I nodded, tearfully accepting his hug.
The hospital was prepared for my arrival, and all precautions had been taken for any kind of emergency. My attending nurse, Mandy, met me with an excited smile.
“Nice to meet you both. This is your first?” she clarified, reading over my chart.
“I’m her brother-in-law, Luke,” he replied, gathering my clothes and tucking them into my bag.
As she read my name, her face paled.
“Oh… Vivian, I’m sorry, I knew that,” she rushed, giving me an apologetic smile. “Keaton. Of course. Luke, are you staying with her during the birth?”
He turned to look at me as if reconfirming that nothing had changed. I nodded.
“Yes, and as long as everything goes as planned, I want to be taken to Keaton’s room as soon as she’s born.”
“Of course,” Mandy repeated, reaching for my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Everything will be fine.”
Luke was given scrubs and instructions on how to prepare for the operating room. He’d sent out a text blast to our families, and my parents responded that they were searching for flights.
“Luke,” I called, and he moved next to me at the table, gripping my hand.
“Hey, she’s shaking!” His voice drew the attention of several nurses, and I glanced around as they flocked to me.
“She’s just over-excited for little Charlie,” Mandy replied calmly, placing an oxygen mask over my face. “Just normal breaths, Vivian. You’re doing just fine.”
Tears. More fucking tears. I considered having my ducts surgically removed after this was all over.
“I’m right here, Vivie,” Luke promised with a vice-grip on my hand. “Try to keep it together,” he added softly.
“I’m trying,” I said, through the mask, and he ran his hand over my hair.
Everything happened so fast after that moment.
I was given an epidural, and Luke stood next to me as I endured. I gave up all hope of modesty as they prepped me on the table. He kept his eyes on my face, whispering reassuring words to me.
“Thank you for being here for me,” I whispered shakily.
“I’m here for all three of you,” he said, lowering his voice so only I could here. “You, Charlie, and Keaton. I’m his wingman and always have been.”
I gave a frightened grin, my hands shaking. “Thanks, Goose.”
“Alright, let’s have a baby,” Dr. Grey called lightheartedly, and I took a breath, turning to stare into Luke’s eyes.
Keaton’s eyes.
The moment Charlie Laney Thorne entered the world, her screaming cries filled the operating room. Luke burst out laughing, his eyes filling with tears as the doctor pulled her from my body.
“She’s okay?” I begged, struggling to see everything they were doing with her past the sheet-tent that was erected over my middle. “She’s breathing?”
“Of course she’s breathing, listen to her,” Luke said, grinning and bending to kiss my forehead.
Again.
“She’s healthy?” I asked again.
“She’s perfect. Beautiful. You did amazing,” he promised, suddenly filled with excited energy. “Vivie, wait till you see her-”
“I want to hold her,” I begged.
“No reason not to,” Dr. Grey answered me calmly, carrying the baby to my chest. “I’m going to fix you right up, and we’ll wheel you to the ICU. You did wonderfully, Vivian. Most routinely boring cesarean I have ever performed.”
I breathed an exhausted laugh, widening my eyes as Charlie was placed in my arms.
I held my second child in my arms for the first time.
She curled her little pink fists into the air, letting go of the most adorable cry I’d ever heard in my life. Her face was scrunched, and when I said her name to her softly, she calmed a little, turning her tiny face just slightly my way.
“She has your nose, Viv. And Keaton’s mouth. She’s so pretty, I can’t stop looking at her,” Luke said, fumbling with his phone. “Can I take a picture?”
I nodded, wiping at a tear with my shoulder as I touched her tiny fingers.
“This one’s for Daddy,” Luke said quietly, and I turned my face toward his. “Be brave, Vivie, okay?”
His familiar nickname forced a tearful smile from me, and he snapped the photo at that moment.
An hour later, I fought back the pain as the epidural began to wear off. Dr. Grey allowed the nurses to wheel me and Charlie to Keaton’s room in the ICU as long as I promised to go when the pain got too unbearable.
“I’m okay. I need to see him.”
Our beds were pushed together. I turned my face toward his, resting my cheek on the pillow as Charlie slept in my arms.
“I’ll be right outside,” Luke said gently.
I nodded, turning my gaze back to the father of my child.
“Keaton,” I whispered, tracing my finger over Charlie’s soft tuft of dark hair. “You’re a daddy.”
The monitor continued with a monotonous beep, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“She has your mouth, not mine, so she’s already in trouble,” I said with a tearful laugh. “Everything went fine, she’s fine… she’s perfect, Keaton.”
His chest rose and fell in an even pattern, and I reached for his hand.
“Please come home,” I pleaded softly, threading my hand through his. “Please come home.”
Charlie stirred in my arms, and I rocked her gently. She didn’t like that at all, and I watched her face slowly turn red as she let out a frustrated, ear-piercing cry.
“Shh,” I comforted, not wanting her to shush at all. I wanted her to cry, and move, and do all of the beautiful things that Rory never did. “I’m going to try to feed you, but it’s going to be awkward, and you’re going to make Mommy look stupid. Good job,” I teased, pressing a kiss to her soft forehead.
If there had been bright lights, a camera man, and a clapboard, I still wouldn’t have believed the sound that I heard next.
“Vivian?”
I snapped my head his way, gripping Charlie too tightly. She let out another irritated wail, and his eyes blinked as he focused on her.
“Keaton?” His voice was strained and so dry, and he coughed lightly. “Please don’t go back to sleep,” I rushed, torn between screaming for a nurse and talking to him for as long as I could. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes.” He kept his eyes on Charlie, never looking away. His body was still but his eyes, his gorgeous gold-and-green eyes, moved to mine. “Our baby?”
“Yes,” I burst, trying like hell to keep from falling apart. “She’s two hours old, Keaton. She’s perfect. Luke,” I cried, as loudly as I could without startling Charlie. “Luke!”
He blinked, and the corner of his mouth curved in just the slightest way.
“No. I’m Keaton.”
I burst out laughing, bringing his hand to my lips as Luke stopped at the doorway.
“Keat? Jesus,” he cried, turning to shout down the hall.
Charlie, completely irritated by her uncle’s loud voice, burst into furious tears.
“Don’t go to sleep,” I repeated, and I knew he could barely hear me over Charlie’s howling. “Don’t leave me.”
He blinked slowly, closing his eyes.
I stared at him, holding my breath.
My entire world caved in around me.
I was holding the most perfect part of both of us in my arms, and my heart was breaking with every second that passed.
His eyes remained closed.
I stiffened, closing my own.
And I prayed.
“Tired, kiddo?” he said, and I open my eyes, losing my ability to hold back the tears. I nodded, pressing his hand to my lips again.
“I love you,” I managed, over Charlie’s whimpering. “I love you. Promise me you won’t leave. Promise me you won’t,” I begged. A doctor hurried into the room, followed by two nurses.
Charlie’s cries drowned everyon
e’s voices out but Keaton’s sexy baritone.
His was the only voice that I could hear.
“I wouldn’t walk away from you, V,” he managed. I watched him smile for the first time in seven months as I handed my heart over to him.
“No?” I whispered, unable to believe he was truly there.
“No.” His eyes glazed with love. “Not in a million years.”
Beyond Hereafter
Movie Trilogy, Book Three
Kimberly Adams
Connect with Kimberly at
www.ADAMSROMANCE.com
Books by
Kimberly Adams
The Movie Trilogy
Below Unforgiven
On Heartbreak Ridge
Before a Perfect World
Beyond Hereafter
The Roam Series
Roam
Fall
Rise
Rush
Rule
West
Reign
The Fire Ballad Series
Eighth Note
Carousel
Accolade
Table of Contents
The Contender
Crossfire
Dark Victory
The Crying Game
Nobody’s Fool
Ruthless People
Spellbound
Meet the Parents
Perfect
Coming Home
Center Stage
Starstruck
Tension
The Do-Over
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Sting
Taken
V for Vendetta
Touch of Evil
The Big Sleep
In Time
A Perfect World
Before A Perfect World: Movie Trilogy, Book Two (The Movie 2) Page 21