“Your mom is going to be pretty busy for a while, and she’ll want to know you’re safe and comfortable. We’ll take good care of her, I promise.”
Jack nodded, thankful that this nurse was far more pleasant than the Guardian of the ER. He couldn’t help but be disappointed, though. He’d wanted to be there for the birth of his third child, but he couldn’t leave the boys.
They settled into the waiting room, more than half-filled with similarly anxious fathers-, siblings, and grandparents-to-be.
“Why did Mommy say she hates you?” Kane asked as Jack handed him a Big Machines coloring book. The older woman across from them smirked; the guy to the left of him chuckled and tried to cover it up with a cough.
“Having a baby can hurt a lot, and hurting a lot can make people say things they don’t really mean.”
“But why is she mad at you?” Jake asked.
Kane shot him a suffering look. “Because Dad’s the one who put the baby in her, stupid.”
“I’m not stupid!” Jake protested, then turned to Jack. “How did you do that, Dad?”
Jack heard a few more chuckles. “Oh, look. A combine. Are you going to color it green for John Deere or red for Case?”
Thankfully, the distraction worked. Someday he was going to have a talk with his boys about the birds and bees, but it wasn’t going to be today. He wondered vaguely how Kane had known as much as he had. Kathleen must have given him the pre-school Cliff Notes version without going into specifics.
It was less than an hour later when a man in blue scrubs entered the packed waiting room and called his name.
“Mr. Callaghan?”
Jack stood and looked into the twinkling brown eyes of a man he didn’t know. By the looks of the surgical scrubs and cap he wore, he was a doctor, but not one Jack was familiar with. He would have remembered this guy. Young. Chiseled features. Too damn pretty. Everything about him rubbed Jack the wrong way.
“Here.”
“Congratulations, Mr. Callaghan,” the guy said with a smile worthy of toothpaste commercial. “You have a son.”
Seated on the floor in front of him, Kane and Jake high-fived. “Told you it was going to be a boy.”
“Did not.”
“Did so.”
Jack narrowed his eyes and fixed them on the doc. “I’m sorry. You are?”
The man laughed and extended his hand. “Dr. John Christman. I’m assisting Kathleen’s regular OB tonight.”
Jack took his hand, registering the soft, uncalloused hands. The thought of those hands on his wife didn’t sit well, doctor or not.
“Your wife is an amazing woman, Mr. Callaghan,” Prettyboy said with a smile. “Made my job a piece of cake. Obviously not your first,” he said, looking at the two black-haired, blue-eyed boys flanking Jack’s legs.
“Third. How is she?”
“Excellent. I wish all of my patients were as cooperative,” he chuckled.
It was an effort to refrain from wiping that smile right off the guy’s face. “Can we see her?”
“Soon. We’re trying to find a room for her now. As you can tell, a lot of little ones decided tonight was the night. It happens every time there’s a full moon.” The doc reached down and ruffled Kane’s hair. Kane scowled back at him, making Jack proud. “In the meantime, I hear they’re serving chocolate ice cream in the cafeteria tonight.”
“Chocolate ice cream!” Jake repeated excitedly after the doctor made his exit. “Can we get some, Dad?”
The last thing he felt like doing at that moment was navigating the crowded cafeteria. He wanted to see Kathleen, to see for himself that everything was all right. He wanted to hold her hand and kiss her lips and tell her how much he loved her. He wanted to hold his newborn son, count his fingers and toes. But he also knew from prior experience that it would take time for the doctors and nurses to check out the baby and clean him up; the same went for Kathleen. None of that mattered to him, he’d seen far worse, but since he had the boys with him, he would force himself to be patient.
“Sure. Maybe we’ll even pick up a little extra for your mom. I’d say she’s earned it.”
It took much longer than expected, but Jack, Kane, and Jake were eventually directed to a semi-private room. Kathleen was sitting up in bed, looking tired but radiant and holding a swaddled bundle in her arms.
Her eyes met his, and he swore that in that moment, he fell in love with her all over again.
“Come on in,” she said softly, “and meet your little brother.”
Jack lifted both Kane and Jake onto the chair beside the bed so they could peek over the railing.
“Yep, he’s a Callaghan,” Kane said.
Jack leaned over and took in the black hair and bright blue eyes. He looked just like Kane and Jake had, though maybe not quite as big at only nine pounds, eight ounces.
“What are we going to name him?” Jake asked.
“Ian,” Kathleen said with a smile. “Ian Patrick Callaghan.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
September 2015
Pine Ridge