Page 91 of Not Your Just Because

“Go, Alek. Love her as much as you love me. She deserves it. You deserve it.”

“Dammit,” I snarl, grasping her chin and covering her mouth with mine. “I fucking love you, you hear me?”

Hayvin laughs softly. “I fucking love you too, Casanova. Now go.”

I trail after the nurses, unable to tear my eyes from my tiny daughter as she wails. Time blurs; eventually, the nurses diaper her, swaddle her, and gently place her in my arms. The moment she settles against me, my trembling stops.

Something shifts the instant her cries fade and her blue eyes find mine.

I fall, hopeless and delirious, in love with my daughter. The love is as deep as what I feel for her mother, but spun from adifferent thread. My soul is now bound to two beautiful girls, and I would not change a thing.

I brush my lips against her forehead, breathing in that fresh baby smell as I carry her to her mama.

Hayvin watches us eagerly, her body wiggling in place despite just giving birth.

I pause at the bedside, reluctant to let go. Only the knowledge that her mama needs this moment as much as I do loosens my grip.

Placing one last kiss on her head, I peer at Hayvin and Everleigh. “Cadence Leia Johnson, this is your mama,” I murmur, unwrapping her so she can rest on Hayvin’s bare chest. “Mama, meet your beautiful little girl.”

Hayvin lets out a quiet sob, her hands covering any part of Cadence she can reach. “Hey, my girl,” she coos. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long.”

Standing beside them, I witness my wife’s dream of motherhood come true before my eyes.

Of all the versions of Hayvin I have loved, this one—her as a mother—might be my favorite. She is transformed, radiant in a way I have never seen. If anyone was born for motherhood, it’s my wife.

Part of me aches that I could not give her this sooner. But I believe everything unfolded as it was meant to. Hayvin and I had to break apart to become stronger, to shed what held us back. If we had faced our losses as the people we were seven years ago, we would not have survived as a couple. Losing each other, then finding our way back, gave us the strength to weather every storm together.

“Thank you,” she whispers, peering up at me. “Thank you for giving me this. For never giving up on me after we lost Angel and Cole, even in the moments I gave up on myself. You found me in those dark days and guided me back to our light. Without yourstrength, without your love, I don’t know if I’d have been able to make it. I love you, Alek.”

“You never have to thank me. Never. Loving you, being there for you, protecting you, is the easiest thing I’ve done in my life. You would have eventually found your way out without me, but you’re never going to be alone, Hayvin. I’m always going to have your back, so you never have to be afraid again. You,” I place my hand over the back of Cadence’s head, “and now she is my life. I love you both to the deepest parts of my soul. So, thank you, Hayvin, for giving me the opportunity to do that.” I keep my hand on Cadence as I lean over the bed railing to place my forehead against hers. “I don’t know what the rest of our future will bring, but I know that as long as I have you at my side, we’ll face it together.”

A sniffle comes from the other side of the bed, and Hayvin and I turn toward Everleigh in shock.

“Oh, fuck off, you two. It’s just so good to finally see you all here.”

“Everleigh,” I ask carefully, knowing how she gets over this. “Are you knocked up again?”

Fire licks through her wet eyes, and she snarls at me. “Of course, I am. When am I ever not fucking knocked up?”

Everleigh starts to the door, muttering under her breath something about stupid fucking breeding kinks and being dickmatized by big dicks. I wince when she grumbles something about rusty razor blades.

“Should we warn him?” I ask Hayvin.

She snickers, shaking her head. “Nope. That man knows what’s coming for him. Plus, he adores her particular brand of fire. I think he antagonizes her most of the time just so he can get burned by it.”

“Should we let our family in now?” she asks.

The waiting room is full of people waiting patiently for the newest addition to our growing group. Everleigh and her man, Charlie and Keaton, Titan and his wife, Amelia and her man, and so many others that Hayvin and I have made friends over the years.

I shake my head, gliding my mouth over hers. “In a bit. Right now, I just want time with my ladies.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby girl.”

We’re both quiet as Hayvin brings Cadence to her breast. I watch in awe as my daughter suckles in the nutrients her mama provides.

“Hey, Alek,” Hayvin whispers.

“Yeah?”

“Is forever too long with me?” she asks the question that’s become our thing.

My eyes drift between my ladies before settling on my wife. “Forever isn’t long enough.”

Hayvin and I have weathered some heavy fucking storms, but every challenge has only deepened our love. Not a day passes that I don’t show her she’s seen, and always will be. When I say forever is not long enough, I mean it. I will never tire of her by my side.

Hayvin could never be my just because. She has always been the heartbeat within my chest.

Forever may not be long enough, but I’ll take every damn second of it.