Page 157 of The Holy Grail
“Thanks,” Paige said to Jules.
Jules had so many questions, but she didn’t really know where to start, so decided the most obvious one was a good place. “Did it hurt?”
“What? Pushing a new human out of my body? No, not at all.”
“On a scale of one to ten, how much did it hurt?”
“Um, a thousand. He was apparently in a hurry to get out, so there wasn’t time for an epidural, which means I had him the old-fashioned, painful way.”
Jules flinched. “That sounds really awful,” she said, throwing David a frosty look over her shoulder.
“What? I drove here as fast as I could,” he said.
“He was also almost ten pounds,” Paige added. “So—”
“Oh, my God,really?” Jules gave David another frosty look.
“Why are you blaming me for everything?” he wanted to know.
“Because even though you ‘made half of him’, you had the easy part, with zero suffering, and that’s just wrong.”
“I’ve changed every diaper today, and plan on changing many more in the future. Does that count as ‘suffering’?”
“A little. Are you planning on helping with night feedings, too?”
“I’m breast feeding,” Paige told her. “So, those will mostly be me. Unless I decide to … pump … which seems weird to me.”
“I’ll be getting up with her at every feeding, though, to keep her company,” David said.
“I think he likes to watch,” Paige whispered to Jules.
“What a pervert,” Jules whispered back.
“Jesus, I heard that,” David said. “And watching my beautiful wife breastfeed my son doesn’t make me a pervert. It makes me … a loving husband.”
“That’s what a pervert would say.”
Just then, the unmistakable smell of the baby having filled his diaper had Jules wrinkling her nose and quickly handing him off to David. “Time to change another diaper. And you’ll probably suffer through this one.”
Paige and Jules watched as David expertly changed the diaper and then re-swaddled the infant in his baby blanket in record time.
When he was done, Jules gave him a nod of approval. “You’re pretty good at that.”
“Thank you,” David said dryly. “It’s probably from changing a few of Jacob’s diapers.”
“And by a few, he really means all of them,” Paige told Jules in an aside.
“Knock, knock,” said Evan from the doorway.
He’d obviously come from the bar, as he was wearing one of the work shirts he hated (the ones with the new designs were arriving in a few days), and a pair of jeans. His reddish-brown hair was slightly messy, as usual, curling around his ears and hanging over his forehead, pretty much as Jules had left it that morning after a quick round of sex.
In one hand was a bottle of champagne, which he set down on Paige’s bedside table.
After kissing the new mom on the cheek and telling her she looked amazing, then greeting Jules with a tilt of his head and a quick, flirtatious, “Hi, Jules,” which she hoped no one noticed, he made his way to David. “So, this is the new Little Man,” Evan said, checking out the baby. “Nice work,” he told David. “He looks just like you … except … I think he might have Cat Lady’s eyes.”
“You don’t have to say that,” Paige said with a sigh. “I’ve already resigned myself to the fact I gave birth to another one of David’s clones. Apparently the Lowe genes are very strong.”
“No, I really think the baby has your eyes,” Evan insisted, before picking up the bottle of champagne and opening it like a pro. “I heard through the grapevine you’re breastfeeding, but unfortunately, I didn’t hear that until after I was on my way here with this, so my apologies for not having something non-alcoholic you could drink for a toast. Or glasses, for that matter.” He held the bottle up. “So, here’s to …” he trailed off, glancing between David and Paige. “What’s the rugrat’s name?”
