Chapter 628:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

Amelia didn’t look up, her focus entirely on the baby. She murmured a distracted, “Mmm-hmm.”

That single, dismissive sound was a needle to Garrett’s heart.

He took a deep breath and pushed down the possessiveness and hurt churning inside him. He told himself this was normal. She had been through so much. He needed to be patient.

He stepped forward, holding out his hands. “Let me hold her.”

Amelia finally looked up at him, and he caught a flicker of hesitation in her eyes, a reluctance to hand over her precious treasure to someone she considered unreliable.

That look pierced him again, but he kept his expression neutral, his hands outstretched.

At last she carefully transferred Cherry into his arms.

The first time Garrett held his daughter, his body went as stiff as a board. The tiny infant seemed to sense his unease. She squirmed, her little mouth turned down, and her face began to crumple as she prepared to cry.

𝖠𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘃e 𝗰о𝗺𝗆𝘂𝗇𝘪𝘁𝘺 𝗼ո 𝗀аl𝗇𝗈𝘃els.𝘤𝗈𝗆

Amelia was instantly at his side, her voice sharp with anxiety. “You’re hurting her! Give her back to me!”

Garrett’s heart plummeted.

The words hit him harder than any physical blow. Garrett stiffly handed the whimpering baby back to Amelia. The moment Cherry settled into her mother’s arms, she went quiet.

Amelia cradled her daughter, murmuring soft reassurances, and shot Garrett a look of gentle reproach. “You were holding her too tightly.”

He had no defense. A wave of failure, sharper than any business deal gone wrong, washed over him. He could command boardrooms and conquer markets, but in front of this tiny, fragile infant, he was utterly incompetent.

He retreated to a chair in the corner and watched in silence as Amelia expertly changed a diaper and then began to feed Cherry. His own hands felt clumsy and useless.

For the next two days, Garrett didn’t ask to hold the baby again. He only watched, studying Amelia’s every move, memorizing every gentle touch and soothing sound.

He spent hours online, scrolling through parenting forums and watching instructional videos on how to properly hold a newborn, how to read their cues.

Amelia noticed his quiet observation, but she was so consumed with caring for Cherry that she simply assumed he was curious.

That afternoon, Amelia had to go for a postpartum check-up. She reluctantly left the sleeping Cherry in Garrett’s care.

“If she wakes up, just pat her gently,” she instructed, her voice full of warnings. “Don’t pick her up. Wait for me to get back.”

Garrett nodded solemnly, promising to guard their daughter with his life.

The moment Amelia was gone, he positioned himself beside the bassinet like a sentinel.

Predictably, Cherry woke a few minutes later and began to fuss.

Garrett patted her back as instructed, but the baby was not impressed. Her whimpers grew louder, threatening to escalate into a full-blown wail.

He took a deep breath. This was his second chance. He couldn’t fail again.

.

.

.