Risqué Business (Club Risqué #8)

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

I t was amazing how quickly one could forget all the bad things.

The moment Desi held their baby girl in her arms, the dreadful fear, the bed-rest boredom, her inability to do her job, and even the frustration of the ‘no sex’ ban, all faded away into insignificance.

This little bundle in her arms was worth every imaginable kind of hardship… in fact, it was no hardship at all, when this was the payout.

“How are you feeling?” Joel asked, running a cool, damp cloth over her sweaty forehead as the maternity staff bustled around them, doing whatever it was they did after the birth of a baby.

“I feel great!” Desi exclaimed, with what she was certain was a soppy smile on her face. Not even the physical exhaustion of the past few hours, the seemingly endless pushing, or the pain could spoil this moment for her.

She had a healthy baby daughter, and all she could feel was exhilarated.

“A girl…” Joel smiled softly and touched a finger to the baby’s head. “I have to admit, I was expecting a boy.”

Desi frowned. “Are you disappointed?”

“What? Absolutely not!” Joel denied with a vigorous shake of his head. “I guess I just thought because everything we’ve done in our lives has been so similar, since Jake had a boy first, I assumed we would too.”

His smile was soft, and his eyes glassy as he looked at Desi and pressed a gentle kiss to her upturned lips. “But this little one. She’s my little princess.”

Desi melted into him, and they stayed in their own little huddle, just the three of them, for a long moment, until Doctor Smith announced he needed to do the post-birth checks on both mother and daughter.

One of the nurses looked between the two of them. “Do you have a name?” she asked as she wrote out a baby ID bracelet.

Joel raised a questioning eyebrow. Truth was, Desi had been convinced she was having a boy too, so those were the names they’d discussed. Why the heck hadn’t they considered any girls' names?

“I had an idea for a girl,” he said tentatively, his eyes fixed on Desi.

“What is it?” she whispered, tipping her head to one side, surprised that he’d given it any thought.

He paused for a second. “Daisy.”

It felt like her entire body smiled at the suggestion. They’d come full circle.

Desi nodded her head and turned to the nurse. “Yes,” she confirmed, looking back at her husband. “Daisy.

An hour later, the two of them were napping, and so was the baby, when there was a gentle tap on the door.

“Leave them to sleep. I bet they need it…” Desi was vaguely aware of the hushed whisper and opened her eyes to see Jake and Charlotte backing out of her private room.

“It’s fine,” she told them. “I was just resting my eyes. Come on in.”

Charlotte hurried over to the bassinet and peered inside. Her eyes went wide as she took in the pink blanket Daisy was swaddled in. “Oh! You have a girl!”

Joel was awake by now. He stood up and stretched before Jake pulled him into a bear hug and slapped him on the back. “Congratulations, man.”

“Wow. A girl, huh?”

He looked over at Charlotte and gave her a wink. “Perhaps we might have a pink one next.”

He placed his hand lovingly over her flat tummy, but the look in his eyes was distinctly gooey.

“Oh, my word. Are you…?”

Charlotte coloured ever so slightly, and jabbed Jake in the ribs. Their son, Jacob, was only seven months old. “We only just found out.” She scowled at Jake, who was beaming. “I’m only four weeks along. We weren’t going to tell anyone yet.”

“I can’t help it. I'm too excited,” Jake admitted exuberantly.

Desi wasn’t surprised. He’d missed out on a lot of Charlotte’s first pregnancy.

“Then I guess congratulations are in order all around,” Joel said with a grin as he slapped his cousin on the back. “I can’t think of anything better than another generation of Blackwoods all growing up together.”