“Fine, but Jay and Coop stay with us, at least until this mess is over with. I don’t want her around for more than a week.” CC agreed despite her reluctance.

The three of us hung out for a while until after dinner when Mr. and Mrs. Cahill showed up to visit.

“How’s my baby girl doing?” Mr. Cahill asked as soon as he walked in. He held flowers out for me to take while he went to hug CC.

“Sore, but I’m ok,” she answered.

Mrs. Cahill came over and wrapped her arms around my right arm. “Her face is all lit up. She didn’t look like that this morning.” she whispered.

I grinned, damn happy that it was me doing that to her. Lynn tapped on the door, walked in and handed me the release paper work.

“I’m just going to remove his band and then you’re free to take him home.” Lynn said, reaching into her coat pocket to pull out the scissors. She did it so gently that Ryder didn’t even stir. She smiled at us all when she was done and then left the room.

Ryder woke up a little while later, right as my mom came in to visit. I was glad Mom was here; despite having Coop and Jaylinn at the house, I still wanted my mom there too. The three of us didn’t know anything about taking care of a newborn. After Mrs. Cahill was done feeding him his bottle we got him changed into his going home outfit that Hailey had packed.

I sat next to CC on the bed and she started crying, I knew this was going to be hard on her, it was going to be hard on me too. “I love you baby, we will be back first thing in the morning.”

She started crying harder and I heard someone behind me, who I assumed was Mrs. Cahill, sniffling too. I held her as tight as I could until she calmed down. I kissed both of her eyes and dried the tears from them. “This is hard on me too; I don’t want to leave you. This is going to be the last time, ever, that we have to spend the night apart. You’re mine baby. I love you.” I whispered in her ear as I held her.

“I love you too. Can you leave me your phone so I can call you?” She asked in a shuddering breath.

I reached into my pocket and pulled it out. “Hailey will be here shortly so you won’t be all alone, but if it makes you feel better, call the house and I’ll keep you on the phone all night.” I told her.

She nodded and reached for me one more time. “I love you so much.”

“Me too.” I took Ryder from Mrs. Cahill and bent over with him in my arms so CC could give him a kiss goodbye. That damn near broke my heart. When I first walked in this morning she wouldn’t even look at him and now she didn’t want him to go. God I love her strength, just one of the many perfect things about her.

After the Cahill’s and Mom said goodbye, we all left. That’s when it really hit me that I was leaving her and being a dad all on my own. Could I f**king do this? I guess it’s time I grew a pair of balls. We got into the elevator and I set Ryder down in his car seat to cover him up before we stepped foot outside. Being October, the nights were pretty cool and I didn’t need him getting sick already. We stepped out of the elevator and were walking out when Mom stopped dead in front of me. Mr. Cahill cursed under his breath and his wife put her hand to her heart. I looked past my mom and saw the last person I thought I would ever see again.

10

After everyone left, I quickly called Hailey and asked her to come and spend the night with me. She assured me that she would be there within fifteen minutes. I knew she had to work in the morning, but just her being here with me would make me feel so much better. I couldn’t express how much I wanted to be home with my boys.

To my surprise, when Hailey showed up she’d brought Mason along with her. Hunter wasn’t kidding when he’d said those two were going to give him whiplash. One minute they wanted to kill each other, the next they were making out like horny teenagers. However, from the looks on their faces things weren’t any better.

“Can you knock off your attitudes?” I asked the both of them. They grunted. This was going to be a hell of a night. Now I was thankful I’d asked for those sleeping pills.

No one really talked for the rest of the night and I really didn’t want to hear what their problem was, so when Heidi, the night nurse, came in to check on me, I gladly took the sleeping pills. In no time at all, I was fast asleep.

After Hailey and Mason left for work in the morning, I called the house to see when Hunter would be back up here, and to see how Ryder had coped with his first night in our house.

“Everything ok?” Hunter said, sounding out of breath.

“Everything is just fine. I’m waiting for the doctor to make his rounds so I can get the hell out of here. I need you to do everything you can to get me out of here. I’m to the point where I’ll agree to let Lynn come over.” I started to get choked up. I was so desperate to get out of this hospital and home with my boys I’d do anything right now.

I heard Ryder fussing in the background and Hunter inhaled deeply, I guess things weren’t going great there either. As awful as that sounded, it kind of made me feel better.

“You’re coming home today.” Hunter said as a matter of fact.

“Thank you. When are you guys coming up?” Please say you’re leaving now.

As Hunter responded saying, “I’m trying to get out of here soon, but Ryder’s not eating.” There was a tap at the door. I peered over thinking it was Heidi making her rounds again before the shift change, but to my surprise it was Dominic.

I cursed under my breath and quickly covered my mouth with my hand, hoping Hunter hadn’t heard me, but it was too late.

“CC what’s going on?” Hunter asked in a panic.

“Nothing, I’m fine.” I nodded my head for Dominic to come in, then put my finger up to my lips to keep him quiet. “I just tried to move and a pain shot up my arm.” I lied, but I didn’t want to piss him off, he’d had enough to deal with.

“Fuck. Stop moving and call one of the nurses.” Hunter let out a growl; clearly things were pissing him off this morning. “Let me get Ryder in his seat and we will be on our way. Maybe you can get him to eat and settle down.”

My heart squeezed a little thinking I had someone depending on me and that I could make him all better, or at least I hoped I could. “Ok I’ll give it a shot when you guys get here.”

“Love you, see you in a few.”

I hesitated for a second; knowing Dominic was in the room, “Love you too. Be careful; give Ryder a kiss for me.”