Free Lyon's Heart by Jordan Silver

beautiful
thing I’d ever seen in my life but she was so fucking tiny she
scared the shit out of me. When they placed that little bundle in
my arms my heart just laid down. I was done, whatever I’d had left
after her mother got her hooks in me she took. I put her in her
mother’s arms and the sight brought me to my knees. There was a
sudden flurry of movement as everyone wanted to get their hands on
my girls and I wanted to tell them all to get the hell out. It was
pretty much written in stone from that moment on. I wasn’t going to
play well with others when it came to my little family.
    Three days after my daughter
was born I went and got her name tattooed over my heart right
beneath her mother’s, my life felt complete.

 
    When I brought them home we
were overrun with company for the first week. I hardly got to hold
my little girl because the women in my life were baby hogs and
Elena was the worst, damn. She was here from the first thing in the
morning till late at night. She and her posse had pretty much taken
over my damn house. Kat didn’t seem to mind but I was at the end of
my rope. I actually had to steal my kid to get some time with her.
She was a daddy’s girl through and through though I don’t care what
the rest of them said. Dad was another one, him Drake and Cy were
almost as bad as the women. My poor kid got passed around more in
her first month of life than a football.
    I finally put my foot down.
I had stayed home for the first three weeks but had to go back to
the shop because of the amount of orders we’d been getting lately
but I came up with a new rule. When I came home in the evenings she
was mine everyone else had to head out.
    “Colt you’re obsessed.” Kat
was puttering around the nursery putting stuff away while I rocked
my girl in my arms.
    “Your point?”
    She just shook her head at
me and went about her business, which was fine by me. She’s another
one I have to fight her for baby time too.
    Caitlin didn’t sleep in her
crib for the first few months of her life. She fell asleep on my
chest and stayed there until the next morning when I got up. The
only reason that came to an end is because she was starting to move
around a lot more and I got scared that I might roll over in the
night and smother her. That first month I hardly slept at night
because she got up every couple of hours. But by the end of that
month she was sleeping better. I wanted to move her into our room
but all the women had a lot to say about that idea so I let it go.
When I wasn’t working I was with my baby. It was hard to believe
that she had been the orchestrator of all my fears and angst in the
last few months or so. Now I couldn’t imagine our lives without
her. There was a reason behind my madness. I planned on forming a
bond with my kid that would never be broken. I wasn’t going to wait
until she was a teen to try to reel her in. I’d read enough horror
stories to know that that’s not what I wanted. I still get a little
freaked out every once in a while but all in all we’re
good.
    My girls were healthy and
happy and all was right in my world. Caitie bear was her own little
person. I wasn’t sure which of us she was more like, me or her
mother, but I do know she knows her dad. She’d pick her little head
up when I come into the house as soon as she heard my voice and
track me around the room until I picked her up. Those first few
months had been eye opening. I’d learned that my capacity for love
was tremendous, I loved both my girls something fierce. They’ll
probably put me in an early grave.

KAT
     
    Well I survived the
pregnancy, barely. I think it’s safe to say my life has made a
complete three sixty since I got on that plane to come here. Within
the year I had a new husband and a baby. I don’t think I had a
moment to think until after the delivery room. Colton Lyon is like
a Mac truck, he just runs you over and that’s it. I thought he was
bad before the baby came but since she