“Hey, bud, you didn’t have to make this a competition to see if you could get here before your sister or your cousin,” Liam whispered to his newborn son, Sean, who was staring up at him. He turned to the similar bundle cradled close on his other side. “And you, Miss Bridget, you’ll be keeping all the boys in line, won’t you?”
His newborn daughter twitched in her sleep and Liam leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head. He glanced up at Ellie, his precious wife, who, despite the mad dash to the hospital several weeks early, lay smiling at him.
“You done good, Harding,” he said, blinking back a sudden burning in the back of his eyes. “Or should I say ‘McBride’? You’re one of us now, Ellie.”
“You didn’t do so bad yourself, McBride,” she whispered and sniffled, her lips quivering.
He swallowed and his smile faltered as he adjusted his precious bundles in his arms. “I hope both of you heard that, because it might be the last time she says something like that.”
Ellie wiggled her feet under the covers. “Meg is going to be so jealous I can finally see my feet.”
Liam shook his head and glanced down at his son. “Looks like the women in this family are just as competitive.”
“At least now I can put on my own shoes.” Ellie yawned and lay back against the covers. “Good thing you and Riley finished the nursery.”
Liam nodded in agreement. The last few months had been hectic, what with a wedding, selling one house and buying another, and starting his new job as a state fire investigator. But he wouldn’t have traded one minute of it for anything. Even having to wait for Ellie’s biopsy results had been worth the nerves. And the celebration when the all clear came back had been—he grinned at the babies in his arms—best kept private.
“What are you grinning about over there?”
He shifted the babies and stood up. “I was thinking how lucky I am and how I can’t wait to start this phase of our lives.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “This phase?”
Coming to stand next to the bed, he gently lowered their son into Ellie’s waiting arms. “Changing diapers, chasing rug rats around the yard, drying tears and retrieving Barbies from toilets.”
Ellie yawned again as she cuddled her son. “I guess I better rest up. Sounds like I’m going to be busy.”
Liam leaned over and kissed his wife. “I was talking about us. Ellie, we’re in this together. For today and always. No matter what the future brings it’s you and me together, sharing everything. Partners.”
“Intimate partners,” she said and laughed.
As always, her laughter drew him close and filled his heart and world with love.