My mother left the room, and the only person who came back in with her was my father. He walked up to Jeff and shook his hand before he came to stand next to me. He gave me a kiss on the forehead and looked down at Luke.
“Daddy, meet Luke Drew Johnson. ”
“Mon petit-fils belle. ”
“Yep, you’re beautiful grandson. ”
“Et ma belle fille. ”
“I love you, Daddy. ”
“Mom, would you like to hold him next?”
“Oui, I would. ”
My mother held Luke while my father looked on.
Jeff leaned down and whispered in my ear.
“Are you hungry, baby? Do you want me to go get you something to eat?”
Oh, I could have jumped him and started kissing him that very moment. Just the fact that he asked if I was hungry turned me on.
“I’m so hungry that I’d eat my horse right now if I could. ”
***
Gunner, Ellie, Josh, and Heather all came into the room and took turns holding Luke after I made them all wash their hands twice.
Jeff was back with Rudy’s Bar-B-Q. Oh my gosh, it smells so good.
I’d been hinting to everyone for the last hour that I was exhausted. I finally ended up just telling everyone to get the hell out.
“Are y’all driving back to Mason tonight?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think so unless y’all want to crash at my place,” Heather said.
Gunner looked at Ellie and smiled. “I think we’ll just head to a hotel tonight. I’m too tired to drive. Oh, wait. Shit, we took your truck Jeff. ”
“No worries, Gun. I got your truck keys from your dad, and I followed Heather here in your truck. I figured you were going to need it,” Josh said.
Gunner walked up to Josh and slapped him on the back.
“Dude, you rock. ”
***
When the last person was out the door, Jeff collapsed onto the sofa that pulled out into a bed. I would have thought he had just given birth to an almost eight-pound baby. He fell asleep in less than two minutes. The nurse walked in, looked at him and smiled.
“It’s from worrying about you. It totally wears them out. ”
“Uh huh. ”
She let out a giggle. “Do you want me to wake him up, so I can open the sofa bed?”
“Nah, he’s alright. ”
“Ari, I’m going to take Luke for a few hours to the nursery. When did you feed him last?”