Page 79 of Deacon

Evan looked down at his scrub top, then toward the ceiling. “I accept this sacred honor.”

Blue laughed hard enough to wince, earning Evan a glare from Priest that only delighted him.

“We’re going to give you two a minute,” I said.

Blue looked at me. “You sure?”

“You’ve got him. Both of them.”

Evan pointed between Priest and the baby. “Try not to cry on the child too much. He literally just got here.”

Priest muttered something that made Blue smile, and Evan and I left them alone with their son.

The second we were in the hall, Evan looked me over. “You need a shower, fresh scrubs, and approximately six gallons of coffee before you become the ghost of Florence Nightingale.”

“I’m fine.”

“Your hair is doing something tragic, your mascara has surrendered, and your scrubs look like you personally delivered that baby with your bare hands. I’m right.”

I touched my hair and grimaced. “God.”

“Exactly. We are showering, changing, and calling Jade to tell her Auntie Blue had the baby before she starts thinking all hospitals do is swallow people whole.”

Jade. Thinking of her eased something in my chest. “I need to call her.”

“Yes,” Evan said, gentler now. “You do.”

Hot water stripped away the sweat and stale adrenaline, and fresh scrubs helped me feel human again. Evan and I moved slower now that urgency had released its grip, and I called Jade from the locker room while he sat beside me.

She answered quickly. “Mom?” The worry in her voice tightened something in my chest. “Hey, baby.” When she asked if I was okay, I reassured her and said, “Auntie Blue had the baby.” Jade went quiet for a beat. “Really?”

“Really. Healthy little boy.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s okay.” Her relieved exhale told me how worried she’d been.

Jade exhaled. “Tell her I said congratulations. And tell Evan if he cries over the baby I want pictures.”

Evan leaned toward the phone with an offended gasp. “How dare you. I would never cry in a hospital. It’s bad for morale.”

“You absolutely would.”

“That is slander, and I’ll see you in court.”

Jade laughed, warm and easy this time, and the sound settled me more than anything had all day.

When we hung up, I sat there for another moment with the phone in my hand. Blue was alive. Jade was home safe. A baby had entered the world in the middle of everything that had tried to tear it apart.

The day still carried too much grief to become good, but it had become survivable.

Evan and I returned upstairs to find the family waiting room filled with Saints. Ledger sat among them looking carved hollow by Lena’s death, while Ghost stayed close without crowding him. There was nothing anyone could say yet that would make what happened fit together, and Ghost seemed to understand that presence mattered more than words.

Deacon had also escaped his room.

Some poor nurse had apparently lost the argument once a wheelchair and his cut became involved. He sat there in a hospital gown with black leather over it, pale and half-healed, wearing an expression that dared anyone to try putting him back to bed.

Frustration flared the moment I saw him. “You look like hell.”