Growing Flowers: Pete and Daisy
Welcome to my stop on the Growing Flowers: The Pete & Daisy Collection blog tour!
by Tani Hanes
Genre: NA Romance
Release date: January 2019
Summary:
When they meet, Pete is a student who needs a place to live, Daisy is a young woman in a family bind who needs a husband. She’s a bred and born New Yorker, he’s from the vineyards of Tuscany, but when they meet, sparks fly, as though they were meant to be. Follow our intrepid young couple as they navigate the treacherous waters of being newlyweds, new parents, and a vulnerable family unit trying to protect themselves and their children from the threats of an indifferent and sometimes cruel world.
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The living room was a happy mess
of wrapping paper, toys, books, a ukulele, clothes, baby things, a new guitar
for Pete, and all manner of sundry gifts by lunch time, when Daisy called Pete
into the front hall.
Pete looked around, grinning.
"This is an odd place for us to be," he remarked. "Did you want
some privacy?" Daisy smiled back. "I'm in labor," she said.
"What?"
Daisy nodded. "You heard
me."
"Is this a joke?" he
asked, putting a hand on her belly. Daisy shook her head. "No joke,
Pietro. I've been having contractions for the last couple hours. I didn't want
to interrupt the presents and stuff, but yeah, I'm sure."
She grabbed his hand and put it
down low on her abdomen. "There, feel that? How tight it just got? That's
a contraction for sure. I've done this a few times, Daddy, I know."
They had planned for the girls to
go to the Spencer's house when it happened, but this was extenuating
circumstances if ever there had been such a thing, between the puppy, and the
snowstorm, and the fact that it was Christmas Day.
"I'll call Ellen and see if
Audrey can come over here, okay?" Daisy said. "Relax, Pete, please, I
need you with all your faculties."
So Pete went to change clothes,
and Daisy followed him into their room a few minutes later. "Okay, all is
well, so relax, Pete. Audrey and Ellen and the baby are on their
"Oh my god, is it a
contraction?" Pete knelt next to her. "No, I was thinking about how I
wanted pizza for dinner," Daisy replied, eyes merry. "Of course it
was a contraction, you idiot."
"I think it's so unfair that
you're making fun of me, cara," Pete said reproachfully. "This is so
hard for me, veramente."
"Hard for you?" Daisy
repeated, laughing. "Okay, okay, I'll let that one go, you poor guy."
She pulled on her wool maternity dress. "Come on, let's go tell the
monkeys what's going on."
Twenty minutes later they were in
a cab on their way to the hospital, and Daisy wasn't laughing anymore. Her
contractions were much stronger, and much closer together.
"Jesus, can you go
faster?" Pete asked the cab driver. And the cabby, who wasn't exactly
thrilled that he had to work on Christmas Day, did try to keep his temper as he
explained to Pete that the streets were a little slippery because of all the
snow.
"I know, I'm sorry to be so
abrupt, but my wife, she's in labor," Pete replied.
"I can see," the cabby
said nervously. "We're nearly there, okay? Just hold on."
They pulled up, and Daisy and Pete
walked carefully through the snow and into the hospital, where people were
"My goodness, you're
completely effaced already, and nearly all the way dilated," the nurse
exclaimed during the exam. "You got here just in time, Mrs.
Santangelo!"
Pete came into the room in his
gown then, and he heard the nurse's last words. "Is Dr. Bernstein here
yet?" he asked.
"She just pulled in,"
the nurse said, patting his arm. "Don't worry, she'll be here in five
minutes, Mr. Santangelo." "This is happening too fast," he
complained, taking Daisy's hand. "Is this normal?"
Daisy
nodded, smiling. "You know that later labors can go quickly," she
reminded him. "We were told it could be this way, don't you
remember?"
"But it's only been what?
Five hours? Six hours?" Pete asked. "That's amazing."
"I think we may have jump
started something last night," Daisy confided. "I've been feeling
little twinges since then." "Twinges?" Pete repeated, horrified.
"Oh my god, really? We shouldn't have done it, then!"
"Pete,
stop!" Daisy gasped. "You're making me laugh, and it's hard to
breathe--oh, a contraction--" And she breathed through it.
She
began pushing as soon as Dr. Bernstein walked in, and less then fifteen minutes
later, Pete and Daisy's son had arrived.
"Oh my god," Pete
whispered, looking at the tiny newborn. A little steam was rising from his
warm, pink body as the doctor cut the umbilical cord.
"What color is his
hair?" Daisy asked, turning her head so Pete could wipe her face.
"Um, dark, it's dark, like
mine," he replied, leaning in to press a kiss on her damp forehead.
"And not super curly, just wavy, but a lot, like all the others," he
added.
Daisy nodded, her lips curling up
in a smile as she heard his tiny cries.
A few minutes later, Pete helped
her sit up so she could hold him, and put him to the breast.
She
reached for him, leaning into Pete as he put his arm around her, the two of
them gazing at their son together for the first time.
He did indeed have dark hair like
his father. His hairline swooped at the temples like Pete's, and his eyebrows
arched in the same beautiful way as Pete's as well. It was too soon to tell the
color, of course, but as he gazed quietly back at his parents, it did seem like
they were too dark to be the blue of Daisy and Francie and Sabrina's eyes.
Daisy lowered the side of her gown
as Pete stroked his son's forehead, and the side of his face, and turned him
expertly so he could suckle. Of course there was only colostrum for him to take
from her; she would have no milk for a few days yet, but he latched on
immediately to satisfy his need to suck. Pete smiled, as he always did when he
watched his babies perform this basic, primeval act. It moved him at such a basic,
elemental level, like almost nothing else.
They could hear their baby making
small sounds of effort as he nursed, his little hand placed on his mother's
breast, tiny fingernails reflecting the lights of the delivery room. His eyes
began to close, slowly, and Pete sighed, a sound of complete and utter
contentment and joy.
"Welcome, passerotto,"
Pete said, leaning down to kiss his son's head as it nestled next to his wife's
breast.
"What does that mean?"
Daisy asked, looking up at her husband.
"Little sparrow," Pete
replied, smiling. He kissed Daisy. "Thank you, thank you so much for this,
my darling wife," he whispered.
Individual Books in the Series:
About the Author
My name is Tani Hanes, and I am a 51 year old substitute teacher. I'm from central California and am a recent transplant to New York City. The most important things to know about me are that I'm punctual, I love grammar and sushi, and I'm very intolerant of intolerance. The least important things to know about me are that I like to knit and I couldn't spell "acoustic" for 40 years. I've wanted to write since I was ten, and I finally did it. If you want to write, don't wait as long as I did, it's pointless, and very frustrating!
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