Page 32 of My Boyfriend's Protective Daddy

“Daughter?”

“You and Cassie have a baby girl,” she replies with a warm expression. “But I can only allow two in at a time.”

“Oh my God,” I gasp. “I have a daughter.”

Her words hit me like a freight train and knock the breath from my lungs. My knees are weak and my legs suddenly start shaking so hard, I almost fall over. I hold myself upright, though just barely. Still, I double over and put my hands on my knees, taking long, deep breaths as I try to gather myself. Zane is beside me with a hand on my shoulder.

“You okay, old man?” he asks.

I nod as I stand upright again. “Yeah. I’m good. It’s just… it’s a lot.”

Alyssa squeals and throws her arms around me. “Congratulations!”

I pull her into a tight but shaky embrace, still trying to process it all. I’m a dad. I mean, I was before, but I wasn’t able to be a real dad to Zane. Now, I get the chance to do everything I didn’t get to do with him. I actually get to be a father.

“You’re a girl dad, old man,” Zane says with a chuckle. “You up for this?”

“Honestly? No.”

Zane steps forward and pulls me into a tight but manly hug. “You’re going to be great. For what it’s worth, we may have had a delayed and rocky start to our relationship, but you’ve been a great dad to me once we got past it all. I’m proud to call you my dad, and I know you’re going to be a great father to this little girl.”

I laugh, shaking my head and pulling him into a hug. “I love you, kid. With all my heart.”

“I love you too, old man. Now, get in there and meet your daughter before she’s old enough to collect social security,” he says. “And be quick about it. I want to meet my little sister.”

With a fond look at Zane and Alyssa, I follow the nurse down the hall and into Cassie’s room. I hesitate at the doorway, my heart pounding so hard and so loud, that I’m sure the people in the cardiac unit can hear it. The nurse pats me on the back reassuringly.

“It’s okay, go on in,” she says. “But five minutes. Mom needs her rest.”

Trembling so hard I nearly fall over several times, I finally make it to Cassie’s bedside. She looks up at me, her eyes red and puffy, tears still streaming down her face. In her arms, she’s holding our baby. Our little girl. She’s so small and delicate. So fragile. I’m afraid of touching her, lest I break her, so I stand with my hands on the hospital bed railing.

“Sorry I threw you out,” she says, her tone drained.

“It’s okay. I was being obnoxious. I probably would have thrown me out too.”

“Yeah. You were being pretty obnoxious,” she says and laughs weakly.

“She’s… she’s beautiful,” I whisper.

Cassie pushes the blanket aside to let me see our baby girl’s face fully. It’s pink and wrinkly, but absolutely gorgeous. The tiny human opens her eyes, and I draw in a sharp breath when I see those little green eyes sparkling at me.

“She’s got your eyes,” I say.

“And she’s got your temperament,” Cassie says. “She hasn’t cried once. This little girl is going to be stubborn as hell.”

“Sounds like she’s got the best of both of us then.”

“We’ll see how much you enjoy her temperament when she gets to be a teenager,” she replies with a laugh.

“Dear God.”

“Exactly.”

My eyes travel from our baby girl to Cassie, the love of my life. She looks tired. Worn out. It was hard labor, but she looks happy. I brush a thick lock of her rich, red hair away from her forehead and plant a soft kiss on it. She looks up at me, and although she looks like she wants to close her eyes and sleep for the next three days, she offers me a lovingly warm smile.

“Do I look terrible as terrible as I feel?” she asks.

I shake my head. “You’ve never looked more beautiful than you do right now.”

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