Landon smirks at me. “I read,” he says, then lifts the book that has held his attention for the last two hours. I read the title and tears spring to my eyes. Wilson’s Disease for The Patient And Family by George J. Brewer.

“Impressed?” he asks as his thumb brushes away a tear. I nod my head trying to swallow down my tears.

“Brooke—”

“Knock, knock!” Sonia’s voice fills the doorway. She holds up Cahal’s baby carrier, and I get to see his sweet face scrunched up in sleep.

Landon moves off the bed. He turns and greets Sonia. “Hey, thanks for bringing him and helping watch him.” He takes the carrier from her and places it on the bed in front of me.

Sonia takes residence in Landon’s chair while Landon starts unbuckling Cahal.

“Of course. It was an absolute pleasure,” Sonia replied.

Cahal starts squirming around and squawks in anger at being woken up. “Sorry, little man, but there’s a beautiful lady who’s been impatiently waiting to see you. And if I teach you nothing else, it’ll teach be to never make a beautiful lady wait,” he tells Cahal.

I scoff. “I’ve not been impatient…well…not horribly impatient.”

Landon just grins and shakes his head as he places my handsome son in my arms. He puts his hand on my arm to help ease his weight.

“You got him?” he asks.

I have been incredibly weak since the surgery, barely strong enough to feed myself. “Yeah,” I say, not taking my eyes off my son’s perfect face. Cahal squirms for a minute before tucking his face against my chest and falling back to sleep.

Landon

Brooke grins down at our son, her eyes alight with joy. “What a sleepy boy you are,” she croons to him before kissing his head. My heart squeezes at the sight of them. When Brooke left, she thought she would never see him again. My throat suddenly feels like I swallowed six gallons of sand. What-ifs flashed through my mind. What if I had not found her? What if I was too late?

The thought of our son being cheated out of a mother—out of Brooke’s love—I could not process it. I turn away from the scene before me, giving Brooke her moment to hold her son, knowing that she will be in his life for years to come. Sonia gently touches my arm as if sensing the emotional turmoil bubbling inside me. I turn to see her empathetic eyes.

“Jared’s downstairs, in the food court,” she says, giving me an excuse to leave and collect myself.