Henry (The Beck Brothers) (25 page)
Read Henry (The Beck Brothers) Online
Authors: Andria Large
Claire had only spoken
to Henry once about Ethan
’
s
father, Teddy. It had been a fairly recent conversation, too. One night while
they were getting ready for bed, Henry had asked if Teddy was listed on Ethan
’
s birth certificate, which made
more sense now that she knew what his intentions were. Well, he wasn
’
t. Claire
’
s father, Frank, had been the voice of reason, and
had convinced her not to put Teddy
’
s
name on the birth certificate. She figured, since Teddy hadn
’
t wanted anything to do with her
when she got pregnant, then he should have no rights to Ethan. But just to make
sure, Frank hired a lawyer to have Teddy
’
s
rights terminated. Claire was now so glad that she had listened to her father
for once in her life.
Henry reached out and
stroked his knuckles over her cheek. "What are you thinking?
”
he asked softly.
"I never thought
Ethan would ever have a father. For so long I had thought it was just going to
be him and me for the rest of our lives. But I love that you love him so much,
and I would love for you to adopt him,
”
Claire said with a shaky smile.
Henry smiled lovingly
and took the two steps it took to close the space between them. He slipped the
hand he had on her face down to the back of her neck and dropped his head down
to kiss her soundly. Claire sucked in a sharp breath and wrapped her arms
around his waist. God she loved this man, and she couldn't wait for them to
become the family she always wanted and thought she'd never have.
Henry and Claire had a
small wedding three months later. Claire looked stunning in her wedding gown.
Henry had cried like a baby, and Sebastian laughed his ass off, too. But Henry
was happy, and that's all that Sebastian really cared about.
It took almost a year,
starting from when Henry and Claire got engaged, but the adoption papers had
finally gone through. So Ethan was officially Henry's son. Ethan already
thought of Henry as his dad anyway, so the only thing left to do was to change
his last name to Beck.
Claire had announced
to everyone that she was pregnant on Henry's thirty-fifth birthday, including
Henry. He had no idea that she was pregnant until he opened up his present in
front of everyone. She had framed the picture of the first ultrasound for him.
Once again, Henry cried like a baby. Sebastian had never seen Henry cry so
much. It's not like he could really blame the guy; the two times he bawled like
a pussy had been big events in his life that he never thought would happen to
him. So Sebastian understood why he got so emotional.
~~~~~
Nine months later...
"He's beautiful,
”
Sebastian whispered in awe as
he stared down at the tiny baby in his arms.
His heart filled with
so much freaking love that he swore it would burst. Sebastian couldn't tear his
eyes away from the little pink face peeking out of the blankets he was swaddled
in. Sebastian stroked the baby's soft fuzzy head as he rocked gently in the
rocking chair. Claire had just given birth to the little munchkin an hour ago.
"You're a natural
Sebastian,
”
Claire commented
from the hospital bed next to him.
Sebastian smiled but
refused to look away from the baby.
"Is anyone else
going to get a turn Sebastian?
”
came Christian
’
s impatient
voice from somewhere in the room. Sebastian was too busy staring at the baby to
care.
"No,
”
he said, tracing a finger down
the side of the baby boy's cheek.
Henry chuckled softly.
“
I
’
ve never seen you so enamored before."
"Whatever, I'm
taking him home with me so I can stare at him forever,
”
Sebastian murmured.
That's when Sebastian
heard Claire's soft sob. Sebastian looked up in horror at her. She had her face
in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she cried. "Jesus, Claire, I was
only kidding,
”
he said
quickly.
Claire shook her head,
lifting her face from her hand. "I'm sorry, it's hormones, I can't help
it, I know you're kidding.
I've
just never seen you like this, you're being so sweet,
”
she cried.
Sebastian turned a
tortured gaze to Henry, who was sitting on the edge of the bed by Claire's
knees. He was patting and rubbing her thigh. Henry shook his head. "It's
fine Sebastian, it really is hormones."
Claire waved a
dismissive hand and grabbed the tissue box from the table next to her bed.
"Alright, it's my
turn,
”
Christian said
firmly and moved in front of Sebastian.
Sebastian sighed
heavily. "Fine." He stood up and handed the baby over to Christian,
who sat down in the rocking chair with him.
Sebastian went to
Claire and sat down next to her hip, turning so that he could face her. He
grabbed a tissue and dried her cheeks. She looked beautiful even though she
just went through a twelve hour labor to push out a seven pound baby. She gave
him a watery smile. Sebastian loved his sister-in-law to death.
"You did great
today, you made a beautiful baby,
”
he said softly then kissed her forehead.
Claire burst into
tears all over again and wrapped her arms around his neck. Sebastian hugged her
back. "Thank you,
”
she
croaked.
After Claire collected
herself, Sebastian turned to put his arm around Henry's shoulders, who was sitting
next to him on the bed. They watched their youngest brother rock and coo to his
nephew. Sebastian never thought that he'd want kids, but after today, he didn't
think he could go through the rest of his life without them. He still might not
want a relationship, but that didn't mean he couldn't have kids eventually.
"Uncle Bastian,
can I sit with you?
”
came
Ethan's voice from in front of him.
Sebastian looked down
at the new big brother. "Sure, buddy,
”
Sebastian said, hoisting the nearly four year old onto his lap. Sebastian
turned to Henry. "So, what's his name gonna be?
”
he asked.
"Henry Michael
Beck, III.
”
Henry smiled proudly.
Sebastian smiled and
gave his brother's shoulder a squeeze. "I like it."
After everyone took
their turn with baby Henry, Claire took him back, and everyone left so that she
could feed him. Out in the hall, everyone milled around talking for a little
while before they started to disperse. Sebastian was the only one left. He
really didn't want to leave, he wanted to wait for Claire to be done so that he
could hog the baby some more. This was the first baby he'd ever held, and he
found that he was now addicted.
"Uncle Bastian?
”
Ethan asked, tugging on the hem
of his t-shirt.
Sebastian looked down
at his little buddy who had grown so tall, starting to look more and more like
a little boy then a baby. "What's up?"
"Can I stay with
you tonight?
”
he asked
hopefully.
Sebastian's eyebrows
flew up. "Really?
”
he
asked, shocked.
Ethan smiled and
nodded.
Sebastian looked at
Henry.
Henry shrugged. "It's
up to you, bro, but it would give me the chance to stay and help out with the
baby tonight."
"Alright then,
it's settled, you're coming home with me buddy.
”
Sebastian smiled and held out his fist.
Ethan knocked his own little fist against Sebastian's and jumped up and down,
shouting,
"Yay!"
Sebastian was a bit nervous
because he'd never babysat a kid before. He didn't want to fuck up. Sebastian
looked back at Henry, who for the first time since Sebastian showed up, looked
completely exhausted. Whether he was nervous or not, Sebastian would do this
for his brother. Sebastian put his arm around Ethan's shoulders.
"Try and get some
sleep, Henry,
”
Sebastian
said, giving his big brother's face a pat.
Henry smiled wearily.
"I'm gonna try, thanks for doing this Sebastian,
”
he said sincerely.
"No problem, I'll
call you in the morning,
”
he replied.
Henry nodded and
crouched down in front of Ethan. "You be good for Uncle Sebastian okay?
”
Ethan nodded vehemently.
"Good, I love you, see you tomorrow. Don
’
t
be afraid to tell Uncle Sebastian when you need something."
"Okay daddy, love
you,
”
Ethan said, giving
Henry a hug and kiss.
Henry stood and
Sebastian pulled him into a hug. "Love you daddy,
”
he said in his best little kid voice.
Henry laughed and
shoved him away.
"Alright little
man, let
’
s go,
”
Sebastian said, holding his
hand out for his nephew.
Ethan eagerly took it.
They waved to Henry as they headed down the hallway, and Sebastian's
apprehension eased. He could take care of a kid, especially one who could talk
to him. He would do anything for his brothers, and if Henry was able to get
some rest tonight, then he would do what he could to help. Sebastian glanced
down at Ethan to find him smiling adoringly up at him. Sebastian smiled. Yeah,
he could do this.
THE
END
Check out the next book in The Beck Brothers
series:
Sebastian ( The Beck Brothers #2)
After
his wife cheated on him and asked for a divorce, Sebastian Beck was devastated.
The solution? Never let another woman get close enough to hurt him. His mind
was made up. He would never fall in love again, and he most certainly would
never get married again.
Except,
he never expected the one night that he was forced to protect his nephews with
deadly force would bring him back in contact with the one woman he thought he’d
never see again.
When
Detective Raelynn Reynolds bent some hot guy’s finger back in a bar a little
over a year ago, she never thought she’d see him again. Honestly...she
never
expected to see him
ever
again. She definitely never expected to
see him at the scene of a break-in that had a dead body just inside the back
door.
As Sebastian and
Raelynn’s lives become more intertwined with each passing day, can Sebastian
get over his fear of love to keep the one woman who makes him insanely happy?
Will Sebastian be able to get over his fear before it’s too late? Before he
could possibly lose Raelynn forever? Could fate really be that cruel?
You can find Sebastian and all of Andria
Large’s books on Amazon: