Irresistible Nights by Kaylee Monroe

Epilogue

Denton

“How do you feel?” I lounged on the squeaky hospital room couch, tapping away on a tablet as we waited through the endless hours of Marcie’s labor.

Marcie put down her book and shrugged. “I assumed labor would be a little more…dramatic than this, but mostly it’s just kind of boring.”

Baby Sawyer—we never did find out the gender ahead of time—was as stubborn as his or her mother, and Marcie’s obstetrician admitted us to the hospital last night for a labor induction. An eviction, as Marcie called it.

Marcie set her book on the tray table and rubbed her big, protruding belly with a sigh. “Do you know what I’m going to do when I’m not pregnant anymore?”

I walked over and sank into the chair next to her bed. “Drink a vodka tonic?”

She snorted. “Nope, that’s not in the cards for a while. No, I want to sleep on my damn stomach. Do you know how hard it is to get comfortable in bed with this belly?”

I caressed her round stomach, mindful of the fetal heart monitor strapped to the front. “Just a few more hours.”

Under my palm, the baby kicked hard. I laughed delightedly and rubbed the spot. I would miss reaching over in the middle of the night to stroke Marcie’s belly, waiting for the baby to kick and loving every tiny movement. With Marcie asleep, it was like my special time with my child.

A soft knock sounded on the door and Dr. Liu poked her head in.

“How’s everybody doing?” she asked. She pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked briskly inside, up to the foot of Marcie’s bed. “Those contractions are really close together, so I need to check and see how things are progressing.”

“Really?” Marcie glanced over at the monitor in surprise. “I can’t feel anything.”

“Epidurals are magic.” Dr. Liu pushed the sheet up over Marcie’s knees and leaned in close to check her dilation. Then, she ducked down and popped back up half a second later. “Oh, yeah, it’s time. I can see the head now.”

Marcie’s eyes went wide. “Wait, what?”

Dr. Liu laughed. “Yeah, your epidural worked very well.”

Nurses streamed into the room, and in what felt like just a few seconds, the space transformed from a quiet, sleepy little hospital room into a delivery room. I sat up near Marcie’s head, her hand gripped tightly in mine as the nurses helped her get into position to push and Dr. Liu scooted in between her spread legs.

“Okay, push now,” the nurse instructed.

Marcie still looked terrified, but took a deep breath and nodded, then bore down hard.

“Again,” the nurse said.

She gripped my hand tightly each time and pushed for all she was worth. I had never seen anything like it—she was brave and fierce and beautiful as she summoned unfathomable strength to keep going.

“Last one,” Dr. Liu said. “Just one more big push.”

A shriek escaped her as she bore down again, and as soon as she fell silent, another smaller noise took her place. A baby’s tiny, furious cry.

“It’s a boy,” Dr. Liu announced. She held up a red-faced baby, mouth open as he bleated his annoyance at being forced from the warm darkness of his mother’s body. “Daddy, do you want to cut the cord?”

I nodded, overwhelmed with emotion, and reached out with shaking hands to take the scissors and cut.

A tear trickled down Marcie’s cheek as she relaxed her head against the pillow and looked at me, smiling. A nurse placed the baby—our son—on her chest and covered him with a warm blanket as we huddled together, our first moments as a family.

“I love you so much,” I said, my voice thick with unshed tears.

I reached out and touched my son’s tiny fingers as he flexed and grasped. He squinted in the bright light of his new world as we explored his hands, his hair and the tiny feet that kicked gently against Marcie’s now-empty belly.

“I love both of you,” she said tiredly. “I can’t believe he’s here.”

I leaned forward and gently kissed her cheek, feeling happier than I’d ever felt in my life. “Will you marry me?”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “You want to get married? I thought you didn’t want to get married again. I was worried to ask about it.”

On her chest, our son started to root, and a nurse stepped in to help her latch him onto her nipple. We both watched in quiet wonder as he sleepily nursed.

“I wanted to marry you ages ago,” I said, pushing back stray strands of hair that had fallen in her face. “I didn’t want you to think I was only proposing because you were pregnant, though.”

She laughed. “Well, I’m not pregnant anymore, but only just.”

I kissed her one more time and placed a hand against my son’s back as he nursed. “So, will you marry me?” I asked again, since she hadn’t given me an answer.

In her arms, underneath my supporting hand, our son sighed against his mother’s breast. She dropped a tearful kiss on his forehead and then turned to me with a watery smile.

“Yes,” she said, placing a soft hand on my cheek. “Yes, Denton Sawyer, I’ll marry you.”

Profound relief and joy rushed through me, that I’d been given this second chance at love.

Marcie was right about me and marriage—I’d thought it wasn’t in the cards for me again. But then I met a brilliant and wild young woman who showed me her bottomless, beautiful heart. Who made a family with me. It took me a long time to get to that point, but at that moment with Marcie, as we huddled together with our brand-new child and basked in the magic of our love for each other, I knew that it was worth the wait.

Don’t miss Frankie and Clive’s steamy story in IRRESISTIBLE AFFAIR!

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