Page 34 of Accidental Doctor Daddy

The world shrank to the soft hum of machines and the two impossibly tiny beings in front of me.

My daughters.

My breath caught. My heart stuttered. They were perfect.

The incubators cast a warm, gentle glow around their tiny bodies. Their little fists curled at their sides, and tufts of dark curls peeked out from beneath their hats. Their faces werescrunched in delicate frowns, like they were already displeased with this big, bright world.

My throat closed around a sob. I reached instinctively, as if the distance between us was unbearable.

“They’re beautiful,” the nurse whispered. “Would you like to hold one?”

I could only nod.

The moment my daughter was placed against my chest, the world reset. The chaos, the fear, the ache for Dom—all of it evaporated.

Her tiny body melted into me. Fragile but fierce. I felt her breathing sync with mine, like her soul already knew me.

“Oh God,” I choked out, tears falling freely. “Hi, baby. Hi.”

She let out a tiny mewl, curling closer.

“I—I was thinking of naming them now.”

The nurse smiled warmly. "That’s a wonderful idea."

I kissed the soft fuzz atop her head. “Marissa Claire.”

Tears slipped down my cheeks as I looked at my other daughter, still resting in the incubator. “And that’s Summer Paloma.”

The names settled over me like a promise.

Marissa. Summer. My girls. My family.

They were my lifeline, my second chance. I would give them everything I’d never had.

I pressed my lips to Marissa’s head again, letting her warmth seep into my bones. “You’ll never go hungry. You’ll never feel unloved. I swear.”

The storm inside me softened, replaced by sunshine. A quiet, pure joy.

For the first time since finding out I was pregnant, I felt certain.

The road ahead would be tough, but I could handle it.

I was tougher than the road.

Chapter 12

Dom

The hospital corridors felt quieter after I left Ella’s room, but inside my head, there was nothing but noise.

Flashbacks to the island mixed with Ella on my operating table. Her moans of pleasure blended into the moans of pain she made before anesthesiology arrived.

The trust in her eyes as I thrust into her melded with the look on her face when she realized I was with her in the ED.

She had been on the verge of death, but the moment she knew I was with her, she had calmed down.

The ultimate trust.

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