“What the fuck?!” I spew out angrily.
“I’m at the hospital!”
All my annoyance evaporates, and I jump out of bed and flip on the light. Seb groans and covers his eyes with his forearm. “I’ll be right there!”
“Okay, hurry! Her contraction are coming fast and furious,” Trey says, and he sounds like a nervous wreck.
“Well, get off the phone and go be with her,” I reply and hang up on him.
I run around his bedroom, hunting down my clothes. He watches me curiously. “Baby time?”
I nod. “Oh my God! I can’t believe it! I’m going to be an aunt!”
He laughs at my excitement as I find my underwear and pull it on, almost toppling over, because although my mind is wide awake, my body feels like it’s still asleep. He sits up, the sheets dropping to reveal his perfect naked torso. My God, he’s delicious. I grab the maxi dress I wore to his house, but before I tug it over my head I reach down and grab the T-shirt he had on yesterday and toss it at him. He looks at me curiously and I nervously ask, “Will you come with me? Even though it probably means spending time with my parents?”
He grins. “Of course, baby. I would follow you into hell.”
We get to the hospital twenty minutes later and run up to Labor and Delivery. Trey is in the waiting room talking to my mom. I can tell by the way his whole face is glowing brighter than a spotlight that he’s a dad.
He sees us over her shoulder and his grin gets bigger, prouder. “Six pounds, eleven ounces.”
“Yay!” I walk over to him and high-five him before hugging him. “How’s Sasha?”
“Amazing,” he confesses. “Well, I mean she was amazing. I can’t believe what you women go through. Holy shit. But she’s fine. She’s resting. If you want to see her, baby Beckford will be in the nursery in a few minutes.”
I hug him again. Sebastian reaches out and shakes Trey’s hand. “Congratulations. Do we have a name?”
Trey pauses and glances at me. “Daisy.”
I burst out laughing and hug him again. “It’s perfect!”
“Of course you think so.” My mom smiles. “But it is lovely. I can’t wait to meet her.”
My brother excuses himself to go back to Sasha, and as we walk with my mom to the nursery, I lace my fingers with Seb. My mom looks over and gives him a small smile. “Nice to see you again. Sebastian, isn’t it? I remember you from the ceremony last year.”
Sebastian nods and gives her a friendly smile. “Congrats on being a grandmother, Mrs. Beckford.”
“Thank you.” She pauses before adding, “You must be the reason my daughter is so happy.”
“He is,” I respond before he can, and he squeezes my hand. “Do I need to ask why Dad isn’t here with you?”
“He told me he was going on a fishing weekend with the boys,” my mother explains and sighs. “Which means he’s in Cabo with a woman.”
Seb looks at me tentatively. I lean down and kiss my mom’s cheek but don’t say anything because there is nothing to say. She’s choosing this life, and I will support her because the alternative, I’ve learned, is punishing her, and even if I don’t agree with her choices, she doesn’t deserve to be punished.
When we reach the nursery, Sebastian is the first to notice her. She’s in the front row at the end wrapped in all pink. Her face is red but she’s not crying. She’s sleeping peacefully.
“She looks exactly like Trey did,” my mom whispers, and she wipes a tear. I hug her before letting go and walking closer to the glass. Sebastian comes up behind me as I stare at my sleeping niece and he circles my waist.
“Your family makes cute babies,” he whispers against the shell of my ear. “That’s good to know.”
My stomach and my heart seem to switch places at that—in a good way. And I know I need to tell him what I’ve been feeling for a while now. I’ve been feeling it since probably almost the minute we met, but I let myself ignore it. Since we officially put a label on this after his playoff loss six weeks ago, there’s been no denying the feeling.
So after taking a hundred pictures of Daisy through the glass and visiting Sasha and Trey in her room one more time, I decide as we walk back to the car in the parking lot I need to tell him how I feel. Before I can he asks, “So what’s with the name Daisy? You guys all acted like there was something to it? Is it a family name?”
I shake my head as we approach the Aston Martin and reach for his hand again. “Not really. But when I was a kid I wanted to change my name to Daisy. And I bullied Trey into calling me that for about a week, until my dad came home from a road trip and told me I was being stupid. I asked him if I could use it as a new middle name instead, and he said no, even though my middle name is worse than my first.”
“Ah, the mysterious middle name.” Sebastian laughs. “I keep forgetting to steal your driver’s license.”
