Liam congratulates us before helping Michelle and Lex stagger out the door.
The room begins to clear out, and Marshall is the last to leave.
“Skyla, Logan,” he calls us by our proper names, and he does it ever so sweetly. “Stay as long as you like. This is your home, after all. Do as you wish.” He bows our way. “My heart is with the three of you.” He leaves and it’s just Logan and me and our sweet, sweet son.
Logan takes off his shirt and I lay the baby on his chest as the three of us create a holy huddle.
“My mother is a real comedian.” I shrug over at him.
“Your mother wants us to have a big family. And we do. Three boys. Jaxson is going to have a blast with Nathan and Barron.”
Tears come fast and hard as I give a little nod. “They’re going to be close, the way you and Gage once were.”
“They will be. But they’ll be better than us. And we’ll watch after them—and by we, I mean the royal we. We won’t let them make the same mistakes we did.”
I pull his head in close to mine. “I love you so much, Logan. I will forever cherish this precious moment.”
His mouth finds mine and we indulge in an unbridled kiss, every temptation riding its zenith as we remember how we got here, how hard we had to fight to be anywhere together.
“All right,” a woman’s voice trills from the foot of the bed, and we look up to find a small celestial crowd.
“Mother,” I gasp, but it’s not her that’s taken my breath away. “Daddy!”
Here he is—tall, strong, his thick hair swept back, that tiny dimple under his eye as adorable in death as it was in life. My father has a kind look and a kind way about him. He is everything Tad Landon is not, and it never ceases to amaze me how my mother could have gone so far in the other direction. And don’t get me started on Demetri.
“Mom? Dad?” Logan stands carefully and wraps the baby in a blanket as they all congregate around us. They envelop us with hugs, with kisses, with their praise and blessings.
My father holds my sweet angel in his strong arms; his loving eyes lay over my beautiful son.
“I’ll watch him grow, Skyla. Just like I’m watching over the boys. I’ll be there for you all as best as I can.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Logan’s mother wiggles her fingers until my father surrenders the baby. Logan’s mother is a tall strawberry blonde with delicate features. His father looks so much like Barron it’s like looking at his twin.
“Heaven personified,” his mother, Judy, whispers over his face. “May God be with you.”
Finally, Jackson Senior gets a chance to hold him. “I’d like to bless him by name. And what would that be?” He looks to Logan and me.
Logan nods. “He has your name. Jackson—with an x.”
His father’s eyes remain locked over his son’s an inordinate amount of time.
“Logan.” He shakes his head as he looks down the squirming bundle of God’s pure light. “Thank you.” He touches his forehead to the baby’s. “My dear, sweet namesake—Jaxson with an x.” A warm laugh bounces through me. “May God hold you and keep you. May He forever guide you in all that you do. May the keys to the kingdom be firm in your hand, and may you share with others so they, too, may partake in its glory. Forevermore be blessed in the name of the Lord our God and his Son, Jesus Christ.”
Dad leans in close to me. “Are you okay?” His eyes suddenly fill with worry. “How are the Factions? Do you have a plan of attack to regain your position?”
A breath hitches in my throat as I look to the grandfather clock in the corner with its ornate detailing that looks as if it were plucked out of the seventeenth century, and I have no doubt it was.
“Logan, tell Nev to make the calls. It’s midnight.” I nod over at him firmly, our eyes magnetized to one another. “It’s time. It happens. This is my decision, and I take full responsibility for whatever the fallout might be.”
The room clots up with silence before Judy and Jackson wish us well and say goodnight. My father pulls me into a firm embrace, pulling back with tears that glitter like stars in his eyes.
“Daddy, what about Sage? Where is she?” I shake my head because I already know the answer.
He bows his head a moment. “She’s in Eversor most of the time. She’s lonely, but she’s too stubborn to admit it. I tried to get her to come tonight. She said she would see you soon enough.”
My heart quickens and so does my adrenaline. My daughter is just as much my enemy as is her father. If she says she’ll see me soon enough, then it’s a certain threat.
