Jack felt the bottom fall out of his stomach. “What?”
The doctor cleared his throat. He didn’t look quite as accusatory as he had moments earlier. “We have Kathleen sedated, but you can see her if you’d like.”
Hell yes, he wanted to see her. He gave a brisk nod.
Jack followed the doctor to the maternity ward, where Kathleen was sleeping. His heart nearly broke when he saw her lying there, so pale, looking so small in the big hospital bed. Her eyes were closed, her beautiful, thick lashes lost in the dark smudges beneath them. An I.V. pole loomed next to the railing, its tubes snaking down into her hand, which was taped to a small, rectangular board.
“She’s had a hard time of it, but she’s a tough one,” the doctor said.
Tough, Jack thought, but not invincible.
“She’s okay?”
“She will be. What she needs now is rest.” There was that look of blatant disapproval again. Jack didn’t care for it, but this was neither the time nor the place, and he had more important things to worry about.
“Where is my son?”
Jack and Erin were directed to the nursery, where about half of the bassinets held squirming, wriggling bundles.
“There he is,” the nurse said, pointing to the clear, plastic unit at the far end.
“Good Lord,” Erin breathed.
“He is a big one,” the nurse agreed. “Ten pounds, seven ounces. Good thing she went early.”
Jack’s hands went up to the glass as he gazed at his son for the first time. He had a shock of black hair and bright, clear blue eyes. Unlike the other babies, he wasn’t moving around a lot, or crying. His tiny eyes were open wide and staring right at Jack.
“Would you like to hold your son, Mr. Callaghan?”
Jack nodded jerkily, not trusting his voice.
“Why don’t you go back to your wife’s bedside and I’ll bring him to you?”
He was only vaguely aware of walking back toward the ward, of sinking numbly down into a square chair covered in cracked gray vinyl. The nurse told him how to position his arms, and the next thing he knew, he was holding his son.
His son.
“Kane,” Jack whispered, looking down into his son’s icy blue eyes. “Kane Patrick Callaghan.”
“That’s perfect,” Kathleen murmured. Her eyes were bleary under the effects of the sedatives, but there was no hiding the happiness there.
“Hey, baby. How are you feeling?”
“Like I pushed a watermelon through a straw.”
Jack touched the baby’s downy-soft shock of jet black hair. He’d already done the requisite finger and toe counts (multiple times), awed by his son’s strong grip and intense gaze.
“You did great, Kathleen. He’s perfect.”
Kathleen smiled weakly. “He is, isn’t he?”
Jack had never felt such a mixture of powerful emotions warring for control. Bursting with love for his wife and son, while at the same time, hollowed out with fear and nearly trembling with anger. As Kathleen drifted in and out of sleep, the doctor’s words kept echoing in his head. Another hour and we would have lost them both.
They’d talk about that later. Much later. At that moment, all he wanted to do was bask in this time with the two people he loved most in the world.
“Rest, baby. You’ve earned it.”
Her eyes fluttered and closed, and within minutes she was fast asleep again. Jack took a deep breath, then another, while his son’s eyes looked up at him accusingly.
“I’ll never let you down again, son,” Jack vowed, kissing his baby’s forehead. “Never again.”
––––––––
Kathleen and Kane were released from the hospital on Christmas Eve. The next few days were a blur of visiting well-wishers and adjusting to having a newborn around the place. It was exhausting, but Jack had never been happier.
Or busier. The bar was doing well. Curiosity had the locals coming in to check out the improvements, and the friendly, welcoming atmosphere kept them coming back. For the first time since he’d taken over, things were looking up financially. It was a good thing, too, because shortly after the holidays, the hospital and doctor bills started coming in. Even with insurance, the charges were enough to put any non-essential renovations back on hold for a while.
There wasn’t much more they could cut back on. Now that they had a baby, they had to keep the heat on; turning the thermostat down and snuggling under the covers was no longer sufficient. Kathleen was already stretching their meager food budget as far as it could go, and now they had diapers and baby food to add to the list.
Both Kathleen and the baby were doing well, but the doctor had been very adamant about her taking it easy. Double-shifts at the diner and long periods on her feet were strictly forbidden. She wasn’t happy about it, but Jack wasn’t giving her a choice. The doctor’s words had taken years off of his life the night Kane was born, but Jack waited until after Christmas to bring it up.