Oh geez, I was already thinking of that tiny apartment as home. For all of my lecturing about remaining unattached and objective, I realized that I was absolutely smitten with the girl in my arms, and that I definitely wanted to support her mother for years to come.
“Hey there,”
I heard Nicole’s voice, low and raspy from all the straining it had gone through earlier and looked over to the bed. She was staring at me with a gentle smile, her muscled arms reaching out for both me and the baby.
I didn’t blame her. I wanted to hold the magical girl in my arms as much as possible, and I wasn’t even the one who had grown her inside of me for six and a half months. So, I got up carefully, and went over to the bed, sitting down on the edge so she could reach up and stroke our child’s little beanied head.
“She’s even better than I thought,” Nicole whispered, looking to our daughter with so much love that I knew she was undoubtedly in good hands. But even with that knowledge, I couldn’t justify in my mind leaving our little girl. I had certainly put myself into a bit of a pickle, hadn’t I?
“It doesn’t seem possible, does it? And yet here she is.”
“Here she is,” Nicole repeated. Once more she was looking up at me with that wide eyed, hopeful expression again. “Thank you, for being here.”
“Of course, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
“That means a lot to me, it really does.” Suddenly her eyelids whipped back, and she sat bolt upright.
“Whoa, hey there, what’s wrong?”
She looked to me with an utterly horrified expression. “I forgot to call my mom.”
“Oh… oh no.”
She collapsed back to the bed and her expression was just so damn funny that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I’m sorry,” I said, trying to cover my mouth with my free hand and failing terribly. “It’s not funny. It’s not.”
“Yeah, sure it isn’t,” she scoffed. “If you just wanna grab my cellphone out of my clothes folded in the corner, I’m ready to deal with the disappointed mom voice.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “You literally just gave birth.”
“Yeah and couldn’t imagine a more perfect time to learn the technique that I hopefully won’t have to use much in my life.”
I smirked at that. I could just imagine Nicole standing in the doorway, giving our daughter a disappointed look as she tried to sneak in past curfew. Of course, in my imagination, she was in a large, sprawling house that she most likely would not have been able to afford her on her own. Was my subconscious trying to hint at something? Because now was not the time.
“Here, you hold our girl,” I said, getting up to find her phone. “Just don’t blame me when she hits you with a really good one liner.”
“Don’t worry,” Nicole said with a sigh. “I’m prepared.”
But she couldn’t remain negative for long with our bundle of joy in her arms, and soon she was cooing at her little baby. I took out her phone from the pocket of her jeans but paused before handing it to her. Instead, I opened the camera and snapped a few pictures. These moments were precious, and it would be a shame to lose them forever.
When I was satisfied with the amount of digital memories I had collected, I handed her the phone like she had asked, doing a trade off for Kireina. I only half listened as Nicole tried to explain to her mother why she hadn’t called and how everything had happened so fast, but my attention was on our little star once again.
No matter how upset Nicole’s mother was, no matter what hurdles lay in wait for us, I knew there was untold happiness to be had around every corner.
We had our whole futures lining up ahead of us, and I couldn’t wait to get started.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
~Nicole~
How did I tell the man that I was supposed to be divorcing that I was madly in love with him?
I found myself wondering that repeatedly as he drove us home, looking as striking as ever for wearing the same clothes for over two days.
I had told him that he should go home, change and shower, but he had refused to leave my side. I found it pretty sweet, although foolish, and didn’t argue with him too hard about it.
Especially since at first I thought I was only staying in the hospital overnight. In my one birthing class they had mentioned that mothers were usually released twenty-four hours after a successful, hitch-free birth, but apparently my doctor wanted to monitor me and little Kireina for an extra day.
I didn’t mind. It gave me time to prep for my mother’s arrival and prepare myself emotionally for James’ inevitable absence.