Mum leans forward, pride and love pouring from her. She presses her hand to my cheek whilst kissing the other. “Loving you has always been easy.”
I beam as I stare down at my daughter. “I’m still scared I’ll mess up. But I’ll deal. Because she needs me to. And for her, I’ll be strong.”
Dad leans forward, placing his hand on my knee. “Lily, you’re always going to wonder if you are doing things right, or if it’s wrong. You’ll always fret about the small things. You’ll be scared every day. But that’s what it means to be a parent, to care so much about someone else that you just want to be the best you. For them. For you. For your family,” he explains, smiling at me. “And you’ve never failed at anything. Parenting for you is going to be a breeze. And if it’s not, you’ve got us and the rest of your family who will step in and help.”
“And by that, he means, let us please, at least get once a week, babysitting duty,” Mum adds, her tone light. “With Madison taking on more responsibilities at the shop, I’m no longer needed there.”
“Maybe in a month or two. I’m, um, I’m not going back to work. Not for a while. I want to be at home with Rose.”
“You aren’t going back to work?” Dad asks, a little stumped over it.
“I want to be a mum. I want to enjoy every road this journey will take me down. I will go back eventually. Just not right now.”
Mum gives me a light squeeze. “It doesn’t change anything, sweetheart. You and Jaxon will need a date night soon enough and we will be here to babysit.”
I smile at her attempt to change the subject back. “Yeah, we will. Thank you, Mum.”
Jaxon steps into the room, smiling as he glances down at me. “You couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
I giggle. “Technically, Mum got her out, but nope, I couldn’t. I just want to hold her forever.”
He takes a seat on the other side of me, just as Max and Lake step through. Lake immediately rushes over, bending down to see Rose.
“Oh, Lily, she is beautiful.”
“Would you like to hold her?” I ask.
She nods and gently takes Rose from my arms. My heart stops for a moment, but I remember she’s okay, that she’s with Lake. And if anyone can survive raising triplets, one baby will be a breeze.
“God, I forgot how small they are,” she murmurs.
Max scrunches his nose up. “Don’t go getting any ideas. I gave you three. That’s enough, woman.” He leans over to get a peek, and I smile as his expression softens. “She is cute. The boys were ugly babies.”
“Max, no they weren’t.”
He looks to his wife like she has two heads. “Babe, Landon had an egg head for weeks and Liam’s face looked wrinkly and old.”
“What about Hayden?” Jaxon asks, grinning.
“Most beautiful baby in the world. Except for this one of course.”
“I can’t believe you said that about our boys. You held them after I gave birth and said they were beautiful,” Lake argues, keeping her voice low.
“I lied.”
Lake goes red in the face. “You lied?”
“They had blood and all sorts of shit on them. And you were a mess. I went on auto pilot and said the first thing that came to me. But come on, you have to admit, it was cringy.”
“Max, do not speak to me.” I try not to laugh as she hands me back my daughter. “Lily, congratulations. I’ll pop in again soon. Alone.”
“Thank you for coming.”
She nods. “You’ve got presents upstairs. We didn’t want to overwhelm you, so we dropped all of the Christmas and baby presents upstairs.”
I love my family. “Thank you.”
She walks out, but as she reaches the door, she stops, turning and jabbing her finger in her husband’s direction. “Do not follow me.”
He drops down into the armchair, huffing. “I’m not wrong.”
“Max, quit while you’re ahead,” Dad mutters, causing me and Mum to laugh.
Max expression changes, and I know the incident that just happened has been completely erased from his mind.
He slaps his hand down on the arm of the chair. “Bro, are you trying to outdo everyone by having the most of everything? First with your kids, and now with the grandkids. Faith will be next, old man.”
Dad arches an eyebrow. “How do you know Hayden won’t be next?”
I laugh at Max’s expression. His jaw drops, and his eyes bulge. “My Hayden is waiting for the right guy.”
“She’s with Clayton,” I remind him. “And they love each other very much.”
“Yeah, and he’s alright for a suit, but he steals her food, and she hates it. She wants to wait for the right guy, for marriage, so I’m good on that front.”
“You gave her permission to have kids,” Mum points out.
“I didn’t mean to say it. It was in the heat of the moment. Sheesh, why does everyone keeping bringing up old shit?”
“Well, I don’t care. I love my grandchildren and wouldn’t change them for the world,” Dad tells him.
“Don’t, Dad; Jaxon is already planning for the next one,” I tease.
He glares at Jaxon. “She’s just given birth.”
Jaxon chuckles. “She said the same thing. I’m happy to enjoy the three of us for a while, but I’m not going to lie, I want more kids.”
“Me too,” I agree, running my finger down Rose’s cheek. I couldn’t picture my life not being a mum now. She’s the centre of my world. My everything.
And Jaxon gave this to me. He gave me love. A life. He gave me a family.
Faith steps into the room, smiling. “Are you up for two new guests?”
Faith has been at the hospital with me. Neither her or Mum left my side, and I’ll be forever grateful they were there for me during the birth and after.
“Who is up next?” Jaxon asks.
“Star and Miah want to come in and say hi.”
I nod vigorously. “Please, send them in. I want them to meet Rose.”
She nods and leaves to go let them in. “Mum, thank you so much for setting this up for us. It means the world to me.”
“It wasn’t just me. Liza and everyone else helped too.”
When Star heads through, she doesn’t barrel into the room screaming. If anything, she’s tiptoeing, and being cautious, her hand clasped around Miah’s.
“Come meet Rose,” I encourage softly.
Mum moves out of the way. “Take a seat, Miah. I’m going to help out in the kitchen.”
He reluctantly takes a seat next to me as I hold out Rose for Star to see. “She’s so tiny,” she murmurs in awe.
“She is.”
“And she was born on Christmas Day?”
“Yeah, she was. She made a proper little entrance.”
“Lily?” she calls but stops herself from whatever she’s about to ask.
“What do you want to ask, sweetie?”
“Do you think she will want to play with me when she’s older?”
I smile at the kind-hearted girl in front of me. “Star, she’s going to want to be your best friend when she’s older. I have no doubts about it.”