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“Hey.” He curved his hand around her shoulder. “Okay?”
“Yes.” She breathed the affirmative, lifting her gaze to his. Tears glittered on her lashes, and he chafed his thumb against her skin. “He’s so perfect.”
“Like his mama.” He folded her into him. In the circle of his arm, she sighed, shaky breath puffing over his throat. He pressed his lips to her hair and held on to her, thanking the good Lord all over again for everything she brought to his life.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Happiness
“Boy, we need to talk about your temper.” Tick’s low voice drew Caitlin from slumber, and she blinked at the early morning sunlight peeking between the slatted blinds. “I realize you get that from your mama, but you have to get a handle on it.”
A smile tipped the corners of her lips. Feet propped up, Tick sat in the recliner, his shirt unbuttoned and Lee curled against his bare chest, clad only in a diaper. He held their son secure with one long-fingered hand.
“And I’m telling you . . . let that temper get you out of line with your mama and I will take off my belt.”
“No, you won’t.” She folded her arm under her head, eyeing the two men she loved best in the world.
“Watch me.” Tick turned his head, a grin quirking at his mouth, dimples slashing. Lee had a matching pair bracketing his lips, pursed in contentment. Tick rubbed his index finger over the folds of Lee’s scrunched neck. “Course, if I do this right, I won’t have to.”
“I have no doubt you’ll do it right.” At her voice, Lee stirred, brow wrinkling on a low, grumbling cry. “You do well already.”
“See? There he goes.”
“He’s hungry.” She shifted to sit against the pillow and unbuttoned her pajama top. “Did you make him wait and not wake me?”
“No.” Tick lowered the footrest and rose to settle the baby in her arms. “We went to the nursery for a bath and he threw a fit. He does not like when the world is out of his control, and we both know where that comes from.”
“Right.” She winced at Lee’s sudden hard latch. That would take some getting accustomed to once more. He blinked at her, his eyes a deep chocolate brown. “Because you’re as placid as still water.”
Tick eased onto the bed with them, cupping Lee’s head while he nursed. Dark hair fluffed around his fingers. “You know it’s not too late to call him Eugene.”
She lifted a brow at him. They’d discussed this child’s moniker at length. “We could hyphenate his last name, too.”
“I’m good with Lee.” He grinned at her, his eyes dark and soft.
“I thought so.” She smiled. “I could be good with Eugene if it’s that important to you.”
“Lee suits him.” He stroked a tiny ear. “Save Eugene for when he’s in trouble.”
She leaned into the strength of him, soaking in the sweetness of these first few hours of them being parents of this child together. She refused to let the ache of those hours he hadn’t been with her, what he’d missed so long ago, intrude here.
He tucked her hair behind her ear. “You’re happy.”
“I am.” She eased Lee to her other breast.
“Good.” He stretched, then aligned his thumb with Lee’s foot. “I was worried you were going to come unglued about us being here instead of at home.”
She feathered her fingers across Lee’s leg. He drew them up and gave a long stretch, reminiscent already of his father. “I can do day-to-day. We’ll get back to Houston eventually. If having him here is the hardest thing, we’re golden.”
“We’re in the easy part.” His lips moved against her temple in a smile. “The tough part is about fifteen years from now.”
“Please don’t make me stressed over what I don’t have to do today.” Lee kicked, flailing an arm and releasing her nipple with an outraged cry.
Tick chuckled. “Oh, yeah . . . he pitches a fit when he’s wet, too.”
He rose and lifted the baby, tucking him against his shoulder with one hand. Caitlin suppressed a cringe — he handled him with a casual ease born of experience, yet that same nonchalance frightened her.
Didn’t he realize what value he held in that one hand?
