Page 62 of Ruin Me Sweetly

God help me, I really didn’t want to, but I smiled and stood, carrying Lewis over to his mother.

❧ ❧ ❧

Amber burst into the room and went straight for Lewis. Even Bella didn’t get a say. She was desperately trying to hold back tears as she glanced back at her mum, her hands trembling slightly as she reached for him.

“Aww. Mum. He’s so cute. He looks like a little doll,” she said, cradling him in the crook of her arm like a pro, her voice thick and wobbly.

Zach lingered in the doorway for a moment, as if checking it was safe to come inside. I felt like telling him we were all fully clothed, no bits hanging out.

He shuffled in eventually, arms laden with flowers, balloons, and several gift bags, the cellophane crinkling softly with every step. The sharp, sweet scent of lilies drifted in ahead of him, mixing with the antiseptic hospital smell that had settled over the room hours ago.

“Looks like you’ve got competition now,” I murmured, once the door had clicked shut behind him.

He glanced over at Amber, who was cooing softly to the baby, already listing off all the things she intended to do with him. Horseback riding along a beach was a little ambitious. She’d learn about my risk assessment strategy soon enough.

Zach’s face softened, and he thrust the gifts toward me almost too quickly, as though he needed his hands free before he could look at his brother properly.

“Congratulations, boomer,” he said, grinning. “You managed to get something right.”

I was too happy to shred him to pieces for it. Lewis was passed carefully from arm to arm around the room, but it was me who finally placed him into Zach’s. I caught the low murmur of his whispered vow to his brother, too quiet for anyone else to hear.

Before they left, I hugged them both, one after the other, for Bella and for myself. We’d see them at the weekend. Amber had school, and Zach had work, which made it impossible for either of them to stay the night.

Rhea would become Lewis’s godmother. That was always the obvious choice, since she protected him from the very beginning.

Who would want to mess with her?

Lewis would be well protected.

I didn’t leave Bella’s side, and I wouldn’t, not until my paternity leave finally ran out and I returned to work. We’d each taken a full year off, unwilling to miss a single thing. I was already daydreaming about taking him out in his new pram, the two of us against the world for an afternoon.

Bella slept, the soft rise and fall of her chest steady, while outside her room I listened to the faint sounds of the world beyond—muffled footsteps in the corridor, a distant trolley wheeling past, the low murmur of night-shift voices. Rest was vital for her recovery. She’d done all the heavy lifting until now.

Now it was my turn.

❧ ❧ ❧

Lewis lay on my chest, both of us surrounded by the soft slosh of the baby bubble bath, warm water lapping gently against my ribs each time he wriggled. Steam curled faintly off the surface, carrying the sweet, powdery scent of the bath foam, mixed with something milkier and warmer that I’d come to associate purely with him.

This whole baby thing was so easy. Yes, we had cleaners, a nanny, and other staff in and around our home, but I was actively caring for Lewis and Bella myself, and I wasn’t about to let anyone take that from me.

“Ugh. My ovaries,” Bella growled, waving her hands dramatically in the air. “This should not be allowed. No wonder women keep going back for more. We’re deceived by all this.”

“Come and join us,” I said, grinning up at her.

“No. I wouldn’t fit.” She smiled anyway, padding barefoot across the tiled floor toward us, her steps unhurried. “I’m going for a nap. Wake me up when he needs feeding.”

We were irresistible.

We each received a kiss—mine soft against my temple, his against the crown of his damp little head. Lewis waved his fists in the bathwater, and she caught one, pressing her lips gently to his tiny, pruney knuckles.

She sighed, lingering a moment longer than necessary, before reluctantly turning away.

“We’ve got a good one, son. Free milk as well.”

“I heard that,” Bella called, already just beyond the bathroom door.

Yeah, she was supposed to. I still couldn’t resist teasing my wife.