and your mommy and daddy rest now. They’ve had quite the day.” He glances up at my sister and a smile brightens his eyes. “I’m pretty sure your mommy is going to be telling you about this day for the rest of your life. Especially when you’re a teenager with a sassy attitude.”
Billie giggles. “That’s so true.”
“Bye, pretty Daisy.” When he presses a gentle kiss to Daisy’s forehead, that discomfort inside my chest only grows, and it turns into a constant ache after he tells Luca and Billie goodbye and meets my eyes one last time. “See ya later, firecracker.”
And then, he leaves.
Thankfully, a nurse comes in a few moments later to distract us all. She takes Billie’s blood pressure and feels around on her belly to make sure everything is doing what it’s supposed to, and eventually, she takes Daisy from my arms for a quick assessment.
But when she finishes her rounds and heads on to the next patient, my sister doesn’t hesitate to let me know exactly what’s on her mind.
“You’re being so stupid, you know.”
“Uh oh,” Luca mutters and busies himself with checking on Daisy, who is now sleeping in the hospital crib.
I tilt my head to the side and meet Billie’s steady gaze. “I’m being stupid? Pretty sure I’m not the one who planned a whole party with the intention of butting into something that’s none of her business.”
“Kind of like how you butted into my business when I was being stupid about my relationship with Luca?”
Touché, sis.
“You need to let it go, Billie. Just let it go.”
“Nope,” she refutes. “I’m not letting it go, because you and I both know he’s your person. It’s so fucking obvious. The way the two of you are absolutely miserable, and yet, when you’re in the same room, you can’t take your eyes off each other.”
“That’s not how it is.”
“Oh, trust me, I know,” she remarks. “I planned a whole party with the intention of bringing you together. Needless to say, I’ve spent several hours simply watching your every move.”
“You realize you sound insane, right?”
“Not as insane as you.”
“Well, I was nothing more than a challenge to him. A challenge that he succeeded in,” I retort, but the words feel all wrong coming off my tongue. Because I know they’re total bullshit. A man doesn’t do all the things Andrew did for me without it meaning something.
My sister also knows this. “You and I both know that’s total crap. God, sometimes, I wish stubborn didn’t run so deep in our family.”
I know Billie is prepared to go on and on about this, but right now, she needs to rest and spend time with her husband and baby and just be cocooned in happiness. Not worry about my complicated love life.
“How about we reconvene this conversation at a later date?” I suggest with a smile. “You need to get some sleep.”
“And you need to open your fucking eyes.”
“God, Billie.” I sigh. “I’m not having this conversation with you right now, but I promise I will be back tomorrow morning. And for the next three weeks’ worth of mornings after that, I’ll be around. So, you’ll have ample time to tell me how stupid I am.”
“Three whole weeks?” she questions, and her voice loses its frustrated