Page 20 of Waiting for Her

“Finally! Do you know how hard it was to keep this one out of the delivery room?” Josh asks, gesturing to Lauren.

“I’m the mama! I should have been there!”

“He’s perfect,” Cole says through a watery chuckle, ignoring what I’m sure was a constant argument about who would be in the delivery room when their baby was born. His hands shake as he fumbles with his phone, presumably to show us the first picture of his son.

I reach over and help him when he lets out a curse. I find the picture in his camera roll and stare at my new nephew. Brandon stands next to me, holding the phone with me. I glance up at him to see him discreetly wipe away a tear.

As much of a mess as the little guy is, Cole’s right. He’s perfect.

He takes the phone back and stares at it with a look of awe as my sisters Maggie and Harper come running in.

“Did we miss it?” Maggie shouts, a little out of breath.

Maggie is two years younger than me, but Harper, the baby, was the exclamation point to the Ryan family. In every way. She’s full of sass and pretty much brings each one of us to our knees. Unlike when Maggie and I were in high school together, Harper’s on her own for chasing away the little punks. I feel like I’m close to losing my mind nearly any time she doesn’t return my text or Snapchats instantly.

I’m pretty sure it would be frowned upon for me to follow her and her friends around. I’d end up on amost overbearing brotherlist.

“Nah. He just got here.”

“A boy! Yes! I knew it! You owe me ten bucks,” Harper says to Maggie, who rolls her eyes.

Everyone oohs and awws over the picture, passing Cole’s phone around; the moms are crying, and the rest of the family is beaming.

“Do you have a name for our grandson?” my dad asks.

“Anderson Jarrett Ryan,” he says with a proud smile.

All the parents in the room gasp, the moms both bursting to louder tears. Brandon and Savannah aww and I do my best to discreetly wipe away the moisture trying to escape my eyes.

Damn. I had no idea becoming an uncle for the first time would make me so emotional.

“We wanted a way to honor you guys. To combine Barrett and Josh, it was either Bosh or Jarrett. And since you guys gave me Mom’s maiden name, we wanted it to carry on the tradition but add a little of our own. Hence, Anderson Jarrett.”

“It’s a great name, Cole, and an honor,” my dad says, clasping him on the shoulder and pulling him in for a hug.

“When can we see him?” Lauren asks, bouncing on her toes and looking about ready to bust through the family waiting room door any minute now.

Cole smiles and holds up a hand.

“Give us a minute,Grandma. The doctors are still getting everyone settled, but I knew you guys couldn’t wait to hear the news.”

“We’re Grandmas!” my mom shouts excitedly, clutching Lauren close before releasing her best friend and hugging me.

“Grammy Tess,” I murmur to her and she beams.

For the next few hours, we take turns meeting and loving on the newest addition to the Ryan family. We try to keep the number of people in the room with the new family limited, spending time in the waiting room in the meantime. I’m pretty sure my dad’s phone is going to die soon from the millions of pictures he’s taken.

“I’m gonna leave you guys to it,” I tell Mia as I bend down to kiss her on the forehead. “He’s beautiful, mama. You did good.”

“I’m so glad you could be here, Grady. You doing okay?”

I watch out of the corner of my eye as my mom perks up hearing Mia’s question.

“I’m good. It had to happen eventually, right? And besides, I’m pretty sure she’ll keep things professional after the scare you gave her.” I wink, but she returns it with a sad smile.

I lean down and kiss my new nephew on the cheek, my palm on the back of his head as my thumb runs over his fuzzy hair.

I say my goodbyes to the rest of the family and don’t make it three steps before my mom’s hand is on my arm, stopping me.

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