The Mighty Anchor: Rogue Academy, Book Three
Page 21
Lara’s water broke about seven hours ago, and she muscled through the pain as long as she could before it got so intense she was begging for the epidural. I’ve been by her side the entire time, and we’re so close to meeting our girl that I know I have to be her anchor right now. The mighty force that will ground her through the hardest of waves.
“All right, love, it’s time to push. The doctor said it’s time.” I kiss her cheeks, wishing I could take the brunt of the pain.
“I’m scared.” Now Lara’s face transforms into a mask of fear, which is something I rarely see from my warrior of a wife.
“There is no need to be. I’m right here. Just think about holding our daughter in your arms, and scream as loud as you want,” I tell her.
It takes almost forty minutes, but in an instant, I hear a cry and our daughter comes into the world. Lara is crying, and one of the nurses bundles the baby up in a blanket and then hands her to my wife. I watch in amazement as the suckling newborn presses her cheek to her mum’s chest, and instantly calms.
The baby has a full head of black hair, and I run a hand over it as tears fill my eyes.
“She is so beautiful.” I breathe.
“Another baby who looks just like you.” Lara grins a watery smile. “Will there ever be one who resembles me?”
“We’ll just have to keep trying.” I smirk at her.
If she’ll let me, I’ll have an entire football team with her.
We cuddle the baby for what feels like forever before the doctors and nurses come in to run some routine tests.
After that, Lara and the baby sleep for a while, both of them rightfully exhausted from creating a life and coming into the world respectively. I just stare, astonished at the miracle that is my life. How do I deserve these people to love me, this family to take care of?
My wife is just starting to flutter her eyes open when Mason rushes in, a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a plush pink bunny in the other.
“Daddy! Mummy! I have a sister!” His little five-year-old body is humming with elation.
“Yes you do, love.” Lara receives him, kissing and side hugging him from where he stands on the floor. “Come on up, get comfy, and you can hold her.”
I go to her bassinet while Lara gets Mason ready and demonstrates how to hold her. The baby curls up into me when I pick her up, and I’m scared I might break her. Something this precious, this delicate, and she’s put her trust in me to take care of her? Blimey, I’m one lucky bastard.
Watching Mason hold his baby sister is one of my top five favorite moments I’ve ever lived through. She sneezes at one point, and he giggles as if it’s the funniest thing in the world.
My parents come in next, cooing over the baby, and Lara’s Mum isn’t far behind. Stef stops in for a visit, and then the cavalry arrives.
Poppy, Kingston, Jude, and Aria all file into the room, with presents and smiles galore.
None of them are rookies at the labor and delivery wing at this point. Poppy and King have Julia, their two-year-old daughter, and a little boy due any day now. The girls like to joke that our daughter has a future boyfriend. I told Kingston I’ll have his boy’s bollocks if he touches my daughter.
Jude and Aria have three-month-old twin boys, Benjamin and Brenton, and are currently in sleep deprivation hell. But, they both refuse to use the luxury of nannies, which they could certainly afford. Secretly, I think they’re attempting to become vampires in order to stay up and stare at their babies all hours of the day. That’s how much they love being parents.
They take turns passing the baby around, all melting at the sight of her.
“And do you have a name?” Aria cradles our daughter, smiling down at her and then back up to us.
Lara and I look at each other, and she tells them. “Dorian. Dorian Roberta Morley.”
We picked her name out months ago, when Lara was looking through a baby book. In Greek, Dorian means “of the sea,” and if that isn’t just perfect. The love between her mother and father was born of the sea, so it fit.
And while we were picking the baby’s name, we also decided to legally change Mason’s surname. He’d been born a Logan, but as he is half mine, and our family is a unit now, Lara and I wanted all of us to be a part of our clan.
“Beautiful. Just beautiful.” Poppy nods, rubbing her belly. “This boy can’t wait to meet Dorian.”
I glare at Kingston. “I’ll kick his arse, I swear.”
“No shite talking when the little bloke isn’t even hearthside yet. All right, we’ll get out of your hair. See you on the pitch in a week, mate. We’re going to kick your arse.”
Rogue is playing Brighton next week, and it will be my first match back after the short paternity leave I’m taking. I don’t need to argue with him, I’ll shut him and Jude out of the goal so hard, they’ll see clean sheets in their nightmares.
Once they’re gone, everyone naps again, knackered from all the love and guests. But me? I walk to Dorian’s bassinet and scoop her up, going to sit in the rocking chair in our hospital room.
Of all the things I’ve envisioned for my life, this is the furthest thing from what I dreamed.
That’s the thing about the universe, though, it laughs at the plans you make. Because it already has plans for you.
These people, my amazing wife, brilliant son, and beautiful newborn daughter, they are the dreams I never knew I had. The ones that have eclipsed everything else.
Of all the grouchy, silent blokes in the world, I’m the luckiest. And I’ve been through enough to know that I’ll never take that for granted.
Read the rest of The Rogue Academy series, available now!
The Rogue Academy Series:
The Second Coming
The Lion Heart
The Mighty Anchor
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About the Author
Author of romance novels such as The Tenth Girl and Privileged, Carrie Aarons writes books that are just as swoon-worthy as they are sarcastic. A former journalist, she prefers the love stories of her imagination, and the athleisure dress code, much better.
When she isn't writing, Carrie is busy binging reality TV, having a love/hate relationship with cardio, and trying not to burn dinner. She lives in the suburbs of New Jersey with her husband, daughter and Lab/Great Dane rescue.
Please join her readers group, Carrie’s Charmers, to get the latest on new books, as well as talk about reality TV, wine and home decor.
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Also by Carrie Aarons
All of my books are currently enrolled in Kindle Unlimited.
Read the first book in the Rogue Academy series, The Second Coming, which features Jude and Aria!
Standalones:
The Tenth Girl
You’re the One I Don’t Want
Privileged
Elite
Red Card
Down We’ll Come, Baby
As Long As You Hate Me
All the Frogs in Manhattan
Save the Date
Melt
When Stars Burn Out
Ghost in His Eyes
On Thin Ice
Kissed by Reality
The Nash Brothers Series:
Fleeting
Forgiven
Flutter
Falter
The Flipped Series:
Blind Landing
Grasping Air
The Captive Heart Duet:
Lost
Found
The Over the Fence Series:
Pitching to Win
Hitting to Win
Catching to Win
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Aarons, Carrie, The Mighty Anchor: Rogue Academy, Book Three