Reluctantly Royal
Page 78

I looked at my bodyguard and raised an eyebrow.
“I didn’t know.” His mouth twitched to one side in a half smile.
“Right.” I looked for Marty’s bag. “What else did you bring with you?”
“Racing games, a couple of space games. I grabbed whatever was on my dresser.”
“Switch it out.” I picked up the bag from the floor.
“Ah, man.”
“Come on. I’m so not taking a beating for letting you play that.” I narrowed my gaze at him. “You know better than to break your mom’s rules.”
“Are you going to tell?” He looked up at me with puppy dog eyes.
David snorted from where he was sitting, but managed to not laugh out loud.
“You better believe it.”
“Are you going to take my system?” He held up his handheld device.
“I’m not that cruel. You can play while we’re at the hospital, but then it’s gone for a week.” I leaned back in my chair. Being the bad cop did not come easily to me. Even with a few months of practice. But I was getting better at it.
The waiting room cleared of families as the hours passed. Marty was tucked against my side, his head rolling forward. Charles got up to stretch, walking around the open space and reading the plaques on the wall. David was dozing off, his arms crossed over his chest.
I’d had no idea it took so long to have a baby. Poor Sam.
“Are you and Mom going to have babies?” Marty’s tiny voice made me jump.
“I thought you were asleep.” I looked down at him.
“I’m not.” He yawned. “Are you and Mom going to have babies? Zach, at school, said his mom and new dad are having a baby.”
“That might be something you need to talk to your mom about.” I shifted in my chair. There was not enough caffeine in the world to help me with this conversation.
“Don’t you like babies?” He sat back and pulled his feet up into his seat.
“Erm.” I looked around the room as if there was an easy answer waiting for me to find. “Sure, babies are great. But they are a lot of work. It’s a big commitment.”
“I think it would be cool.” He moved my arm so it was draped over his shoulders again. “When you and Mom get married, you should have lots of babies.”
I swallowed against my suddenly dry throat. “Maybe not lots.”
“One would be fine.” He said it as if he was giving me permission.
I’d always said I’d never have children. That it would be unfair to bring them into our lifestyle.
But now as I sat here with Marty under my arm, his soft snore reaching my ears, I wasn’t so sure. Having one more might not be so bad. A little brother for Marty.
What if it was a girl? A sister for Marty.
Whoa. What the hell was I thinking about? I didn’t even know if Meredith wanted more kids. We hadn’t talked about it.
Cathy stuck her head out of the swinging doors and motioned for us to come in. Picking up Marty, I followed her to Sam’s room.
Everyone was gathered around the bed, so I sat Marty down on the large chair and joined them.
“Do you want to hold your niece?” Sam smiled at me.
There was a tiny little blanket-wrapped bundle on her chest, with a tuft of dark brown hair on its head.
“Will it hurt her?” I frowned.
“No.” Sam laughed. Her face was tired, but she radiated happiness.
“Okay.”
Alex lifted the bundle off Sam and placed her in my arms. I shifted on my feet, and tried to get my arms just right. A tiny little hand reached out of the blanket and waved as if looking for something. Ever so carefully, I shifted her to one arm and let her grab my finger.
As I looked down at her tiny hand, button nose, and chubby cheeks, I was a goner. She was this perfect combination of Sam and Alex.
Eventually I had to let someone else have a turn, but it was hard to let go. My fingers itched and I wished I had thought to bring my sketchbook with me, but with Sam hollering and Alex freaking out, I was lucky I’d remembered to wear pants.
Meredith came to me and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“You look rather sexy holding a baby.” She smiled up at me.
I grunted and watched as Cathy sat down next to Marty to show him his new cousin.
“What’s wrong?” She tilted her head to the side.
“Marty asked me if we were going to have babies.” I raised an eyebrow.
“Oh.” Her eyes widened.
“Actually he said lots of babies.”
“Lots?” She shook her head and looked over at her son.
“Yes, he gave his blessing. Apparently Zach has a new sibling on the way.” I ran my hands over her back.
“Ah.” She laughed. “I don’t know about lots of babies.”
“One might be nice,” I said. “One day.”
“I thought you didn’t want kids.” She cocked her head to the side, but her smile grew.
“Maybe I’m changing my mind.” I shrugged.
“You’ve been doing that a lot lately.” She reached down and pinched my butt.
“Hey.” I mock-glared at her. “Stop that. I said someday. Not today. You’ll get me all excited.”
“So you’d really consider having a baby?” The tenderness in her expression almost killed me.
“If you want to be technical about it, you’d be the one having the baby. I’d just be the punching bag in the delivery room.” Why did I blurt out idiotic things when I was nervous?