Page 109 of Floored

Jude set a hand on Logan's shoulder before he approached the bed.

"You did," he said quietly, wiping my face carefully. "A bloody warrior."

I smiled up at him. "Should we tell them the name?"

Jude kissed me softly. "Go ahead."

My family looked at me expectantly, except Logan, who was staring at the baby again. I smiled. "We'd like you guys to meet Logan Gabriel Ward McAllister."

Paige covered her mouth, sniffing noisily. "Welp, here I go again."

Logan's eyes flew to mine. "What?" he whispered gruffly. "You named him after me?"

I nodded. "We'll call him Gabriel." I slid my hand into Jude's and smiled up at him.

Logan's jaw clenched, and he feathered a hand over Gabriel's fluffy black hair. "Thank you. Both of you."

Isabel rested her head on Logan's shoulder, Molly held Isabel's hand, the diamond of her newly acquired engagement ring winking on her finger, and Claire was next to Molly, an arm around our eldest sister's waist.

Logan cleared his throat. "All right, I need someone to take him before I start ugly crying."

"My turn," the sisters said in perfect unison.

I laughed as they argued over who got him next.

With Jude at my side, his hand curled around mine, I felt almost impossibly happy and impossibly overwhelmed.

It was amazing, I thought, where you could end up when life gave you something you didn't choose for yourself.

Maybe that was how it was supposed to work. We could make all the plans we wanted, but ultimately, the exact right path for us was the one we'd end up on.

And this was mine.

EPILOGUE

Lia

8 weeks later

“Hush little baby, don’t say a word,” I sang, rocking Gabriel in his nursery, “Momma’s gonna go have private time with Daddy, and I’ll buy you a freaking pony if you stay asleep for the next hour.”

The words didn’t fit with the melody, but I was so deprived of sexy times with Jude and sleep, in general, I could not have cared less what came out of my mouth as long as it got Gabriel to go down for his nap.

My darling little angel stared up at me, but his blinks got slower and heavier, and when he finally, finally conked out, I breathed out a sigh of relief.

Honestly, I loved him so much it was terrifying, but he was the worst sleeper in the entire world. As I laid him down in his crib, I smiled. His hair, still as dark as when he was born, stuck straight out from his head like he’d stuck one of his fingers into a light socket.

Just like when Emmett was born, my son was continually fought over by every single member of my family, and the horrible side effect was a child who only got to sleep when someone was rocking him. I blamed Paige because she’d been known to knock people over in order to reach Gabriel first.

I turned on the white noise maker on the dresser in the nursery, and tiptoed out of the room with my newly acquired ninja sneaking skills, something I was told you inherited upon birthing a light sleeper.

Jude had the day off, and since it had been hard to find time for a little “Mom and Dad alone” time once I cleared the six-week mark, we’d blocked out an hour on our calendars so no one could schedule any meetings and no one could infringe on something we both craved.

With the nursery door closed, I exhaled loudly. “Hallelujah.”

I whipped off my top and grimaced at the sight of my super sexy nursing bra. Then I shrugged because I knew one person who wouldn’t care in the slightest, and that was Jude. He loved the curves I still hadn’t quite lost since Gabriel had been born, something he reminded me of every time he slid his hands around my hips or ducked his head to kiss the tops of my gloriously huge boobs.

The door to our bedroom was cracked open, and soft music played from inside. It had taken me a bit longer to get Gabriel asleep than I planned, but I told Jude to keep the bed warmed up and ready for me.