Prep School Experiment (22 page)

The inner door pushed open and Steven and Christian came out, forcing him back a step. Both of them hugged him, as was their unrelenting tendency.

“Hey, fellow graduates, I totally beat you here.” Christian slapped him on the shoulder. “The Grands are in the cafeteria. Come on down after you meet our sister.”

Our sister.
That sounded so odd. Rhys nodded in response.

“You too, Kaitlin,” Christian said, including her in the invite as he shoved through the outer door.

“Got to get back to my parents,” Kaitlin said. “Thanks though.”

Steven bent and hugged her. “Come by the house then, when you can.” He patted Rhys’ arm. “You go on in. I’ll be right back.”

He left them alone in the sitting room.

Rhys looked at Kaitlin and shook out his hands, feeling oddly nervous. He didn’t really want to go through that door into Michelle’s room.

Kaitlin squeezed his hand and stretched up to kiss him on the mouth. A quick, distracting jolt of sensation went through him. “I’ll be right here. You go have a minute alone with your mom and baby sister.”

He couldn’t be a wuss in front of Kaitlin. He nodded and pushed through the door.

Michelle lay in the center of a hospital bed, dressed in a quilted cream robe over a pink nightgown. She looked exhausted, shadows under her eyes and no makeup, but her smile held pure joy. “Have you seen her?”

Rhys shook his head and hesitated, standing just inside the door. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine. Fine. So sorry to leave your graduation early, but Delia just couldn’t wait.” She gestured to a sink by the door. “Wash your hands so you can lift her.”

Rhys rolled up his sleeves and washed up, avoiding the bassinet.

“She’s sleeping, but you can pick her up.”

Rhys walked over and looked down into the bassinet. Delia was tiny. Tiny nose, rosebud mouth, fuzzy blond hair, more like a duck’s than a baby’s. Small. Helpless.

“You can lift her. Just be careful of her head.”

She smelled fragile, like baby powder. “She’s too small.”

The door opened and one of the nurses bustled in. She checked the saline drip attached to the back of Michelle’s hand. “How’s Momma doing?”

“I’m fine,” Michelle said.

The nurse rounded the end of the bed. “We’ll just take this little one off for her measurements.”

“No,” Michelle said, “she’s not to leave the room. We arranged that.”

“Mommas are always nervous.” The nurse smiled a conspiratorial smile at Rhys. “But they need more rest than they think and this little one needs a quick trip to the nursery for her vitals.” The nurse’s big, capable hands reached for his sister.

Michelle’s heart rate monitor beeped faster. “No!” Michelle’s voice held utter panic. “Stop her, Rhys.”

Rhys scooped up Delia before the nurse could get to her. Her little body draped across one of his arms and he cradled her to his chest, tucking the blanket around her. He shifted his fingers to make certain her head was secure. The baby didn’t even awaken.

The nurse moved toward him, a firm smile in place. “We’ll just need to get her measurements, and I’ll bring her right back.”

“Yeah, you check with the doctor first,” Rhys said. “I’m sure he can dig up enough equipment to measure a seven-pound baby and bring it in here.”

The nurse opened her mouth, and Rhys gave her one of his Trallwyn Trailer Park stares.

The nurse eased backed a step. “I’ll check with the staff. There’s been a shift change, and maybe I’ve missed a note in your chart.”

Rhys watched her until she cleared the room, and then he looked down at Delia. “That was your big brother being a total douche on your behalf. How’d you like that?”

Delia’s baby eyelids popped open and her big blue-gray eyes stared at him. Her tiny arm shifted from the blanket and five tiny fingers latched onto his thumb, holding tight. His heart swelled.

And in that moment he got it. Adding a new person to your family made your heart bigger. It didn’t take anything away. He didn’t know why his mom in Trallwyn hadn’t loved him enough, but he understood now, fully, that the problem was hers, not his. He also got for the first time how Michelle and Steven loved him without knowing him. He’d known his little sister for all of five minutes, and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her. He walked over to the bed and held the baby up.

The heart rate monitor went back to normal. “Thanks, Rhys.”

“No problem, Mom. We Brentwood-Wentworths have to stick together.”

She burst into tears as soon as he said the word
Mom
, but he knew they were happy tears. The baby wasn’t fazed at all; she just continued staring at him.

Steven shouldered open the door, carrying a big bear with a pink ribbon tied around its neck and a vase of pink roses. He frowned at the crying vision in front of him.

“Rhys…called…me…Mom.”

The frown smoothed away and Steven placed the bear in a chair, the vase on the nightstand. He kissed his wife’s forehead. “Of course he did. He’s our boy.” He smiled at Rhys, a smile that held pride in him and that said,
thanks
. Then he looked at Delia and his face softened. “How’s our girl doing?”

“Working on her first words,” Rhys said, “She likes the flowers and the bear, but wants a pacifier with extra sparkles on it.”

Steven laughed and laced his fingers with his wife’s. He glanced at the door. “Your Grandpa’s out in the hallway with Kaitlin. Why don’t you go introduce them to your sister?”

“Sure thing, Dad.”

Dad’s eyes grew teary too, and Rhys left the room before he turned into a sap. He carried their genes after all.

Kaitlin sat on the couch. Her big brown eyes latched onto the bundle in his arms. She jumped up and hurried to him. “What do you have?”

“It’s a girl.”

“Oooh,” Kaitlin cooed at the baby and touched the back of Delia’s hand with a light fingertip. “She’s so pretty.”

“She is.” Rhys introduced her to Delia. “This is Kaitlin. She’s going to Columbia with me in the fall.”

“She’s so precious. Hi, Delia. I got you the cutest Columbia blue onesie.”

Rhys didn’t know what she was talking about, but he figured clothes and smiled. “Between you and Mom, she’ll be the best dressed kid on 5
th
Avenue—and that’s saying something.”

“Yes, she will,” Kaitlin cooed softer. “And when she’s a little older, I can teach her dance class and she can come to my recitals.”

“We won’t miss them.”

Dad opened the door. “Your mom misses her already. Your grandpa has to give her up.” He looked around the small room. “Where’d Pops go?”

“Mr. Wentworth went for cigars,” Kaitlin said.

“Don’t tell Michelle that.” Dad grinned and reached for Delia, taking the light burden from Rhys’ arms. “I’ll take her back,” he said, and grinned at the baby.

“I’ll walk Kaitlin out,” Rhys said.

“Okay. See you Kaitlin. Congratulations again.”

“Thanks. You too.”

Rhys took Kaitlin’s hand and led her toward the hospital exit. “Sure you can’t stay?”

“Yeah, my parents have texted twice. We can go out tomorrow night, though. But after six, okay? I’m baking some cupcakes for my dance class. Strawberry-cheesecake.”

“Save me one.”

Kaitlin stilled. “Really?”

“Of course. I love it when you bake for me.”

Kaitlin beamed, showing him his favorite expression. He loved when she smiled. Rhys rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, keeping her in the air-conditioned lobby, holding her back from going out into the hot humid New York summer. And because he wanted to shake off the sentimentality and he wanted to know, he asked, “What does graduation do to our timetable?”

Kaitlin drew him to the side, letting the flow of pedestrian traffic go around them and then pulled him to a corner. She flattened her body against him, and he breathed in her perfume. She reached up, threading her fingers through his hair. Her nails lightly scraped his scalp, and she tugged his head down to whisper in his ear. “Don’t you know? Graduation’s the start of everything good.”

Rhys’ heart jolted. He wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her pressed to him. “No, that was the day I met you.”

“You’re certain?” She grinned. “Ninety-eight percent certain?”

“One hundred percent.”

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