Shepard

16 - Say hello to Daddy

Shepard

I take the stairs two at a time. Luckily, Lynette’s room is on the first floor.

“Dad!” I’m rushed and tackled by Both Willow and Jett. I hug them to me for a moment; I’ve fuckin’ missed them.

My mother leans over and kisses my cheek. “It’s good to have you back, sweetheart.”

I can’t answer her; I only smile.

“Daddy, the baby came!”

“What?!”

What the fuc.k!?

The baby came?

It wasn’t due for two more weeks!

“Dad?”

I look at my boy. He’s smiling, which tells me everything went well; I have nothing to worry about other than the fact I wasn’t here for Lynette when she gave birth like I promised I would be.

“Mom gave birth about an hour ago. The baby wouldn’t wait until we got her to the hospital.” Oh my God! “I can see the panic in your eyes.” Jett laughs.

This isn’t funny!

“Jett!”

“Dad!” He mocks. He should think himself lucky that right now I’m not the kind of man who slaps his kids about! “They’re fine. Taylor called the doctor, who came right away and delivered the baby. We were just asked to leave the room while Taylor helped Mom bathe.” He tells me more seriously. Every fuckin’ cell in my body is zinging right now.

“He’s beautiful, Daddy!” Willow hugs my side the way little girls do when they’re excited.

“He?”

“You got another son, Dad.” My boy pats me on the back like he’s one of the guys.

“And he looks just like you.” My mother tells me with a smile.

“He does?”

“Yes,” She giggles. “He does.”

Just then, Taylor comes out of the room, her eyes as wide as her smile when she sees me. “Shepard! Oh, I’m so glad you’re here.” She squeezes my arm.

“Is she okay?”

“Lynette’s perfect,” She tells me with a smile. “I just helped her to bed. Jett, why don’t you take your sister downstairs and get her a hot chocolate? I need to have a quick word with your dad before he sees your mom.”

“I’ll take them.” Mom offers. “Apollo will be pacing the floor down there, wondering if everything is okay. You remember what he was like when Jett and Nova were born.”

I chuckle.

My old man was awful when Jett came along, pacing the floor, wearing a hole in the rug; he was that nervous.

“Then I can see my baby brother?”

Taylor tells Willow that she can see the baby as soon as she’s finished her hot chocolate. Both Willow and Jett leave happily with my mother.

As soon as they’re out of earshot, Taylor rounds on me. Gone is the smile, and out comes the Taylor Anderson snarl, the one that would make any man cringe.

“Why the hell haven’t you been answering your damn phone?” I open my mouth to speak, but I should’ve known I’d never get a word in edgewise. “And if Jack thinks I’ll let him get away with ignoring my damn calls all evening, he’s very much mistaken.”

I pity BlackJack right now. Taylor is a wonderful woman, but she’s one you don’t mess with, no matter who you are.

“Lynette sobbed her damn heart out for you.”

That hurts.

God, I wanted to be here for her, but how the hell was I supposed to know she’d go into labor two weeks early?

With Jett and Nova, I was there for both of their births. I made sure I was, even if Celia didn’t want me in the room. I was also there when Willow was born. I shouldn’t have been in the room when a sixteen-year-old gave birth, and I didn’t look between her legs, but Lynette was terrified, and her useless partner was nowhere to be seen. Celia was too busy barking orders at Lynette to help calm her down. I stroked Lynette’s hair, calmed her, encouraged her, and watched Willow come into the world, but I’ve missed the birth of my newborn son, and that’s something I can’t get back.

“She needed you here, Shepard. I know you’ve been out there dealing with those motherf. . .” Typical Taylor, always holding back the curse words in case a child might hear her. “Just get in there and hold her. She’s exhausted, but she needs you right now.”

I kiss Taylor’s cheek in thanks for being there for Lynette when I couldn’t.

She grabs my wrist gently. “She did great, and he’s beautiful.” She tells me with a smile.

Deep breath, that’s what I take before opening the large white door that will lead to my wife and newborn son. I feel a little emotional the second my eyes land on the angel sitting in bed. Her hair is loose, and she’s dressed in a white night slip, a blanket covering her legs, cradling a tiny baby wrapped in the white shawl my mother knitted for him. My beautiful wife, my reason to keep on fighting, to keep on living, is singing softly to the babe in her arms.

I close the door quietly, knowing she hadn’t heard me enter in the first place. The second the lock clicks, her eyes shoot in my direction, her face a mixture of shock and relief. The smile on her face and the tears in her eyes have me walking faster toward her.

“Vincent,” She sobs my name as I sit beside her, take her face in my hands, and kiss her softly.

“I’m so sorry, baby, I should have been here for you,” I kiss her again.

“It’s okay; you’re home now. You are home now, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” I kiss her head and tell her, “Everything has been dealt with. They’re gone now, baby,”

She sobs quietly, relief filling her. I want to hold her so badly, but my eyes are now on the little man in my wife’s arms. The little man with tiny tufts of dark hair, the little man who even I can see looks like me already, my mom was right.

“He’s beautiful, isn’t he?” I can’t speak; I can only nod while stroking my son’s head. “Say hello to Daddy, VJ.”

“VJ?”

“Vincent Junior. The second I saw him, the name jumped out at me.”

We hadn’t discussed names; we just never seemed to get around to it. Or maybe it was the fact that when we so much as tried, nothing popped out at us. But Lynette wants to give our boy my name. Fuckin’ pride fills me.

“What do you think?”

“It’s perfect. God, I’m so sorry I wasn’t here.”

She smiles while cupping my face, drawing my attention to her. “You’re here now, baby. Do you want to hold him?”

I gently take VJ from Lynette. He’s so damn tiny, and I’m a monster in comparison, but I hold him to my chest and kiss his perfect little head while breathing in the scent of newborn skin. His little fingers clutch my pointer finger, and I smile at the fact that he’s already a strong little thing. One day, he’ll be running the Snakes with his big brother. President and VP. Yeah, that sounds much better.

“I love you,” I tell my wife, my beautiful, amazing wife.

“I love you, too, Vince. So much. . .” Her voice trails off as she’s lost to sleep. I kiss her head before taking my newborn son to officially meet his big brother and sister, his grandparents, and everyone else in the damn house. They will love and protect him as much as his mother and I will. He’s a lucky boy. I just hope he isn’t a cursed one.