“The bag,” Olivia tells Malakai calmly, “In the trunk.”
Malakai rushes off and is back in the next minute, helping me get the blanket on the baby. Blue flashing lights illuminate the scene but I’m staring down at the infant crying in my arms before I lift them to see Willow staring at us too, the pain forgotten, her eyes glazed. I hand our daughter over, helping to lay her on Willow’s chest as the paramedics arrive and take over.
I can’t stop staring at the little girl in my arms.
Hope Olivia Levine. My tiny, beautiful daughter.
She has Willow’s hair, something I hadn’t noticed after she was born but the shock of red hair can hardly be missed now, and she is perfect. So small and delicate. I didn’t think it was possible to love something so quickly, so fiercely. It’s a new kind of love.
She’s sleeping soundly after having a feed with Willow who also sleeps beside me in the bed. She’s healthy and the birth went smoothly, considering the circumstances but she’s exhausted. It’s not quite morning yet, but the horizon is lightening with the rising sun, setting the blue sky ablaze in pinks and oranges.
Standing slowly, I walk with my daughter in my arms to the window which stirs her awake.
“Hi, Little Red,” I whisper down to my daughter, gently smoothing my finger down her soft cheek. “I’m your daddy.”
Her lips part in a big yawn and her eyes slowly blink but she doesn’t make a sound, just lays there contentedly staring at me as I stare back.
My heart is so full it feels as if it may burst.
I have everything I never even realized I wanted.
A beautiful daughter.
A perfect wife.
My life is theirs, every part of me belongs to these two.
I will always be theirs.
Epilogue
Sixteen years later…
“I’m not happy about this,” Sebastian grumbles, crossing his arms like a petulant child and I can’t help but laugh at him.
“This isn’t her first school dance,” I roll my eyes at him, waiting for Hope to come out of her room.
“She’s going with a boy.” He huffs.
“They’re friends, Bast,” I chuckle, “Not to mention it’s Wyatt.”
“Just because it’s my godson doesn’t meanI have to like it.”
Wyatt is Olivia and Malakai’s son, and Hope’s best friend. They’ve grown up together, do everything together but to Bast, this is crossing the line. I’m not even sure I’d call it a date but clearly to Hope’s father it is. They’ve always been inseparable.
I hear Hope’s door open and the small heels on her feet clip against the wooden flooring.
“Hey,” I breathe, feeling my eyes heat as I take her in. She’s so beautiful and only gets prettier the more she grows. She has my hair, a shocking red that curls wildly around her face and my freckles, but she has her father’s green eyes. She’s grown so quickly; the last sixteen years feel as if they have flown by and seeing her in her floor-length blue dress makes me miss those years when she needed me the most.
But she’s growing into a beautiful young lady. She’s fierce but polite, smart, driven… She is everything and so much more.
“Hey mom,” she grins, “Dad still having a hard time?”
“Something like that,” I cross the space between us and push back the hair from her shoulder, “You look beautiful.”
“Thanks, mom,” She smiles, “Is Wyatt here yet?”
Sebastian grumbles something incoherent behind us.
