Traded by Lisa Suzanne
CHAPTER 20
“I need to go to the hospital,” Jack declares when he walks into the kitchen freshly showered the next morning. He smells as divine as usual as he passes by where I sit at the table, and I breathe the air in subconsciously as I take that scent into my lungs before I realize what I’m doing.
It’s early—a little after seven—and I’m ready to go since I’ve been getting up at the crack of dawn just in case he needs to go somewhere in the morning and doesn’t have time to wait for me to get ready.
Well, that added on top of the fact that I don’t really want him to see what I look like just having freshly rolled out of bed. I’ve only been here a week. I’m not quite ready for that yet.
My brows dip as worry fills me—worry for a situation I know nothing about other than Jack announcing the next location on his very busy agenda. “Is everything okay?”
He nods, and when he turns to look at me, he has a soft smile on his face. “Ellie had the baby.”
“How exciting,” I gush. “Congratulations, Uncle Jack.”
His soft smile lifts a little as he shakes his head. “I thought it’d be Kaylee’s kids calling me that first, not Luke’s.” He pauses, and then he adds, “Though I didn’t think I’d be called Daddy before either of those events. Except, you know, in bed.”
He waggles his eyebrows, and I can’t help my laugh.
“Are you ready to go?” he asks, and I nod. “Get in the truck.” His tone is gruff, but there’s a bit of teasing in it, too.
He blasts Motley Crue the whole way there, and he seems to have a particular affinity for their Dr. Feelgood album, which is cool since my dad does, too. We pull into a parking space, and he grabs a ballcap from the backseat. He pulls it down low over his eyes, and we head into the hospital.
“Are you sure it’s okay I’m here?” I ask.
Jack shrugs. “I guess we’re a package deal for the short term.” He still sounds annoyed by that, but I feel like I sense a little less irritation than last week. I count it as progress.
He texts Luke to let him know we’re here then stops at the gift shop for the biggest blue balloon arrangement in the place plus a flower arrangement for Ellie. Luke greets us in the lobby and laughs at the over-the-top balloons.
“Congratulations, man,” Jack says to his brother, and the two meet in the middle for a hug as Jack claps him on the back. “How’s it feel?”
Luke shakes his head and lets out a breath. “Incredible. Terrifying. Amazing. Exhausting.” He lets off a little chuckle. “He was born at three in the morning and I haven’t slept more than an hour at a time in over forty-eight hours now.”
I hug him, too, and offer my own congratulations. And holy shit, I’m hugging Luke Dalton. What even is this life?
Jack laughs during our quick hug. “Get used to it, but it’ll pass. How’s he doing? And Ellie?”
“Both are perfect,” Luke says. His lips tip softly at the corners. “Beyond perfect. Come meet him.” He turns to lead us to Ellie’s room.
“I’ll just wait here,” I say, not wanting to interrupt this sweet family moment. It’s not like Jack is going to get arrested here in the hospital.
Jack turns around with his brows knit together. “Nonsense,” he says.
He flicks his neck in one of those come on motions just as Luke says, “Come on.”
I guess I’m part of this, which feels strange since it should be Jack’s fiancée here...though I can’t think of a single person who will be in that room who’d actually want her there.
I follow him through the halls to the maternity ward, and he brings us straight to their room where Ellie is lying on the bed and the baby is in a bassinet beside her. Jack leans down to hug his sister-in-law. “How’re you feeling?” he asks.
She smiles, and she looks exhausted but beyond elated. “Tired and a little sore, but I’ve never been happier.” Her eyes land on her husband, and the emotion that passes between the two of them is so strong that I can feel it as a total outsider.
“Congratulations,” I say softly, my eyes feeling a little misty as I glance over at the sweet baby boy sleeping beside his mother. “What’s his name?”
“Nolan Timothy Dalton,” Ellie says.
Jack turns to Luke with surprise. “Timothy?”
Luke presses his lips together. “Ellie let me pick the middle name.”
“What an amazing tribute to Dad,” Jack says, and I gather Timothy was his name. “He would’ve been so proud of you.”
Luke shrugs with modesty, but it’s clear there’s an underlying respect, appreciation, and love between the brothers. When I was researching Jack’s history, though, I got the impression it wasn’t always that way.
It is now. That’s all that matters.
“I don’t want to wake him, but I had to stop by to see him and congratulate you both,” Jack says softly. He looks between Luke and Ellie. “You two are going to be the most amazing parents. Nolan is a lucky boy.”
“He’s also lucky he has a cousin four months older than him whose father will surely show both boys all the things we’ll have to undo,” Ellie jokes.
Jack laughs and messes up his brother’s hair affectionately, and Luke pushes him away. For a second, it’s like they’re little boys messing with one another, and it’s sort of totally adorable.
We say our goodbyes and take off without ever having gotten to hold the baby, but I’d still venture to say that this trip to the hospital was a turning point.
Jack is becoming more and more human every day to me, and that can only spell trouble where my heart is concerned.
