The Wild Wolf Pup (Zoe's Rescue Zoo #9)(127)

“It’s still early,” Reina cries.

“It’s okay,” Grace assures her. “This baby will be just fine, Reina.”

My eyes meet hers in the rearview mirror, they’re red and blotchy from the tears she shed over her husband but still they shine back at me as she smiles.

“Drive, Parrish, or we’re going to deliver this baby ourselves.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I accelerated on the gas, maneuvered in and out of traffic with a brigade of Harley’s following me.

“Is it supposed to hurt this much?” Reina wails in pain.

“We’re almost there,” I tell her.

“Shut up! You’re never touching me again, Jack Parrish. Never,” she shrieks, squeezing my hand and crushing my fingers with all her might.

My lips quirk at the threat and she squeezes my hand harder.

“I’m serious,” she says through her clenched jaw.

“Sure you are, Sunshine.”

From the moment I pull up in front of the hospital everything seems to happen in a blink of an eye. We’re ushered into a labor and delivery unit where I trade my leathers for a pair of scrubs. Reina’s doctor informs us she’s progressing fast, too fast for an epidural, and for a moment I believe Sunshine truly may never let me touch her again.

I try to process everything, ingrain it to my memory, for this time I don’t want to forget a single moment of this child’s birth. I stare at Reina, brush her blonde hair away from her face and continuously kiss the top of her head as she clutches my hand and grips down.

Her screams are muffled but I feel them down in my soul as our baby makes its descent into this world.

“You’re doing great, Sunshine,” I soothe as the doctor and his staff work diligently to prepare for our baby’s entrance into the world.

The incubator is turned on.

With a clean blanket draped over her arm the nurse moves next to doctor.

The doctor lifts his eyes to Reina, holds up one finger, then another and finally a third and commands her to push.

I swallow the lump in my throat, knowing the next noise that’ll fill this room is the voice of my child’s first cry. I pray to whatever God hears me I can hear it loud and clear.

I’m not one for prayers but while I’m at it I pray for the child that is about to be born.

I pray he or she is healthy.

Please be born free of a troubled mind.

I pray he or she lives a long beautiful life.

Please go on to live way passed me.

I pray he or she never knows the ugliness of the world.

Please don’t follow in your Daddy’s footsteps.

Live.

Love.

And always find your sunshine.

I’m just about to turn my attention to Reina and thank her for the gift she’s about to give me when the doctor lifts the tiny miracle Sunshine and I created together into the air.

A strong pair of lungs lets out a shrill cry that echoes through the room.

“It’s a boy!” The doctor announces.

I hear him.

My boy, I hear his cry.

“That’s it boy, sing for Daddy,” I say with a smile, tearing my eyes away from my perfect boy to his perfect mother. “Sunshine,” I rasp.

“We have a son,” she cries into my chest.

“Dad, would you like to cut the cord?”

I lift Reina’s head from my chest and press my lips to hers.

“Thank you,” I whisper against her mouth. Two words.

I wink at my wife and turn to the doctor, taking the scissors from his hand and cut the cord. They clean him, wrap him tightly in a blanket and place him into Reina’s waiting arms. I move to stand beside her and lean close to them. He’s perfect, absolutely perfect.

“Welcome to the world, Daniel,” Reina tells our boy, rubbing the tip of her nose against his tiny one. I watch as mother and son bond for the first time and I feel a pang in my heart, the familiar dull ache for the boy I lost.

Don’t you worry Jack; your old man won’t ever forget you.

I bend my head and press my lips to my son’s bald head and stare into his precious face, watching as he yawns and struggles to open his eyes.

“You,” I whisper to him as his eyes flutter open and he stares back at me.

I don’t know how long the three of us stayed like that, wrapped up in each other’s arms blocking out the rest of the world, but I wouldn’t have minded staying like that for the rest of my life. The doctor had a different plan though, insisting they take Danny to the nursery as they moved Reina into a regular room. I guess it was a good thing they kicked me out or else I would’ve forgotten all about the people in the waiting room ’ve done a lot of shit in my life, committed a ton of sins and probably don’t deserve to be smiling like I am, but hell if it doesn’t feel good. I push the doors to the waiting room wide open and watch as every pair of eyes turn to me.

My daughter.

My right hand, best friend and future son-in-law.

Grace Pastore.

Her two daughters.

Michael Valente.

Anthony Bianci.

Riggs and his Kitten.

The three new brother’s patched into my club.

My family.

Every person in this room is mine. They are all Property of Parrish.

“It’s a boy,” I beam as the smiles spread across their faces.