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Chad stepped away from the bed as Lindsey’s mom flew to her side. As the two women reunited tearfully, he pressed his lips together and shook his head, pointing at his meddling mother.
“What?” Mom said, plastering an innocent look on her face. “Sometimes all that’s needed is the tiniest push in the right direction.” She pinched her forefinger and thumb together and peered through the tiny gap between them.
When Lindsey’s mom finally stopped hugging her, Lindsey extended a hand toward Chad, which he gratefully took. He hadn’t been expecting to meet her mother today and wasn’t sure he could handle the additional anxiety on top of his already jumbled nerves.
“Mom, this is Chad. My . . . boyfriend.”
“The father?” her mom asked, eyes raking up and down his body. He knew the exact instant she processed that he was missing a leg, because she tensed.
“That’s the plan, Mrs. Parker,” Chad said. He extended his free hand to give the woman’s fingers a firm squeeze.
“So not the real father,” Mrs. Parker said.
“The father I would have picked if I’d planned this,” Lindsey said.
All the tension that had been building inside Chad released in an instant. He didn’t need Mrs. Parker’s acceptance—he had Lindsey’s—and he’d be a great father to Daisy no matter what curveballs life threw their way.
“So you still don’t know who the baby’s father is?”
“I know,” Lindsey said. “It just doesn’t matter. Daisy is Chad’s daughter.”
“You’re naming her after me?” Mrs. Parker wailed, which led to more tearful hugs.
Chad stepped aside to give them room and leaned in to whisper to his mom, “So, how did you manage this?”
“Facebook,” she said. “Did you know they thought Lindsey was missing? No one knew where she was or how to contact her.”
“Maybe she wanted to keep it that way,” Chad said. The love of his life was looking more than a bit overwhelmed as she met his gaze over her mother’s shoulder.
“Her dad refused to come to the baby shower and is still being a total asshole,” Mom said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Chad nudged her shoulder with his. “Don’t forget you promised to pay double into the swear jar.”
“Not when I’m stating facts.” She lowered her voice to a whisper and talked out of the corner of her mouth. “Your future father-in-law is an asshole.”
Chad didn’t argue. He hadn’t met the guy yet but trusted his mother’s judgment, and the asshole would be his father-in-law. Chad refused to think otherwise.
While Lindsey and her mother caught up on gossip about people Chad had never heard of, he did his best to make Lindsey comfortable. She didn’t seem to rely on him nearly as much now that the epidural was keeping the pain in check, and he was starting to wonder if she needed him there at all. He’d heard that a woman giving birth typically wanted her mother close by more than anyone else, and Chad wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen the evidence with his own eyes. Maybe it was because they hadn’t seen each other in several months, but the two of them were twittering like a pair of overstimulated songbirds.
Chad wanted to confront the woman about letting Lindsey get into the desperate situation she’d found herself in, and maybe he would someday, but now was not the time.
A few contractions later—which Chad now had to time by the monitors since Lindsey barely made a peep when even the strongest of them gripped her—Owen came back from finding his cup of coffee. Only he didn’t return with java.
“Look who I found skulking around outside,” Owen said. “It’s Bio-Dad.” Owen announced Adam Taylor’s presence like he was some sort of superhero instead of the huge coward Chad thought he was.
Adam’s dark brown eyes shifted from one person to the next. He nodded at each of them in turn before settling his attention on Lindsey.
“I wasn’t sure if I should come,” he said. “If you want me to go—”
Lindsey stretched a hand out in his direction, and Chad almost blurted that he wanted him to go, forget what Lindsey wanted.
“You can stay,” she said quietly.
“I thought this might be something I’d regret missing,” Adam said. “God knows I have more than one regret already.” And according to the name of his currently defunct band, he was only allowed a sole regret.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Lindsey said.
That made one of them, Chad thought darkly.
“Adam, this is my mother, Daisy Parker. You already know everyone else.”
Adam nodded at Mrs. Parker, and Chad noted that she’d gone pale. Her hand toyed nervously with the necklace pendant between her collarbones as she stared at Adam with wide eyes.
“This is the biological father?” she hissed at her daughter.
“I guess so,” Adam said.
Lindsey smiled at Adam, and he smiled back—his face and hardened gaze softening. Chad rammed both fists into the front pockets of his cargo shorts. He hadn’t expected to be jealous of Adam, but there the feeling was, mocking him. Adam and Lindsey would always have a child together, and there wasn’t anything Chad could do about that fact.
“So, how much longer?” Owen asked.
Mom patted his arm. “These things take time.”
A strange look settled over Lindsey’s face. “I need to push,” she said.
“What?” Chad muttered, his attention turning to the monitor and then back to Lindsey’s face.
“I said I need to push. Now!”
“Call the doctor,” Chad said, pushing his way to her bedside and gripping both of her hands in his. The trust in her eyes stole his breath, and he knew he didn’t have a reason to be jealous of her mother or of Adam. Lindsey loved him out of choice, not circumstance.
Daisy’s birth progressed quickly from there. Everyone in the room other than Chad was focused on what was going on between Lindsey’s legs. He focused his attention on her face, her eyes, making sure she wasn’t alone as she pushed their child into the world—and there was no way he could think of Daisy as anything less than his own. Not even with Adam standing next to Lindsey’s left ankle and looking more panicked and less cool than he’d ever seen the leather-clad rock star.
“I see the top of her head!” Owen shouted. He was filming the entire thing on his cellphone. “She has a lot of black hair.”
Like her real father. Chad smiled at golden-haired Lindsey, who was gripping his hands a little less tightly with each push. She was tiring. “Almost there, angel.”
“One more push, Lindsey,” the doctor said. “Make it a big one.”
“Wait,” Owen said to the doctor. “You’re not going to cut her there . . .”
“Don’t look,” their mother advised.
“What’s going on?” Lindsey asked.
“Just a little episiotomy,” Chad said. “You won’t even feel it.”
She cringed, but the next contraction started, and she curled upward to strain with what was hopefully her final push.
“You’re doing great, sweetheart,” Mrs. Parker said.
Adam’s breath caught, and Chad looked back for his first glimpse of Daisy’s face. She didn’t look too happy about being born today. Her tiny face screwed up, and she let out a mighty wail. The doctor shifted her slightly, and her shoulders came free. He lifted her high and then placed her on Lindsey’s stomach. The baby thrashed her arms and legs, crying in ear-piercing shrieks until Chad rested a hand on her head and cooed to her.
Lindsey’s hand covered his, and she said, “Your voice always calms her right down.”
“Oh, look at her,” Mrs. Parker said. “She’s beautiful. Absolutely precious.”
“She looks like her bio-dad,” Owen said, pounding Adam on the back. “Poor kid.”
The doctor held up a pair of surgical scissors. “Is Dad ready to cut the cord?”
Adam’s overwhelmed stare darted to Chad.
“Go ahead,” Chad said, though his heart was aching over missing out on one of Daisy’s important milestones.
“You were there for Lindsey,” Adam said. “You should do the honors.”
“Why don’t you share the duty?” Mom suggested. “You’re going to have to get used to sharing a lot of duties.”
Adam licked his lips and swallowed. Chad half-expected him to flee from the room and never look back, but he reached for the scissors. The guitarist’s hand was shaking so bad, he almost dropped them.
Chad kissed Lindsey’s temple, happy to see her smiling. “Is this okay with you? Sharing?”
“Sharing Daisy, yes. But not me,” she whispered to him. “I’m all yours.”
So, Chad and Adam cut the cord together, and the nurse scooped up the baby to check vitals and force something into her lungs because she was a little early and give her a vitamin K shot and generally make her first half hour on the planet an utterly terrifying experience. But Daisy was soon swaddled and tucked into her mother’s arms. Lindsey examined each of her tiny fingers and then her toes, traced her lips, her nose, her brow.
“She’s perfect,” Lindsey said, looking up at Chad with tears in her eyes.
“Can I hold her?” Chad asked, feeling a tug deep in his chest that already connected him to his daughter.
“Of course,” she said, shifting the baby into Chad’s arms.
“Me next,” Mrs. Parker said.
“No, me,” Mom said.
“Adam should be next,” Owen insisted.
Adam had gone hopelessly mute as he looked on with wide eyes. Chad could see what Lindsey had meant about Adam not having long to prepare for the monumental responsibility of fatherhood. Would Adam want to be a big part in Daisy’s life? Chad couldn’t be sure, but he wouldn’t interfere unless the reckless idiot did something to hurt the innocent bundle in his arms.
As Chad gazed down into Daisy’s dark brown eyes—Adam’s eyes—he knew he’d do anything to protect her, because just like with her mother, it was love at first sight for him. A smile spread across his face when Daisy’s tiny fist squeezed his finger. He felt that surprisingly strong grip around his heart as well. Chad now had two perfect angels to adore.
