“Here he is,” Costas said as he moved up beside Maxwell and held out the baby. I took a now quiet bundle from the older warlock.
“What did you do?” I asked. “He’s quiet now.”
Costas grinned. “Nothing. He’s just had time to calm himself now. “He’s quite healthy. Seven pounds, two ounces, so he’s a very good size. He’s not quite twenty-two inches, but very close.”
I looked down at the baby, who was now staring up at me with his bright blue eyes. “Little man, you really do look like me. You’re going to be taller than I am though, and that’s okay. But I have to wonder if you’re going to be into everything becauseyou decided you needed to put yourself into a pike position right before being born.”
That had Maxwell and Costas both chuckling. “That very much describes how he was,” Maxwell said.
I grinned at our son. He definitely had my eyes and hair and lips. “No more causing chaos,” I told him. “At least not for a while. Give it a decade or two.”
“Just wait until he’s walking,” Constantine said.
I looked at the older warlock and nodded. “Yeah, I can only imagine. I don’t know that I caused a lot of chaos, but I’ve heard stories of all sorts of things that walking toddlers get into.”
“Multiply that by three, and Miles said each day that it was a good thing that I was a warlock and could stop things before they became too extreme.”
I shook my head. “I know fox shifters often have multiples, but I can’t imagine having three at once.” I turned to Maxwell with wide eyes. “I don’t know if I could handle that.”
“We will have to worry about that if it happens. For now, we’ve had one.”
I smiled at my mate. “True.” I smiled back down at the baby and found that he’d closed his eyes.
“I’ll file the paperwork with the council,” Costas said. “Let me know what his name is when you decide.”
That was the thing. I had names I absolutely loved, but they didn’t feel right. Our son didn’t look like a Garner. Or a Wilcox. They just felt…too formal. Yes, he was a warlock, but he was also a little baby, and it wasn’t the 1700s. “We have a few names, but I’m still torn between some.”
“That’s all right. The council isn’t going to be upset if you wait a week or a month to come up with a name that seems as if it’s best for your little guy,” Costas said.
That was a relief. I had names. I just didn’t know what I wanted to name him. I’d just met him. I looked up at Maxwell.“Why are there suddenly so many things that we absolutely have to do?”
“Because we’re now parents.”
“True.” I smiled down at our son once more.
“I’ll be downstairs for a little while if you should need anything, but Maxwell is more than capable of taking care of anything that I could,” Costas said.
“Thank you, Costas,” I told him. “I’m sorry our little contortionist here decided he needed to change positions a few days ago.”
“And I’m sorry I hadn’t picked up on it. I should have been checking Camden more closely.”
“We got the baby delivered, and that’s all that really matters.” Constantine nodded before he walked toward the bedroom door.
“Was it bad?” I asked. “I wasn’t in any danger, was I?” I couldn’t feel anything. I was still completely numb from about mid-stomach down. Obviously, I couldn’t see.
“It wasn’t that bad. Our little guy there was sideways, which actually helped. He was backwards but then rolled to the side. It just made things a bit more difficult when it came to pulling him out, that’s all.”
I looked down and shook my head. “We should just call you Merlin and be done with it. You’re a warlock and not a wizard, but you are troublesome.” I smiled up at my mate. “What?”
“That wasn’t on your list of names.”
I shook my head. “No. And I wasn’t serious about it either unless you liked the name.” I sighed. “It fits better than Burton, or Garner, or Wilcox. But Merlin King is cute. We can name him after you. Merlin Maxwell King. I would hate for him to be picked on though. Who names a warlock baby Merlin?”
Maxwell sat down. “We do,” he said. “That name has had the best response from you out of all of them so far. Your aura turned sort of yellow. That’s usually a sign of happiness. If youwant our son to be called Merlin, we’ll name him Merlin. But we need to pick a different middle name.”
I thought about it for a moment. “All right. Merlin Luke. We’ll name him somewhat after Lukyan. Do you think that’s all right?”
Maxwell nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think that’s perfectly fine. We’ll name him Merlin Luke King.”
