Vegas Aces: The Wide Receiver Complete Series

CHAPTER 20 TRISTAN

I’ve always been attracted to Tessa, but the things she’s doing right now…they’re the most incredible things I’ve ever seen anybody do. Ever.

I’m holding her thigh up while a nurse holds her other thigh and a doctor looks between her legs. She’s pushing as hard as she can to get the baby out, and holy hell is the female body an incredible thing.

“I see the head,” the doctor says. “Push, Tessa!”

She pushes, and the baby doesn’t come. She’s been pushing for the last hour, and I can tell she’s exhausted. She can’t eat or drink anything, though, and she’s a real champ as she keeps trying each time a contraction hits.

“And relax,” the doctor says. “We’ve got about three minutes to rest and then I can feel it. She’s coming.”

In another three minutes, the baby will be here.

Tessa will be a mom. She already is, and she has been for both the last nine months and the last seven years. But she’ll actually get to mother this baby. The events that led her here were partially out of her control, but she gets to make the decisions now, and the fact that she has decided that I get to be a part of her life and her baby’s life means everything to me.

I will not let her down.

“Get ready,” the doctor says, and just before I grab her leg, I lean down and press a kiss to her lips.

“You’ve got this, Tessa. I’m so fucking proud of you.”

Her eyes fill with tears and she purses her lips as she nods once, a determined look crossing onto her face.

“Push!” the doctor yells, and she does with a mighty yell.

I try to watch everything—to see Tessa as she faces one of the many difficult challenges of motherhood, to see the baby as she slides from Tessa’s body, to see Tessa’s tears of relief and exhaustion and excitement as the doctor pulls the baby from her body.

That mighty yell is followed by the softest, sweetest little cry I’ve ever heard in my life as the doctor sets the newborn on her mother’s stomach. The nurses flurry around, wiping the baby dry, and Tessa is staring down at her, watching her as she cries and draws in her first breaths of air in this brand-new world.

When she glances up at me, tears are in her eyes as she sees the tears in mine reflected back at her.

“Congratulations, mama. You did it,” I say softly. I grab her hand, and she grips mine back, bringing it to her lips.

“ We did it.”

“It’s time to cut the umbilical cord,” the nurse says.

Tessa nods at me. “He’s her daddy. He’ll do it.”

The tears that filled my eyes tip over, and I may be a professional athlete who walks into game day with my tough bravado…but if seeing my girl push a baby out of her body and then call me her daddy doesn’t call for the happiest tears known to man, I’m not sure what could possibly top it.

I’ve always believed in love at first sight since I’m pretty sure I fell in love with Tessa the moment I met her, but this is a totally different feeling of the same concept. A wave of love rushes over me for this perfect, tiny creature. She may not share my blood, but she’s definitely mine.

I snip the cord, and then the baby is moved up to Tessa’s chest, where she continues to cry. The nurse brings blankets to put over the baby to keep her warm while she gets her skin time with her mama, and then the flurry of activity surrounding the birth starts to quiet.

The baby still cries as she adjusts to this bright, cold new world filled with air instead of liquid, but her cries start to soften as she slips into sleep. Tessa keeps her eyes down on the baby the entire time, and I can’t stop staring, either.

“She’s perfect,” I murmur.

“She really is,” Tessa agrees.

“Can I get you anything?” I ask.

“A cheeseburger and French fries,” she says immediately, and I laugh. That’s my girl.

“You got it,” I say. I don’t want to leave to go get it, and clearly the nurse sees my hesitation.

“I’ll order one right up,” she says.

After an hour, the nurses take the baby to weigh and measure her and do some other things, and I can tell Tessa feels the loss as they pull her away.

But we’ll have time to hold her and love on her.

We have the rest of her life.

* * *

“Baby girl was born at four fifty-one AM, weighing in at six pounds, ten ounces and nineteen and a half inches long,” I say, a little out of breath as I rush into the waiting room at nine o’clock the next morning as the grandparents have gathered. “And both mother and baby are doing amazing.”

Janet hugs me first, and then my parents do, too. Everyone looks exhausted as they waited for the news, but I found that I just…couldn’t leave them. I don’t ever want to leave them again.

I know that’s not realistic, but I also know that every time I’m not with them, they’ll both be holding a part of me until I return.

“When can we see them?” Janet asks. She bounces on her feet a little with excitement.

“Now. I was sent out to come get you,” I say.

“She’s perfect, isn’t she?” Janet asks.

I press my lips together and nod, a feeling of pride warming my chest. “They both are.”

They follow me to Tessa’s room, and I peek my head in first. “Ready?” I murmur.

Tessa’s on the bed with our baby girl swaddled tightly in a blanket. She looks up at me and nods with a smile. She’s exhausted after pushing a baby out literally less than five hours ago, and we didn’t sleep much since apparently newborns like to try to eat every hour or so. Who knew? “Ready.”

I wave the grandparents in, and Janet leads the pack. “Oh my goodness,” she says, taking in her daughter holding her granddaughter. Her hands fly to her mouth as tears spill onto her cheeks, and my parents get choked up, too.

I draw in a deep breath and slowly exhale as I memorize this moment.

Our life ahead won’t be without its challenges, but the feeling of family permeating this room is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. This is one of those moments where we all have choices. I could walk away, or my parents could decide they don’t want to support us…but what I realized today is that blood doesn’t matter. This is my family, and it will be forever.

“What’s her name?” Janet asks, and she moves to the side of the bed to get a better look.

“Fallon June,” she says proudly, and then she glances over at me and clears her throat. “Fallon June Higgins.”

“Higgins?” I say softly as I catch my bottom lip between my teeth.

She nods as tears fill her eyes. “Higgins,” she repeats.

I can’t help my smile. “It’ll be your last name soon enough, too,” I say.

She nods, and then the grandmas both go wash their hands so they can hold the baby while my dad shakes my hand and turns it into a hug.

“Congratulations, son,” he says. “I’m so proud of you and the way you’ve stepped up.”

“I love them both,” I say simply, and he nods as if that explains it all.

And it does. I love them both. They’re both mine.

Forever.