Our Broken Love (Angels of war series #4)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Two months later...

Max is granted his first day out just in time for the second ultrasound, and we're like a pair of excited kids as we cuddle in the back of James's car, with him laughing at us from up front.

"I can't process it," I say, staring at the ultrasound picture in Max's hand.

Max wipes at his eyes as the continuous stream of tears still escapes. "A little girl."

Just hearing him say it sets me off. I cough through happy tears, resting my head on his shoulder. I can't forget the shocked noise he exclaimed when the technician murmured we had a baby girl growing. I lost control of my limbs for a while as I reached for him, tugging him to me as he broke into uncontrollable sobs.

"I have a little girl back home who would be very excited to see her Uncle Max," James says, throwing me a kind smile through the rearview mirror.

Max can't keep his hands off me. "Uncle Max is excited to see his little princess too," he says, and James says he's taking a detour to his house.

"I can't tell you what that just did to me," I say, smiling at his confused one.

"What's that?"

I clear my throat. "It gives me hope when I see you around those kids."

My heart is healing.

James knows his daughter too well. Elsie sprints out the door when she spots Max climbing out of the back. Lucas wobbles after his sister, shouting for someone, and it isn't until James nudges my arm that I see it's me.

I bend just in time to catch him in my arms, lifting him so he's in my arms and I can overwhelm him with cuddles and kisses. I get a bat to the face with his flailing arm, wet kisses pressing across my face as he still shouts his excitement.

"Hey, gorgeous boy!" More kisses attack me, James cracking up beside me with Scarlett in the doorway of the house doing the same. "Oh, thank you. So many kisses."

In the end, James has to help, dragging a whinging Lucas from me to give me some air. Scarlett waves me inside, grabs my hand, and drags me to the kitchen where she's prepared a picky tea.

"How did you do this all in ten minutes?" I ask, helping myself to a sandwich triangle.

I'm constantly hungry.

She takes a sausage roll for herself. "Oh, I had my suspicions you guys would end up here, so I made extra. We are going to have this anyway."

"I love a party tea. My dad..." Oh!

Little bubbles in my tummy stops me mid-sentence, with Max slamming in here as Scarlett misreads the situation and shouts for him. The horror on his face as his head goes to the worst possible case makes me want to cry.

Scared, he runs to me. "What's happening."

I grab his hands. "I feel her moving. She's saying hello."

Like a bucket of cold water, he sags, the worry replaced with excitement. Big hands on my belly, he desperately moves his palms around but can't quite feel anything. James pipes up to say he couldn't feel the kicks until about thirty-odd weeks.

"Oh, really?" Max replies, so much love shining in his gaze when he stares at me. I surprise him with a kiss. A quick one, he drags out by moving in for another. "That's so long away."

"She'll still be able to hear you, mate," James replies.

Max gets on the floor, surprising me by pressing his entire face against my stomach. I laugh, stroking back his silky black hair, scratching his scalp as he says hi to our daughter.