She smiled, her thumb still caressing his skin. “I love you so much, baby.”
His eyes found hers, their gaze holding firm.
“Somuch,” she whispered. “For the first time in my life, I am without words.”
She smiled again, her smile reaching her eyes, softening them. “How the hell did I get this lucky to get someone like you?”
“A question I ask myself often aboutyou.” Xander leaned in, pressing his forehead to hers.
He kissed her there, then lowered to place a kiss on their son’s forehead.
“Your parents and my mom are in the waiting room,” he said quietly. “Nurses said they have to wait until visiting hours before they can see you or Junior… but they refused to leave. Said they’d just wait.”
She giggled. “Of course they did.”
“Your dad keeps trying to doctor his way in, but they have to keep reminding him this isn’t his hospital.”
Rylee snorted a laugh.
“I’m gonna go update them,” he said, pressing another kiss to her forehead. “Then I’ll be back to take the baby so you can get some sleep, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered, eyes dropping to Junior.
Xander nodded and turned to walk out.
He paused when she added, “We did it, Xander.”
He turned to look back at her.
“I can’tbelievehe’s here,” she said softly, stroking the baby’s cheek.
“Yeah,” Xander whispered to himself, his heart so full at the sight of Rylee and their son, alive and well. Here and breathing. “Same, Snoop. Same.”
eighteen
RYLEE
Rylee steppedout of the en suite, then quickly reentered to switch off the lights.
She’d only been in the house for few days and was still learning the little things, like how the light switch was to her right and not her left like in the brownstone.
Two months after giving birth to her third child, Rylee was officially in Greene Gardens, in the home Xander bought for their family.
Though she and Xander arranged for a moving company to relocate most of the things from the brownstone to Greene Gardens, a bulk of it remained in Brooklyn.
Xander insisted they leave it there and purchase new furniture. The plan was to keep the brownstone furnished for whenever they wanted to spend time in Brooklyn.
Rylee was grateful she didn’t have to sell the brownstone. Grateful it hadn’t even been a thought for Xander.
“Of course you don’t have to sell, Snoop,” he’d said, caressing her cheek one night in bed.
The topic came up when she mentioned what she’d been thinking about doing with the brownstone once they moved into the house in Greene Gardens.
“This brownstone is yours, baby,” he added. “The house in Greene Gardens is ours. There’s no need to get rid of anything.”
Rylee smiled with relief, the tension she’d been carrying in her shoulders finally settling.
“This place.” He glanced around them, “This brownstone is where the kids grew up. It wouldn’t be fair to uproot them and get rid of their childhood home. That wouldn’t be right.”
