Cht 3
The baby's cry woke Liz, and she felt the telltale pressure of let-down. Groaning a bit, she threw the covers off and rose to check on her. Liz padded across the hall to the nursery and glanced at Agnes's door. Still silent. That one could sleep through anything, even with her sister fussing. The moment Lizzie cracked the nursery door, she heard the murmurs. Groggy as she was, Liz could not help but smile at the sight. Raymond Reddington, former Concierge of Crime and scandalous criminal mastermind, was holding Lucia scrunched up by his shoulder, patting the diapered bottom and cooing soothing promises to his little girl.
He looked up as Lizzie crossed the shaggy carpet.
"I was trying to be quieter," he mused, "but I think she's hungry."
"She's gotten better these past couple of weeks, but she still needs that 2 am feeding," Liz said blandly, "besides, the milk just dropped and I need the pressure off anyway."
Red passed the baby to Liz, who sat in a nearby rocker and shifted the pleats on her nursing nightie, revealing a swollen breast heavy with milk. Lucia opened bleary eyes in the dim lamplight of the room and worked her mouth against her mother's nipple before she latched squarely on and started suckling greedily. Raymond sat himself on a cushion-topped trunk that doubled as a bench and watched the scene, leaning back against the wall and smiling at the swell of pride and love he felt. He had come such a long way from all the horrors and chaos his life had been. This made all of that well worth it, he thought as Liz looked over and met his gaze over their wee daughter.
"Lizzie," he began hesitantly, leaning forward, "I really wanted to talk about this during the light of day, with a better setting…pull out all the stops…" he stopped and swallowed, "I would like for us—" he paused, shaking his head, "I would be honored if you would make this permanent…official…if you would marry me, sweetheart?" His voice was thick with emotion as he finished the last as a question.
She teared up, seeing the uncertainty in his face and the open vulnerability. And hope. In his eyes there was the barest flicker of hope. It was her undoing. Liz smiled tearfully, the happiness spilling over as she nodded. Unable to shift much and hold him as she was already holding Lucia, Liz simply nodded and choked out, "yes! Red, yes of course. You let me get her settled and I'll show you." Her dimples winked when he laughed and rose to kiss her brow, then Lucia's as well.
"Oh, I love my girls. All of them," he said throatily. "Lizzie, you girls make me just deep down to the ground happy."
"I think after everything you've been through, it's about time," Liz nodded wistfully. "So let's do it. If anybody deserves this kind of happiness, it's us."
"I didn't think I would come out of this with anything, much less my life." Red sat back down, crossed an ankle over his knee and clasped his hands in his lap.
"You have me," she said, mirroring what he had once told her. "You have us."
He smiled widely in recognition. "Then let's do it!" he said, wheels already starting to turn. Oh, he was going to make this special. As much as they'd brought to his life, he was going to bring that much more for them. He would make it their day—Lizzie's especially—but he would plan something for the little girls as well. He'd have to make a few phone calls. Kate could help, certainly. Red let the ideas formulating start to marinate. Let that simmer for a few days, he figured, and he could start to put some feelers out. Brimley, he realized. He needed Brimley.
As Lizzie finished up with Lucia and set her down in her bassinet, Red swept her up in his arms. She giggled and tried to stifle it. He chuckled as she wriggled, trying to keep quiet so as not to wake the baby, and hauled her out of the room and back to bed to celebrate the decision.