Page 42 of The Doctor

“She’s beautiful?”

“The best-looking baby I’ve ever seen delivered,” I tell her.

“I hope you don’t tell that to all the moms,” she laughs.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever said it to anyone. She really is beautiful. She’s already got hair, and she’s wiggling around all over.”

The next thirty minutes are a whirlwind of laughing and crying by the both of us.

Slipping inside Raine’s room after updating Lexie that Kaylee’s here and she’s perfect, I find Raine lying in her bed with her eyes closed and a happy smile on her face.

One eye cracks open when the door clicks shut. “Is Lexie going home?”

“Yes, she said she’ll be by tomorrow.” I move the chair beside her bed and sink down into it.

“You look as tired as I feel,” she yawns.

“I am tired, but tonight has been worth it. I’ve been a part of many births, and while I believe each one is a miracle, I want to make future deliveries better and more special for the parents now that I’ve experienced for myself.”

“How are you going to do that?”

I shake my head because I have no idea, but I’m determined to make a change for the better.

“Our daughter is the most beautiful baby in the world,” she says as I lean back in my chair, close to falling asleep now that I’m finally relaxed. “She has a tuft of your dark hair, and it looks like a little mohawk.”

“It kind of does,” I chuckle.

“Do you really love me?” she asks out of nowhere.

Sitting up, I take her hand. “I’ve never meant anything more.”

“I thought I was hallucinating when I heard it.”

Standing, I hover my lips over hers. “It was and is one hundred percent real.”

“I love you too, and I do want to spend my life with you,” she says so quickly it sounds like one word. If I wasn’t listening so intently, I wouldn’t have caught it.

“You love me? Are you sure? You didn’t say it before.”

“I know, but I do. I have.” She blinks one long blink before her eyes pop open. “I know this isn’t fair to you, but please don’t leave. I wish you could crawl in this bed and wrap your arms around me.”

“I would love nothing more than to hold you in my arms, but there’s not enough room in this bed, and I won’t ask you to move.” I scoot to the edge of the chair and lay my head on the bed. “I’m not going anywhere ever again.”

“You’re going to sleep right there?”

“Until you’re released, and then I’ll be in bed right by your side with Kaylee down the hall from us.”

“It’s as simple as that?”

Locking my eyes with hers, I speak from the heart. A place I never thought would be possible. “Loving you is simple, but our life together will be anything but. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives.”

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