—Blake—

I could barely breathe as I held the tiny little bundle in my arms. For so long, I’d been anticipating this moment; now that it was here, it felt like anything, one wrong move, one hair out of place, would shatter it.

At two am the night before, I’d gotten the call. It was time. Danny and I had rushed to the hospital, and, finally, a short sixteen hours later, there she was.

“You’re finally here,” Danny whispered, leaning over my shoulder to gaze at the wrinkly little baby in my arms.

“She’s perfect,” I murmured. Our daughter looked up at us with blue eyes; soon, they’d darken to brown—Bri and Danny both had brown eyes, just like me. Our little girl was the perfect piece of both of us.

“I hope you like this one,” Wanda said in a quiet, flippant voice, gingerly sitting up on the bed. “Because I have a strict no returns policy.”

I smiled over at her. “Definitely no returns necessary.”

“I’ll hold you to that once the tantrums start.”

I laughed quietly. “Do you want to hold her?” I offered, though I was loath to surrender her.

She shook her head. “Not now. Later, maybe.” She smiled fondly, only a hint of sadness clouding her expression. I could only imagine what her hormones and maternal instincts were doing to her; it had to take some serious strength and selflessness to be a surrogate. “I made that baby perfect, so you better treat her right.”

I nodded. “We will.”

She rubbed at her eyes and changed the subject. “Have you decided on a name? I know you were torn.”

Reluctantly, I surrendered the baby to Danny. He smiled and played with one of her hands. I turned my attention to Wanda. “We’ve decided to name her Cassandra Forrester. We’ll call her Cassie.”

Wanda smiled. “Forrester, huh?”

I nodded, reaching over to stroke Cassie’s downy hair. “Yeah, she’s definitely a Forrester.” Danny’s family were good people. They had their issues, sure, a sprinkling of homophobia here and there, but nothing like Huy Casillas. Forrester was a good name.

A short while later, Danny and I, along with the baby, were moved to a separate room so that Wanda could recuperate in peace. After a few minutes of family time, we let the others start to pile in.

Mom was the first in, closely followed by Brianna, then my surrogate parents, Camille and Shirley, arrived to dote on Cassie. I knew my girl would be like another grandchild to them, and I was more than happy with that.

Brianna pulled me aside after she’d handed the baby off to another set of arms. “I’ve got to get going, but I wanted to say congrats again.”

I grinned and pulled her into a tight hug. “Thank you, Bri. I really mean it. Thank you so much.”

“For my big brother? Anything.” Her smile faded. “Oh, I did want to tell you…Dad’s in the hospital again. The doctor says that, if he leaves, it’ll be to a hospice center.” She held up her hands. “Not trying to guilt trip or anything. I just…I thought you should know.” With that, she bade goodbye to Danny, waved to Mom, and let herself out.

I looked over at my daughter, held snugly against her daddy’s chest. Danny looked down at her with amazement written over his face even as he held a conversation with Shirley. It hit me like a punch; Loralee was right. Who had room for hate when I had all of this?

With a whispered explanation to Danny, I let myself out. I went to the nurse’s station and asked about Huy; a few minutes later, I was on the correct floor. I walked down the hall that smelled of disinfectant so strongly it made my nose burn and opened the door to Huy Casillas’ room.

“I’m surprised to see you in a chair,” I said evenly.

“I hate those damn beds,” Huy rasped in a voice destroyed by years of booze. He really had started drinking like a fish after he got out of jail. “Didn’t think you remembered me. Haven’t come to see me once,” he said reproachfully.

Just yesterday, I would’ve instantly felt ire flare. Now? Nothing. I really had decided to let it all go, hadn’t I?

“I was already in the hospital. I became a father today.”

My voice turned cold, hard. “You will never get to see my daughter. You’ll die alone, and my daughter will never know what it feels like to grow up unloved and unaccepted. I promise you now—I’ll never be like you.”

As I spoke, Huy’s face contorted in anger, but I spoke over his stutters of outrage and the aggravated beeping of his monitors.

“You deserve this bed you’ve made for yourself, but you know what? I’m done feeling anything for you. This is the last time I’m going to see you, alive or dead. It’s the last time I’m going to sacrifice any part of my life for you. I forgive you. For all the shit you put me through and never once being the kind of father I deserved—I forgive you.”

Welcome to the story, Cassie Forrester! Technically, she is the first sim of the fourth generation of Thoreau’s!

Chronologically, this is actually the last chapter of this arc, however, there is one more chapter next week to complete Logan’s teen arc. There’ll be a brief reminder at the beginning of the chapter to make sure no one gets confused.

I hope everyone has enjoyed Blake’s journey. Whether he will reappear again, only the future can tell, but the YA arc plans to be jam packed between Logan, his siblings, and Stefan–hey, you remember Stefan Rosebrook, right? I always intended on featuring him in Gen 3 of the Thoreau’s. Well, I may be slow at it, but Stefan’s time is coming!