Operation Bailey Babies
by Piper Rayne
Self-Published
Book 6.5 in The Bailey's Series
BUZZ WHEEL PRESS RELEASE:
Don’t drink the Lake Starlight water! Bailey babies are busy growing in their mommies tummies and the Baileys are having a triple baby shower to celebrate. If you want in on the pool on who pops first and when contact me. ;)
Genre:
You know what?
I wasn't looking forward to this one.
Why?
The title and the cover.
And I know, I KNOW, I started out this series by saying don't judge a book by its cover. Because the series is good. But sometimes .... its hard.
That being said, I actually enjoyed this novella.
It made me smile - a lot.
First of all, I love that these novellas cover many of The Bailey family and their significant others. I love being in old characters POV's. It's fun going back and getting into the heads of established characters and relationships.
Second of all, I love how real Piper Rayne is about pregnancy.
I've recently read a lot of romance with pregnancy tropes.
Not sure why. It seems to happen unexpectedly. Blame me binge reading and not reading synopsis'.
But a lot of the times, pregnancy is a tool to get a couple together, or its just not written in a way that feels relatable. Every pregnancy is different, after all. And boy, is it shown in this book.
Not everyone loves being pregnant. Like Brooklyn. She hated being pregnant, and she was irrational and moody. Relatable.
Of course, I didn't mind being pregnant with my twins. It was an easy pregnancy up until I went into labor early. There were a few weeks into my second trimester I was like Brooklyn, but my hormones' calmed down. My second pregnancy though ... ugh. Not only was I uncomfortable, and was sick 100% of the time my entire pregnancy, but I was moody as fuck. I hated being pregnant so much, that at 40 weeks, instead of trying to the VBAC I wanted, I ended up asking for a c-section and have my tubes cut at the same time, because never again.
While I felt for poor Wyatt, I loved that this was represented. It very rarely is. It's not always sunshine shining out of you butt. Or vulva in this case.
Savannah was the one you hate. Perfect pregnancy, despite the long labor.
Then Holly. I was thrilled for this book because of her and Austin. Their infertility struggles throughout the books have been so real, so when it happens for them, I was happy to read it. I can't remember the last time I read a romance where infertility was mentioned.
Even if you don't love a pregnancy trope, this novella is fun. Denver being in charge of games should be inspiration for all future baby showers, in my humble opinion. And Liam whispering promises to his newborn daughter is just swoonworthy. Especially when you've already read Brinley's book (obviously set 24 years later) and see Liam is still just as swoonworthy. While improbable it is for all the babies to be born within a day of each other, having all the action happen at the hospital was fun.
We all need a little fun in our lives.
Never mind the SATs, they should get high school students to try installing a car seat. If they can figure it out, they’re a certified fucking genius in my book. Dori: “Liam.”
Grandma Dori’s there too and she crooks her finger, so I bend down and she kisses and hugs me.
Dori: “This pregnancy has made her so nice,”
she remarks, patting my arm. I say nothing because Savannah’s within earshot. She’s worried that pregnancy has made her soft, because she cries at commercials now.
Dori: “Let’s keep her pregnant,” Savannah: “How long will this take?”
Liam: “An hour maybe.”
I set up my paintbrushes.
Savannah: “Why?”
Liam: “Because staring at you with your shirt off and that fresh tattoo of my name on your skin is making me want to do something else on this couch.”
Her tongue slides out to wet her lip. I drop the paintbrush and head over to my wife. I can paint her tomorrow. After all, a happy wife means a happy life. Denver: “Cleo Dawson, will you completely ruin your life and marry me?”
She laughs, and her forehead falls to mine.
Cleo: “Yes.” Dori: “We went antiquing in Greywall the other day. Ethel saw a man doing that tai chi stuff. She was very enamored with him. Maybe you could find him and bring him along.”
I stare at her for a moment. She’s serious. Of course she is.
Juno: “Sure thing. I’ll go to Greywall and wait for some man to come to the park and do tai chi. Then I’ll convince him to get in a car with me to play The Dating Game at a retirement community.” Phoenix: “Don’t be too hard on her, Rome, she’s just speaking her mind. Nothing wrong with that,”
Aunt Phoenix yells, but Daddy’s leading us out of the party to the outside. Callista: “I’m sorry, Aunt Phoenix,”
She bends down to my level like everyone else and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
Phoenix: “Thanks for the apology, but I totally get it. Siblings are hard sometimes, but believe me, you’ll be thankful when you’re older.”
I stare at her because I know she’s wrong. She laughs.
Phoenix: “Go play.” Griffin: “Come on. Let’s go bob for nipples.”
Griffin grabs my hand and pulls.
Phoenix: “Okay, but let’s play our own version at home later.”
He pulls me to him and my hands land on his hard chest.
Griffin: “You don’t have to ask me twice.” Grandma Dori goes to hug them, and Denver clearly assumes he’ll be first, but she passes his open arms, moving right to Cleo. The crowd laughs and Denver gives everyone an expression that makes them laugh harder. The nurse brings me in a cup of ice to suck on if I’m thirsty. Nurse Katie tells me I can’t eat anything.
Savannah: “I never ate at the party,”
I admit to Liam when she leaves the room.
Savannah: “Go to the vending machine and grab me a bag of chips.”
Liam: “Yeah, no.”
He fiddles with the television remote, but the foot portion of my bed moves up.
Savannah: “Hello? I’m pregnant and you’re supposed to be doing everything to help me right now. I’ll never survive labor without food.”
He mindlessly scans through the channels.
Liam: “There’s nothing on.”
I tear the remote out of his hand.
Savannah: “Candy. Bar. Now.”
He smiles and his hand brushes the hair from my forehead.
Liam: “Nurse Katie said no.”
Savannah: “Nurse Katie isn’t my mom. She can’t tell me what to do.”
Liam: “There’s a reason you can’t eat.”
He sits on the edge of the bed, and for a moment, I think about pushing him off.
Liam: “We have to listen to the nurses and doctors. You wouldn’t want someone who doesn’t know the first thing about business coming into Bailey Timber and dictating how things should go.”
I narrow my eyes at him.
Savannah: “I don’t like you right now.”
He chuckles and kisses my cheek.
Liam: “I didn’t really think you’d like me very much during labor, so that’s okay. I’ve had a lucky nine months though.” Liam: “There are no other doctors available?”
Savannah: “How old are you?”
Nurse Katie puts her hand on my arm.
Katie: “Dr. Hinkle is a great doctor. He’s been here a while now and delivered a lot of babies.”
Nurse Katie is probably banging Dr. Hinkle.
Dr. Hinkle: “Sorry, it’s either me or no one.”
He slides closer to where my legs should be open. Liam leaves my side and stands at the foot of the hospital bed, his arms crossed. I allow Nurse Katie to put my feet in the stirrups, and I slide to the edge of the bed. Dr. Hinkle looks behind him at Liam.
Liam: “Just making sure there’s no funny business because that’s mine.”
Liam points between my legs. I shake my head at him even though I’m slightly wooed that he’s protective of a male doctor seeing my hoo-ha. I’ve loved Savannah since I was too young to truly know what love was. I thought I couldn’t love her any more than I already do, but seeing my daughter in her arms, our daughter, almost breaks me. There’s nothing sweeter in life than being with the two women who own your whole heart. She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. She yawns, and her two small fists open and close, her fingers on one hand wrapping around my finger.
Liam: “My sweet baby girl, I’m your daddy. You should know, you’re so loved. Your mommy is amazing and you’re lucky to have her. She’s probably going to be better at giving you advice because as far as I’m concerned, you won’t be dating anyone until you’re at least thirty.”
Her face distorts with another yawn and her eyes pop open for a moment.
Liam: “Already giving me sass, huh?”
She falls back asleep.
Liam: “One thing I promise is that I’ll make sure you never want for anything.”
Savannah: “We can’t spoil her,”
Savannah’s groggy voice interrupts me. I smile at my wife and look back down.
Liam: “I should clarify, you’ll never want for food, shelter, clothing, and especially love. You’ll always be loved. Probably so much you’ll feel suffocated.”
Savannah gives a tired laugh.
Liam: “But once again, your mommy is right. We can’t spoil you, because I won’t have an asshole as a kid.”
Savannah: “Liam!”
I chuckle and place a gentle kiss on Brinley’s forehead.
Liam: “Tell Mommy you don’t want to be an asshole.” She nods and her eyes drift shut again.
Wyatt: “Mommy is tired. You wore her out.”
Lance doesn’t move.
Wyatt: “Let’s hope when she’s pregnant again, we get nice Mommy.”
I raise his arm and give him a high-five.
Wyatt: “I love you,”
I say before kissing his forehead.
