Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
She was right on both counts. I lifted Ansel against my chest and bent my head, breathing in his new baby scent. There wasn’t anything else like it in the world. My eyes watered as I whispered to him, the same things that I’d told my girls the first time I’d held them. What I wished I could’ve said to Flora when she was born.
“You are beloved and wanted and prayed for.” I sniffled, ignoring the eyes on me. “Welcome to the world.”
Titus cleared his throat behind me and then he and Otto left the room.
“He was a little early,” Esther told me quietly, resting her hand on Ansel’s back. “But they said his lungs are great and it shouldn’t affect anything.”
“How big is he?” I asked, lifting my head.
“Five pounds and fourteen ounces. Nineteen inches long.”
“You are small,” I said to Ansel. “Small but mighty.”
“He definitely didn’t feel that small on his way out,” Esther said ruefully as she went back over to the couch. I followed and sat beside her.
“Did you get any stitches?”
“No.” She shivered. “Thankfully.”
“I was worried,” I murmured quietly.
“Sorry I didn’t call you myself,” she said regretfully. “I know Otto was texting Titus so you were getting updates. My phone went dead on the way to my appointment and I was too distracted to even bother with it.”
“It’s okay.”
“Everything went okay here? Flora wasn’t too freaked out?”
“She was fine,” I assured her. “Missing you around bedtime, though.”
“She’s only stayed at Heather and Tommy’s a couple times, but otherwise she’s pretty much always with us. I’m kind of glad that we were surprised by Ansel’s arrival or I would’ve been stressing out about leaving her.”
“So, they just decided to keep you there?”
“Well, I said I’d been feeling tired and my back was really achy,” she said, leaning into the couch. “So Andrea decided to check, and I was already seven centimeters dilated.”
“You’d been in labor for a while and hadn’t even realized it,” I said in understanding and a little amazement. “Must be nice,” I huffed.
“I know,” Esther said, widening her eyes. “I’m definitely not complaining. I think the end made up for it. I pushed for two hours.”
I winced in sympathy.
“I’m gonna head out,” Titus announced, walking back into the room. “I need a shower and a change of clothes. I’m gettin’ a little ripe.”
Esther sniffed. “You’re fine. I can’t smell anything.”
Titus laughed.
“You want to hold him before you go?” Esther asked.
I looked at her in surprise.
“If Noel doesn’t mind,” Titus said, rubbing his hands together as if to warm them.
I shook my head and then nodded, finally gesturing for him to take Ansel.
His fingers brushed against mine as he took the baby from me, and I probably shouldn’t have been surprised at how expertly he held the newborn after seeing him with the girls and all his nieces and nephews, but I was. With one hand under Ansel’s rump and the other bracing his head and neck, he lifted the baby until they were face to face.
My heart clenched.
“I don’t have a speech prepared like your Auntie Noel,” he murmured. “But I promise not to drop ya. Oh, and look out for your Uncle Rumi. He’s mean.”
“Don’t tell him that,” Esther scolded with a laugh.
“Fine,” Titus said with a sigh. “Look out for your Uncle Rumi. He’s an idiot.”
“Titus,” Esther snapped in exasperation.
“Love you, little guy,” he murmured, ignoring her as he smiled mischievously. “Keep your dad awake as much as you can. He likes it.”
He handed Ansel back to me and called out to the girls, telling them he was leaving and blowing each of them a kiss.
“Thank you for staying with us,” I said, leaning back into the couch. My belly was like a little shelf for Ansel to rest on. I wondered if the baby inside me noticed he was there.
“Anytime,” Titus replied seriously. His gaze roamed over me before meeting my eyes. “You look good with a baby. Bye, Esther.”
“Bye,” she called as he left the room. She turned to me, her eyes wide. “Was he just flirting with you?”
“No.”
“You look good with a baby?” she mimicked his voice.
“He wasn’t flirting.”
“He was, too.”
“I’m—” I gestured to myself. “Pregnant.”
“So?”
“Men aren’t attracted to pregnant women, you lunatic.”
Esther looked around like she was searching for something. “Someone needs to tell Otto,” she mocked. “He’s going to be devastated.”
“You’re not funny.”
“Men are absolutely attracted to pregnant women.”
“Not in my experience.”
“You have very little experience,” Esther reminded me out of the side of her mouth.
“Maybe men are attracted to women that are having their baby,” I conceded, even though I’d never seen evidence of that personally. “But not random pregnant women.”
“You’re not a random pregnant woman,” she replied seriously. She tilted her head to the side. “And I wouldn’t be so sure of that anyway. I bet some men love pregnant women.”