Page 76 of Ice Cold Duke

Words once again left him. The child swaddled in the blankets was so beautiful, so peaceful, and so perfect that he couldn’t believe such an angelic being could exist.

“That’s our son?” he whispered, his words choking as he tried to get them out.

“That’s our son,” his wife whispered.

Slowly, Lucien dropped to his knees, so that he was kneeling by his wife’s bed, and reached out a tentative hand to where his son was sleeping. Very gently, he touched a finger to his perfect little cheek, then he looked up at Emery.

“He’s perfect,” he whispered.

“I know.” Emery was crying, he saw, but they were tears of joy. “We have our family, Lucien, at last.”

“Why don’t we give you two a moment alone?” Georgina asked, and Lucien nodded. She herded the doctor and midwife out of the room, then left as well. Once Lucien heard the click of the door that told him they were alone, he put his head down on Emery’s shoulder and let the tears flow.

“I have never been this happy,” he whispered. “Never.” He looked up at her and she shook her head, as if completely lost for words. “I can’t believe I was worried that loving you would make me not want to care for my child,” he said wonderingly. “It seems so foolish to me now. Just one look at him, and I know that Iwould never stop caring for him even if someone tried to force me; I would do anything to support and love him; anything to be close to him for as long as possible.”

“I don’t know how your parents spent all that time away from you,” Emery said, shaking her head. “Because I feel the same way as you when I look at him: like I never want to spend any time apart from him.”

“And we won’t,” Lucien assured her. “Or at least, as little time apart from him as we can.”

“We might want to reassess that once we have multiple,” she said with a small laugh. “Perhaps then they will be so wild we will be sick of them.”

“I doubt it,” he said, stroking her cheek with one hand while he kept the other on top of his son’s blanket. “It was rather fun having a house full of kids when I was growing up--well, before I had to become the parent of them. But I think it will be fun for us to have a whole bunch of kids running around the place.”

“A whole bunch of kids,” she said happily, sleepily, as she rested her head against his. “Our perfect little family.”

“Yes,” he agreed, his hand moving up and down gently with his son’s breath. “Our perfect little family.”

The End?