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I wake up once to the nurse handing me the baby to feed, but apparently, I’m so out of it that Theo insists on taking over and letting me sleep, so the nurse shows him how to feed her with a bottle.
“She’s been through a lot,” he says to her. I can hear him as I drift off again. “Let her rest. We can handle this little princess.”
I smile to myself. Hours old and the baby already has those men wrapped around her tiny fingers. When I wake again, Ryder is here this time, and he’s holding onto our daughter while he tells her some story about… a dragon?
I sit up and rub my eyes, the world coming back into focus. “Hey,” I say, feeling a little groggy. “How long was I out?”
“It’s nighttime,” Ryder says. “But don’t worry. Theo took care of feeding our little one earlier. He just went home for his turn to shower and change. Oliver is getting something to eat from the hospital cafeteria, and I’ve been sitting with the baby for about twenty minutes.”
“I’m glad you guys are here,” I say, reaching out for her. Ryder hands her over, and I tuck her against me, breathing in her sweet, milky scent. She lets out a snuffling cry, and I panic for a moment before Ryder holds a bottle out to me.
“She might be hungry,” he suggests. I take it, and she latches on immediately, sucking away with hungry grunts.
“Big appetite,” I say, enjoying how she curls her wrinkly little fingers and flexes them as she nurses.
“So, Oliver told me what he said,” he says, sitting in the chair next to the bed. “I just want you to know that I feel the same way.”
“Oh?” I ask, trying not to sound too eager as my heart flutters wildly in my chest.
“I love you, Evangeline. I figured you already knew that, but I’ll say it again if I have to. I love you. I want to be with you. With or without the baby.”
My hand reaches out to find his, and I link them together, sliding my palm into his. “I love you too,” I confess, getting choked up at the fact that I’m surrounded by so much love today. “I don’t know what I want to do about the whole marriage thing yet. I’m only twenty-one still, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to stay with you guys and figure things out together.”
“That’s fair enough,” Ryder says, squeezing my hand before letting go to stroke over the baby’s hair. “Have we picked out a name for her yet?” he asks, changing the subject.
“I was thinking of announcing it later,” I say, a little smile on my lips. “It’s a surprise.”
Ryder grins. “Good. I love surprises. I mean, falling in love with you was the best surprise of all.”
Eventually, the baby finishes her bottle, and Ryder takes it away and then comes and takes our daughter to put her in her bassinet by the bed. I yawn, and Ryder holds my hand while I fall asleep again.
This time when I wake up, all three of them are in the room and they’re trying not-so-subtly to discuss what name I might have picked. I sit up and grin, listening to them banter.
“I’m telling you, I think she’s picked the name Belle,” Ryder argues. “Beauty and the Beast is her favorite movie. She’s probably picked a name from that.”
“No way,” Theo argues back. “If anything, she’ll probably name the baby after one of us.”
“Oh, like Olivia!” Oliver suggests, a smug look on his face. “Since I was the one who went to all the appointments and classes with her.”
“Hey, you only did that because the rest of us were kind of busy dealing with protecting our girls,” Ryder protests.
Our girls. I like that, I think as I clear my throat. “Actually, Theo is right, in a way. I did name the baby after someone special to me.”
“Please tell me you didn’t name her after Fitz,” Ryder says with a groan. I chuckle.
“Nope,” I say, shaking my head and giggling. “Give her over,” I demand, holding my arms out. Theo places her in my arms and kisses me on the forehead.
“I love you, baby,” he says, his voice a little gruff. “I just wanted you to know that too. I might not be into grand romantic speeches like these two saps, but I want to be with you just as much.”
“I love you too, Theo,” I tell him, kissing his arm as he strokes the baby’s head. “You and Ryder and Oliver. I love all of you.”
“Okay, that’s great and all, but what is her name?” Ryder asks, raising an eyebrow. “We can’t keep calling her Baby, or Baby Girl.”
“That’s our nickname for Eva, anyway,” Oliver adds.
I grin, planning on drawing this out a little. “Okay, well, I have someone special to thank for all the time they spent with me over these last few months. Someone who was there for me in a way that no one else had ever been before. So, guys, I’d like you to meet Brianna Hope Everhart, or Bree for short. I named her after Aunt Bridget.”
“She’s gonna love that, sweetheart,” Theo says.
