Page 84 of Bailey

Tex moved to the corner wall, where he picked up a diaper bag. “I’m gonna head out, because I’m supposed to meet her in just a couple of minutes, and we’re already a little bit late.”

“All right, Daddy.” Bryce slid his plate onto the coffee table and got to his feet. “Thanks so much for coming to help this morning.” He wrapped up his father and son in a hug, which caused Matty to giggle in the sweetest way.

“Anytime.” Tex leaned down and gave Codi a hug too. Then he grinned and nodded at Bailey before he walked out with Matthew still in his arms.

Bryce finished eating, as did Codi, and he brought their plates back into the kitchen. “I have to head back out,” he said. “I’ve got an auction next weekend, and I’ve got a couple of horses who are super close that I want to keep working with.”

“It’s fine,” Bailey said. “Codi said she’s going to shower and take a nap.”

“She did?” Bryce smiled at her, and when he did such a thing, everything in the world felt okay. “Thanks, Bay,” he said. “That would be something, because no one else has gotten her to lie down and take a nap.”

Bailey didn’t know what to say, and Bryce moved back over to Codi and helped her off the couch anyway. She groaned, both of her hands in his. Bailey could only watch the tender way he cared for her, and how she looked up at him with total trust.

“When’s the last time you took pain meds?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I wrote it in the notebook.”

“I’ll check it and bring you some. Let’s get you in the shower.” They went down the hall together, leaving their tiny, five-day-old baby sleeping on the couch.

Bailey washed her hands, noting the row of prescription medication sitting in the window. With her heart pounding entirely too hard, she went and picked up Samuel. Everything in her life righted in that moment. She sighed as she gazed down at the tiny infant. “Aren’t you the sweetest thing ever?”

The little boy gurgled and squirmed as he adjusted himself in his swaddle. Bailey held him close and leaned over and pressed a kiss against his hairline. He had wispy blond hair like Codi and the sweetest face she’d ever seen on a baby, despite the fact that he hadn’t opened his eyes. She held him close as everything that had once been broken, cracked, and misaligned in her life healed.

She knew with this baby in her arms that she wanted to be a mother and have little boys and little girls that she kept, loved, and nurtured. Everything she’d confessed to Reeves about not being sure about wanting kids, or that she had always made a path for escape, was wrong.

Codi had said Sammy needed to be fed, and Bailey could certainly mix up formula in a bottle. She’d done it when Ronnie had been born, as well as Uncle Eli’s and Uncle Andrew’s kids. No, she hadn’t done it for quite a while, but she took the tiny infant into the kitchen.

There, she checked the notebook next to the stickers and saw that Codi had written out Matthew’s and Sammy’s feeding schedules, as well as when she took her pills.

It sure seemed like she’d been breastfeeding the baby, and Bailey decided to wait until Bryce came back. Sammy had fallen right back asleep anyway. Bailey returned to the living room and sank into the recliner there. She then toed herself back and forth, pure peace filling her from top to bottom.

Bryce eventually came back, and Bailey opened her eyes though she just wanted the world to stay out for a while. “Codi’s just now lying down, and I’m gonna head back out, okay?”

“Okay,” Bailey whispered. “We’re fine here.”

“You don’t have to hold him the whole time.” Bryce grinned at her.

“You try to take this baby away from me, Bryce Young. Just try it.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “I know better than that, Bay.”

“Codi said he needed to be fed, but it also seems like she’s breastfeeding.”

“Yeah.” Bryce seemed tired as he went into the kitchen. “She’s got some breast milk here in the fridge, and she told me he can have three ounces while she’s napping. I’ll get it ready for you.”

“I can do it,” Bailey said.

But Bryce set about getting the bottle ready. A minute later, he brought it over to her and set it on the side table beside the chair. “She’ll want to feed him when she gets up, and she’ll pump a little bit too, for next time.”

Bailey nodded. “What else do you guys really need, Bryce? You both look really tired.”

He gave another chuckle that didn’t sound nearly as happy, and ran his hands through his hair. “Yeah, it’s tiring. Newborns are up a lot, and Codi can’t do nearly as much as she did when she had Matthew.”

“I’m sorry,” Bailey said. “It seemed like Kassie had arranged a lot of help.”

“Yeah, she did,” Bryce said. “We have tons of food. It’s just a matter of time and getting him to figure out when he needs to sleep and getting Codi a little stronger.” He reached down and stroked one finger along his son’s head.

“If there’s anything else I can do,” Bailey said. “I’ll be here.”