Page 75 of Solid Ground

“I’m so sorry,” the nurse says.

Declan stands and presses a kiss to my temple. “It’s okay. Zoe just gets … territorial.”

I slap his chest. “Don’t speak for me.”

“I’m sorry, my love. I’m trying my best to take care of you.”

I whimper as the pain begins to build again. “Am I really your love?”

He presses his forehead to mine. “Always. I love you, Zoe. Please can you park the jealousy until after you’ve got our baby in your arms?”

“I want my baby.”

“I know. I can’t wait to meet them too.”

This baby’s not co-operated once during scans. It’s not that we didn’t want to know the gender—we never got a chanceto find out.

Something tells me Declan’s right when he says he thinks we’re having a girl. This baby’s stubborn like me.

For the next few hours, he doesn’t put a foot wrong. He feeds me ice chips and rubs my back when I need it. And he’s completely focused on me.

A little after midnight and after an hour of pushing, our daughter makes her appearance. It’s love at first sight. She’s got a shock of dark hair and dark eyes like her father. In fact, there’s no denying she’s Declan’s daughter as she has his chin too. Declan’s in tears as he cuts the cord.

I’ve never been so overwhelmed with emotion and exhaustion. I want to hold and nurse her all night, but I also want to collapse and sleep for the next week.

We already made arrangements for Declan to stay in hospital with me—I don’t know if I could cope if he had to go home. I just want him and our daughter close.

“What are we going to call her?” I ask.

He chuckles. “We should have talked about this.”

“We were too busy with other things.”

I close my eyes as Declan places a soft kiss on my cheek. “I think you should name her. You did all the work.”

Stroking my daughter’s fuzzy little head, I sigh. “How about Daisy Grace? I always liked Daisy as a name, and Grace is my mother’s middle name.”

“Daisy Grace. My girl.” Declan’s voice shakes a little as he wraps his arms around us. My heart’s never been so full of love. For our daughter. For him.

It scares the hell out of me.

My biggest fear is that we’ll just be a flash in the pan for him. I think back to where this all started—whenI confidently told him I didn’t need him. That might have felt true then, but everything’s changed. What if he ditches us for the life he had before?

“I’ll buy a house,” he says.

Panic rises in me. “What? Where?”

He tilts his head. “Wherever you are. Where else?”

Tears well in my eyes as I take in his announcement. We’ve grown so close—been intimate while I’ve been pregnant. Is our daughter about to live between two homes? Aren’t we enough to keep him near?

“Maybe four bedrooms. Nothing too big. Enough room for us and our little one with room to grow in case we decide to have more children. And a garden for them to play in. That’s important. We don’t need that big house.”

I let out a sob in relief, and he fixes his gaze on me. “Zoe? Are you okay? Are you in pain?”

Shaking my head, I swipe away the tears from my cheeks. “I thought … I thought you were moving out.”

“Without you?”

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