Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“Ford, hey,” Griffen said distractedly. “Awesome, come here.”
“What?” I asked, crossing the room to meet him in front of the fireplace.
He shoved Stella into my arms. “Take her.”
“No— I can’t—” My words fell on deaf ears. Before I was done sputtering them out, Stella was in my arms, and Griffen was disappearing out the door of his office. I would have called after him, but the jogging thumps of his feet on the floor told me he was long gone.
Fuck.
I didn’t think I’d ever held a baby before. Was I even doing it right? Stella sucked in a shuddering breath and expelled it in an ear-splitting wail. Oh, poor kid. I didn’t know what was wrong, but whatever it was, she was miserable. I gave an exploratory sniff, but all I got was lavender and baby powder, so—not her diaper.
Making sure my arm was secure under her butt, I leaned her into my shoulder. Her teary cheeks were hot and wet on my collarbone, forehead pressed against my neck as I patted her back uselessly. “It’s okay. It’s okay, kid. Whatever it is, your dad’s going to work it out.” I hoped. Because while she wasn’t fighting, she hadn’t stopped screaming either.
I patted and soothed, surprised by how much she weighed. After what seemed like an eternity, she let out a snuffling sigh, the volume of her wail fading. After a few shuddering breaths, she stopped crying completely, her little back rising and falling under my patting hand.
Was she asleep? I didn’t know. But I was going to stand here for as long as it took, rocking side to side, patting her back, and praying that whatever I’d done to calm her down kept working. How could Griffen have just left me with a baby? I couldn’t have been less confident.
The door flew open, and Griffen burst back in, his eyes a little frantic, a bright pink thing clutched in his hand. “Teething,” he said as he crossed the room toward me.
At the sound of her father’s voice, Stella stirred, whimpering, one little hand reaching out in his direction. Griffen thrust the pink thing at Stella and me. She closed her little fingers around it and shoved it in her mouth, stretching her lips around the frosty plastic as she gnawed so aggressively that I wondered if she was trying to chew through it. I shifted my hold to hand her back to Griffen. With a tight grin, he evaded me.
“She stopped screaming,” he said. “My ears need a break. Hang on to her for a few minutes, would you? I’ll take her if she gets restless.”
“What is that?” I asked, watching my niece work her gums on the pink thing.
“Frozen teething ring. Her first tooth is coming in, and she’s miserable with it,” he replied. “Thanks. The ring usually settles her down, but I put it back in the freezer and forgot to grab it.”
“No problem,” I lied. “We’re fine.” That part wasn’t a lie. We were. Shockingly.
Stella cuddled into my chest, seemingly content and unaware that I was totally unqualified to hold a baby. Or maybe she sensed my connection to her father and was comforted.
“It’s weird,” I said, stroking a hand down her back. “Seeing you with a baby. She looks like a perfect little mishmash of you and Hope.” Stella’s hair was a mass of white-blonde curls, exactly like Griffen’s had been when he was a kid. Her eyes were Hope’s whiskey-shaded hazel. She had a little pink rosebud mouth and rounded cheeks.
Griffen grinned at his daughter, a fierce love in his eyes. “I know. She’s perfect. Life is funny,” he started. “I wasn’t planning on any of this, but—” Maybe realizing who he was talking to, he stopped abruptly and shifted his weight on his feet.
I could feel the tension filling the room. “I know what you mean,” I said quickly. “This wasn’t exactly my plan either. But it worked out for you—” Griffen started to say something, and I shook my head. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant, despite everything that came before, you’re where you were supposed to be the whole time.”
Griffen looked like he wasn’t sure how to take that. God, I sucked at making amends. I didn’t know how to say what I needed to say. I didn’t know what Griffen needed to hear—or, if I did know, whether I had what it took to tell him. We stared at each other in awkward silence for too long.
Footsteps sounded in the hall, and we both turned to see Paige come in.
“Griffen,” she said, her eyes going straight to Stella, her face draining of color as she realized I was holding the baby. “I’ll take her,” she said, coming close enough to snatch Stella from my arms before drawing her a safe distance away.