Falling For My Ex's Dad (Clarissa and Gabriel) novel Chapter 315

Clairessa’s POV

A soft, startled cry, the sweetest music I’d ever heard.

Our baby.

I lay back against the bed, drenched in exhaustion, my body trembling from the most excruciating pain I’d ever endured…. yet it was pain I would suffer a thousand times over for this moment. Gabriel sat beside me, cradling the tiny bundle against his chest, gently rocking her back and forth. Her eyes squeezed shut as she drifted back to sleep, her breathing soft and even against him.

She was perfect. Pale skin, cheeks plump and flushed, lips pursed like she was already annoyed at us for disturbing her peace. Her tiny hand curled around Gabriel’s thumb, impossibly small, impossibly soft. She wore a newborn onesie with bold letters across the front: *Welcome to the world, little princess.*

Gabriel’s voice broke through the silence first. He stared down at her in awe, his eyes glistening. “She’s perfect,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “Better than I could have ever dreamed.”

He leaned down, pressing a kiss to my forehead, then another, then another, like he couldn’t stop himself. “Thank you, sweetheart.” His other arm wrapped around both of us.

I looked at her, at the little part of me and Gabriel lying right there in his arms. My lips trembled. “I still… I still can’t believe she’s here. I can’t believe we have our baby.” My forehead pressed into his shoulder as hot tears rolled down my cheeks. The ache in my body was brutal, but I would never change a thing…. not when she was here.

Gabriel looked at me, his voice raw. “She’s the greatest blessing I could’ve ever asked for. Our daughter. Nothing else in this world could compare.”

My heart swelled with so much emotion I could hardly breathe. He looked stripped bare of all the arrogance, all the hardness that had once defined him. In that moment, he wasn’t the billionaire, the man who commanded boardrooms, the man who’d terrified everyone else into silence. He was just mine. My husband. My daughter’s father.

Of course, that was the exact moment Adrian’s voice chimed from behind us, dragging us out of the haze.

“Congratulations to the latest Mom and Dad!”

Gabriel and I both turned our heads, the same weary, blissed-out smiles tugging at our lips. “Thank you,” we said in unison.

Adrian inched closer, eyes wide with wonder. “Can I touch her?”

I managed a nod, too drained to speak. His finger brushed her tiny hand, and she gripped it with surprising strength, even in her sleep.

Adrian’s face lit up like he’d just won the lottery. “She’s a champ…. look at that grip!”

A soft laugh slipped out of me as I glanced at Gabriel. “I guess it runs in the family.”

Gabriel grinned, shaking his head. “I’d say she got that strength from her mother, ready to take on the world already.”

Adrian leaned in closer, voice melting with affection. “Oh, she already has my whole heart. My little sister.”

Gabriel chuckled softly. “She has all our hearts.”

Adrian’s voice turned mischievous, though awe still lingered in his tone. “So, any names yet? Because, if anyone’s been paying attention, she definitely resembles me. So…. names?”

Gabriel laughed under his breath. “We haven’t settled on one yet, but we have a couple.”

“Well,” Adrian said smugly, “since she’s my sister, I think it’s only fair you name her after me. Adriana. Sounds perfect, right?”

I couldn’t help the chuckle that slipped out. “Sleek. I see what you did there.”

Gabriel’s brows lifted, his face a mix of mock-annoyance and disbelief. “Not a chance in hell. She’s not going to be called Adriana.”

I wasn’t even surprised. Of course, this was Adrian.

“Why not?” he pressed. “She looks like me.”

I tilted my head, smiling softly. “Sorry to correct you, but…. I think she looks more like her dad.”

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