Adele cleared his throat. “Yeah, but…”
Gage nodded, and he couldn’t get another word out because Adele snatched him up into his arms and hugged him so hard Gage’s vision went foggy. He swallowed the lump in his throat. He wasn’t going to fall apart. Not here. Not like this.
He’d wait and cry it out in Fallon’s arms—the stress of not knowing, the chaos of finding out the truth, and the almost painful joy that came with seeing his own head of hair on his baby.
His daughter.
It didn’t matter.
But this was wanted.
“Are you okay?” Adele whispered.
Gage nodded and composed himself before he spoke again. “I already knew. We found out a couple weeks ago. Fallon didn’twant to wait, but we wanted to hold off on telling everyone first.” He stared down at the phone in his dad’s hand. His daughter was staring back up at him. “She looks like me.”
Adele made a soft noise. “Yeah. She does.”
Closing his eyes, Gage leaned into him again, then took a breath and looked over his dad’s shoulder at Frankie. “Fallon needs a day or so to recover, but if you want to come by tomorrow, you can meet Zoa.”
Frankie hesitated, then said, “Can I stay until he’s awake? I just…I want to see him before I go. I just want to make sure he’s okay.”
Gage couldn’t possibly say no to that. “Yeah. Yes. You and Fen can stay.”
Fenton, who hadn’t said much, collapsed on the chair and offered Gage a weak smile. “Thanks. We can’t wait to meet Zoa, of course, but Fallon’s my brother, and…”
“No. I know.” Gage hugged his dad one last time, then walked over and hugged Kash, who was sitting down in his wheelchair.
“I love you, kid,” Kash whispered fiercely. “You’re doing amazing.”
Gage rested his cheek on Kash’s shoulder for a beat, then straightened up. “I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
Adele caught his arm. “Send me photos, please?”
“Trust me, you’ll get sick of them before the night is over.”
Adele met his gaze. “Trust me,” he tossed back, “there’s not a chance in hell that’s going to happen.”
For a brief moment, Gage wanted to put his arms around his dad and not let go, but he couldn’t. Because he was the dad now. His daughter was waiting for him, and so was his partner. He walked back through the double doors into the recovery ward and made his way to the room where they’d taken Fallon.
The lights were dim, but he could see Fallon was awake and peering over the bed at their sleeping child in the cot. When Gage stepped in, Fallon looked over at him, groggy but aware.
“Are you in pain?”
“A lot,” Fallon said. “I don’t care. I took her hat off. She has your hair.”
Gage sniffed through a laugh. “Yeah, she does.”
“I don’t know if she looks like me. She’s all squish-faced.”
Gage laughed again and walked over, glancing down at his daughter before tipping Fallon’s head up for a kiss. He tasted sterile, like oxygen and saline from the IV. “I love you so much.”
Fallon leaned against him, groaning softly in pain. “Did you get to hold her? Right when she was born?”
“First thing. I carried her to the cot before they assessed her. She’s perfect, Fall. She’s ours.” He pressed a kiss to the top of Fallon’s head. “Your brothers want to see you. They don’t want to leave until they can make sure you’re alright.”
Fallon nodded against him. “In a few minutes. I want time with you and her before everyone comes in.”
Gage reached down and picked Zoa up, cradling her tiny body in his arms. He shifted onto the bed next to Fallon, who managed to give him a bit of room, and then he kicked his feet up onto the blankets and held her between them.
