Page 135 of Rival
Jerking upright at the sound of Mrs. Danielson’s voice, I quickly wipe away my tears and check my gown to make sure I’m not hanging out everywhere.
“Mrs. Danielson! Are you alone?” Before she’s able to answer, her husband shoves his way through the door with a handful of balloons and a vase of carnations. “Pastor Danielson,” I cry out, moving to get up, but Jaxon keeps me in place.
“Don’t even think about moving from that bed, Edith. As much as I love you, I’m here to see this little girl. Now, hand her over Mr. Cooper.” Ruth is already slathering her hands with sanitizer, then holding her arms out expectantly.
With a disgruntled sigh, Mason stands to give Ruth his seat, who takes it quickly, then hands our daughter over.
The moment she’s got her in her arms, she’s already rocking the chair and cooing soft words and God’s blessings. Mason moves to my side, and I peer up at him, whispering, “Do you two really have the same birthmark? I didn’t even see it before.”
Flashing me a smile, he lifts the side of his shirt to show me the mark high up under his arm. Peering back at Blakely, I feel awed that she’s got a stamp of her father literally written all over her. We may have the DNA test coming back to us soon, but theway all three of them are confidently accepting that Mason is her father, and areokaywith it, eases something in me.
I lay back against the pillow and watch as Ruth lavishes her love all over my little girl. “What’s her name?” she asks, only glancing at me for a moment.
“Blakely Ruth Cooper.”
Both hers and Mason’s eyes grow wet, and I smile to myself as I drift off back to sleep, feeling content with my whole family surrounding me.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Jaxon
Blakely – 2 months old
Looking around my master bedroom one last time, I sigh, flipping the light on and off slowly for Blakely. I don’t know what the hell it is about this room in particular, but the light fixture in here has completely entranced our little girl.
She’s just starting to get gassy and fussy on the regular, so when I was walking her around, I came in here to grab something, flipped the light on to search, and, not finding it, turned it back off.
Her mouth popped open, and her mewls at being upset died right down. So, I did it again, and again, and sure enough, she was enthralled.
“You know,” I tell her softly, shifting her so she’s able to see the ceiling better. “We’re going to have to find a room at the new house with lights you’ll approve of. If I need to, I’ll take this one with us and put it in your room.”
Blakely wiggles, eyes wide with her mouth hanging open, gaze moving everywhere as I blink the lights on and off once more.
Chuckling softly, I press a kiss to her head, then laugh outright when she crinkles her face in frustration that I’ve blocked her view. She’s going to give us a run for our money if her attitude is anythingremotelyclose to Mason’s. Although, the way that man has been brought to his knees by this little eight-pound, fourteen-ounce girl is something to write into the history books.
I tip my head back to look at the lights with my daughter and I picture all the things she’s going to learn in the years we’ll have the honor of raising her. Julia flashes into my head and a pleasant feeling fills me, only an echo of sadness tagging along at the end.She’d have been over the moon with Blakely.
Dipping my chin down, I meet her eyes, now gazing at me sleepily. I begin a soft sway as I whisper, “Did I ever tell you about the time your Aunt Julia thought she could do stunts while riding her bike? No? Well, at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, there’s this real long driveway that stretches all the way to the road. Aunt Julia and I were racing each other to the mailbox and back. Grandma was on the porch with a stopwatch to see what our times would be and call out a winner.”
I lean my body to the side, using my elbow to turn the light off for the last time as I keep talking. Maybe I’ll get her to sleep for a nap before the last drive to Mason’s farm where we’ve all decided to move.
Edith leaning against the door frame surprises me when I turn, so I toss her a wink. A soft pink blush fills her cheeks, and she bites her lip. Seeing that our girl is almost asleep, she whispers, “Finish the story.”
Keeping my voice low, I nod once. “My dad’s parents were in town visiting for the weekend, so they had their van parked onthe drive, part way into the grass. Aunt Julia and I made it to mailbox in record time, then spun our bikes around to race back to Grandma.”
“You guys ready to get on the—”
Edith presses her finger to her lips, hushing Griffin as he finds us, then widens his eyes. “Oops. She wanted the lights again?”
I nod, and we all smile when Blakely lets out a shuttered sigh. It’s one of those that signals she’s calmed from her fussing fit and she’s content for now. “On our way back, Aunt Julia was ahead of me because my feet kept slipping off my pedal. I was due for a bigger bike and my long legs just couldn’t pedal fast enough. She turned around to laugh at me and threw her hands out to the side, calling out how she could beat me even with no hands. Then she smacked the back of our grandparents’ van.”
My love covers her mouth to stifle a laugh, and I hold in my own so I don’t wake Blakely. “That girl fell over to the side, arms curled around her stomach, laughing her butt off, then got right back up and practiced riding with no hands the rest of the way home. Eventually she got it figured out and only had a few scrapes and bruises to show for it, but within a year, she could do all sorts of tricks and jumps on that pink thing with streamers on the handles.”
Moving over to my side, Griffin touches Blakely’s hand and whispers, “My Blakely-Blake isn’t gonna have a single wipe out when she learns how to ride. I won’t stand for it. I’m gonna take her out to the truck and get her home.”
Home.
Mason’s parents felt it was time for them to find a smaller place and wanted all of us to buy the house from them so we can be on the Cooper farm with a larger place to raise Blakely.
