“I told you it’s up to you,” he insisted.
“And I told you this is one time I’m not making a unilateral decision.”
“I like Lyssa Louise,” he said.
“Then I think we have a name for the doc to put on her birth certificate,” she said.
He reached over and stroked the baby’s hand with his finger, smiling when her fingers curled around his. “She’s beautiful and perfect. Like you.”
“Well, she’s a prima donna, coming this early.”
They heard a knock. “Come in,” Dewi said.
Duncan’s head peeked through. “Is it okay?”
“Yeah. You and Badger and Peyton.”
They came in, crowding around the baby. “She’s gorgeous,” Peyton said. “What’s her name?”
“Lyssa Louise Bleacke-Ethelbert.”
“That’s beautiful,” Duncan said, his eyes tearing up as Badger clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s perfect.”
Many of their friends—adopted family—all stopped by to visit: Nami, Beck, Malyah, Joaquin, Da’von, Brianna. Tamsin stayed back at the house with Maisie, Bebe, and the other kids, with Carl and Mateo staying there on Dewi’s orders.
The evening finally came and it was once again just Dewi and Ken and the baby in their bedroom. “You did it, sweetheart,” he said.
“Wedid it,” she said, smiling. “Easy peasy.”
“So what’s the opposite of ‘easy peasy lemon squeezy’?” Ken asked.
He watched the baby nurse, fascinated that the abstract of becoming a dad had finally become concrete, real. After what felt like years and yet yesterday of knowing Dewi, and then her pregnancy—this was their new life and he couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
She shrugged. “I dunno. Stressed depressed lemon zest?—oooh.”
“What?”
She sighed. “Yeah, Joaquin is right to tease me.”
“Why?”
“Because you can zest a lemon, but you can’t zest a chicken.”
“Well, youcan,” he said, “but the chicken probably won’t enjoy it. Not unless it’s kinky.”
Now, he realized Dewi’s laughter was the second-best sound in the world.
The first was their daughter’s first cry as she added to their family.
CHAPTERFORTY-THREE
DEWI
Peyton stayeduntil the day after Dewi’s birthday. With normal Pack business still going on, and Dewi trying to actually, ya know, take iteasy, it wasn’t until then that Aisling and Hamish finally went over to “the clubhouse” to meet Tamsin and Carl and Mateo and everyone else that they hadn’t met yet. Badger, Ken, Duncan, and the others were either over at Tamsin’s, or running errands.
Dewi was alone at the house with the baby. Dewi had just finished nursing Lyssa and was sitting behind her desk, because the baby had fallen asleep and Dewi took that opportunity to read a few emails before she headed back upstairs to take herself a nap.
Honestly? She was relishing the quiet. She didn’t realize how much she’d needed it until she had it once again. Time alone helped her recenter herself, recharge.
