“Just for now, you can change it. David thought he needed to be strong today.” He kissed her hair above her ear, loving that he could share this moment with her. Wanting to share every moment with her forever.
“I like it,” she whispered.
“I do too. I wish he was mine,” Hue let slip. Why did he say that? She didn’t need to hear that today.
“Me too.” She looked at the pictures again, and he wondered if she even knew what she was saying.
Watching her looking through the pictures, he saw that her eyes were free of pain for the first time since the day Zia was born. Today was the first day she wasn’t worried about her baby dying at any moment. Finally, she was crying happy tears.
“Do you know any good names? I didn’t think I needed one.” Giggling, she pulled their hands to her lips and kissed his.
“I can’t name your baby, Mandy.” He leaned closer to her, needing to be closer to her.
“Grab your chance to name a baby, Hue. Or I will name him Hubert.” She smiled up at him.
“God, no. Let’s see. I want to name him for you.”
“Amanda is a bad name for a baby boy, Hue. Hubert is better than that.”
“Math always wanted to name his kid Nordskov Nordskov. You could call him Nordy.”
“You and my brother are both bad at this. That’s why I always end up naming his kids.” She crinkled her nose adorably.
He looked down at her wristband. The way the words were typed on it brought a name to his mind. “Noa.”
“Noah? Where did you come up with that one? And so fast after Nordy.”
He looked at the picture again. “No for Nordskov, A for Amanda.” He touched her wrist band.
“No H at the end?” she questioned, looking at the band herself.
“No need. Noa.”
“With an H for Hue. Noah.”
“Noah. What middle name?”
“Nordskov.”
“So, Noah Nordskov Nordskov. That’s as bad as Math’s choice.” He looked down at her.
“No, Hue. Noah Nordskov Strong. I want him to be yours.” She held his gaze.
“I would love him, Mandy. But I don’t want you to do something you will regret tomorrow.” He hated saying it, but he didn’t want her to change her mind and hate it later. Of course, he wanted the baby, but he wanted her to be sure it was what she wanted.
“Just Noah for today then. Tomorrow, we will talk.”
“You have to call your family, Mandy.” He ran his finger over her wristband again.
“I want to see him first. Make sure this isn’t a dream.”
“You are stalling, Nordskov,” he called her out.
“Of course, I’m stalling. I forgot to tell them I was pregnant. I didn’t just forget; I actually hid it from them. For months. They’re probably not even home yet.” She was looking at the ceiling.
“They are all home. We left over four hours ago. Can you believe that it’s not even 3:00 p.m. yet?”
“Yes, I saw how fast you were driving. Thank you for driving that fast.”