Erik has wanted to be a father for as long as he can remember -- but now that the day is finally here, he's terrified. Surely a ham-fisted Viking of a man like Erik shouldn't be allowed to handle things as tiny and delicate as his new baby girl?<br><br>But it's not just his daughter that's come into Erik's world. His partner has finally returned too. After nine months of watching Andreas struggle with the mental and physical toll of being a man and being pregnant at the same time, the birth of their daughter is both a beginning and an ending.<br><br>Erik is a father for the first time -- but not everything that comes next is new.

Erik the Pink

“I get it,” she said firmly. ”You know I do.”


That was where they diverged. Erik had always wanted a baby, to make his own family and undo what his own family must have done when he was a toddler. To create a whole new family line, all of his own, that would never abandon him and would carry on long after he was gone.


Jo—hadn’t. Jo hadn’t wanted to bring any kids into a crap world, and she had met her soulmate in gruff, grumpy, kid-hating Mike. They were in childless heaven, without a regret in the world. So Jo got it…but she didn’t, too.


“Take some cues from Andreas,” she said finally. “He’s got far more experience with kids than you do anyway. He’ll know when to get worried.”


“He’s got a poker face an inch thick,” Erik grumbled.


Chapter 44