Page 221 of Creep

I leaned down and kissed her deeply, savoring the very taste of her and vowing to myself that everything was going to be okay. It had to be. I would make a deal with the devil if that was what it took.

* * *

Eight long,grueling hours later, I heard my baby cry for the first time.

My heart stuttered wildly in my chest from the sound, and I could feel a small ache forming there—a good kind of ache.

Lia let out a small, tired cry. “Mael, go check on our baby,” she urged.

I was still trying to make sure my feet were planted firmly on the ground and that my knees wouldn’t betray me.

I looked down at my wife. Her skin was flushed, with a thin layer of sweat coating it, and her long brown hair was a mess. She looked tired. And beautiful. So fucking beautiful, my chest hurt.

“Are you okay?” I asked, bending down and cupping her cheek.

She smiled, leaning her head to the side and kissing the inside of my palm. “I am. Now go check on our son.”

I nodded and moved over to where the nurses had taken him. I watched as they cleaned him up and checked him over. He was crying.

Loud and proud.

There was a thin patch of light hair at the top of his scalp, his skin was pink, and his cheeks were chubby. I wasn’t a man who gave in to my emotions, but I could feel tears welling in my eyes at the first sight of him.

He was beautiful.

And innocent, so completely oblivious to all the terror of the world, all the monsters. And I vowed I would protect that oblivion, that innocence, with everything in me. Tears rolled down my cheeks.

He looked like mine.

He was fucking perfect.

I fell in love with him at first sight.

He was mine.

Mine and Lia’s.

I turned back to my girl. She had tears rolling down her cheeks as well.

“He’s perfect, kitten.”

She made a choked sound. “Really?”

“Absolutely perfect.”

The tears turned into a full-blown cry when the nurse placed our little bundle of joy on her chest. He smacked his lips as if looking for food, making me smile.

She looked at me. “You’re right. He is perfect.”

I leaned down close to her, wrapping her in my arms, and together, we gazed down at our beautiful, perfect boy.

Contentment filled me.

I knew I had done a lot of bad shit in this world. I knew redemption was a word that would never touch me, knowing I was so far beyond it that I would never be able to ask for it back.

But this contentment?

I just wanted to hold on to it forever and never let go. I would never ask for anything else.

---