Bought by a Millionaire (13 page)

“O
nce more should do the trick,” Dr. Cox announced cheerfully from somewhere behind the sheet that draped Shannon's bent legs.

She groaned, rocking her head on the hospital pillow. Sweat drenched her brow, dripping into her dark copper curls.

“Come on, sweetheart, you can do it.” Burke ran a cool cloth over his wife's face before taking hold of her shoulders and lifting her into a sitting position. “One more big push and we'll be holding the baby we've been waiting for all these months. Don't you want to hold him? Or her?”

“No,” she huffed with an adorable pout. “You have the baby. I want to go home.”

“I would if I could, darling, but you're the star of this show. Now come on. One more push and we can go home. You can sleep for a week, if you want.”

“Really?”

“I promise.”

He watched the contraction building on the monitor as Shannon took a deep breath and began to push. She squeezed his hand until the bones rubbed together, but he barely noticed. She'd been in labor for sixteen hours—the longest sixteen hours of his life—and he hated to see her in this much pain, especially when he was partially responsible.

“Eureka!” the doctor exclaimed as an earsplitting wail filled the room. His grin was so big, he might have been holding his own newborn. “It's a girl! Good job, Shannon. You can lie back and relax now.”

The strength seeped from her body like a tire going flat and she collapsed against the bed. “Is she all right?” she asked breathlessly. “I want to see her.”

“She's beautiful,” Burke told her, watching as the nurse wrapped the baby in a blue cloth and cleaned her up a bit before laying her on her mother's stomach.

The baby settled the second Shannon touched her. She stared up at them with wide, wondrous owl eyes, her pink lips pulled into a rosebud pucker.

Burke's eyes grew damp, and he didn't even try to blink away the tears as he looked down at two of the most important people in his life. His wife and his brand-new daughter.

“Oh, look how perfect she is,” Shannon whispered through tears of her own, stroking each and every one of the baby's tiny fingers and toes.

“You're both perfect.” Leaning in to rest his temple on the crown of her head, he looked with awe on the sweet little girl who had just been entrusted into his care. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome. Though you did have something to do with it.”

“Just the initial stages,” he replied with a grin. And then he turned serious, running a hand over her damp hair. “I love you, Shannon.”

She raised her gaze to his, an angelic smile on her lips. “I love you, too.”

Those words, coming from her, never failed to send a hitch through his chest and remind him of how damn lucky he was—and how stupid he'd been to nearly let her slip away. Thank God he'd come to his senses or he might never have known what true happiness felt like.

“Do you have a name in mind?”

She shook her head. “I like Abby or Allison, but you like Sarah and Lisa.”

“Maybe we should bring Ben in. We can introduce him to his new baby sister and let him decide what we'll call her.”

Shannon's face lit up. “Oh, yes. Please go get him.”

Burke darted out of the birthing room while the doctor and nursing staff cleaned up and saw to the rest of Shannon's medical care. He fetched his three-year-old son from Shannon's mother, who had moved in with them shortly after their wedding, and the nanny they'd hired to help around the house during the last weeks of Shannon's pregnancy, and returned in less than a minute.

“Mommy!”

“Hi, sweetie. Come here.” She patted a space on the bed beside her and both Burke and Ben slid in beside her. She tilted her other arm so he could see the baby resting against her breast. “This is your new sister,” she said in a low voice. “But Mommy and Daddy can't decide what to name her, and we thought you could help. We were thinking of calling her Sarah or maybe—”

“Molly.”

“Molly?” Burke and Shannon said at the same time. They exchanged a look, both trying not to laugh because Molly just happened to be the name of the animated dog on Ben's favorite television cartoon.

Ben reached out and brushed the tip of his finger over the baby's forehead, down her nose, across her lips, and under her chin. She gazed up at him intently. “I want to call her Molly.”

“I kind of like it,” Burke murmured after a moment.

“It's not bad,” Shannon agreed. “There are worse things than being named after a purple cocker spaniel, I guess.”

“Molly it is, then. Thanks, buddy.” Burke ruffled his son's dark-brown hair. “We never would have thought of that on our own.”

For a long while, they sat in silence and Burke merely watched his family, taking in every detail of the picture they made as his entire being filled with complete contentment. With only their wedding coming in a close second, he hadn't thought he could be happier than the first time he'd held Ben immediately following his birth. But now, he felt his heart swelling larger than he'd ever imagined possible. Everything he'd ever wanted was right here in front of him. Everything and more—so much more than he'd dreamed, thanks to Shannon.

She'd brought laughter and passion and colors as bright as the sun into his otherwise black-and-white existence. Midnight feedings, dirty diapers and childish smiles that melted his heart. He'd rearranged his life for them—for her and for their children—and didn't regret it for a single second.

Tucking her head into the curve of his shoulder, he waited for everyone else to drift off before he closed his eyes and followed them into sleep, his whole world wrapped safely in the circle of his arms.