by Evelyn Sola
We’re buzzed into the maternity ward and sign in. When we turn the corner to Natalie’s room, Daniel is waiting for us outside the door.
“You were supposed to call us when she went into labor.” I don’t bother with pleasantries. The fact that they went back on what we agreed to already has left a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“She didn’t want you guys here while she was in labor. She has the right to change her mind.” He doesn’t bother with pleasantries either.
“Change her mind? What the fuck does that mean?” Jason asks.
Daniel takes a step closer to Jason, gets in his face and says, “It means exactly what the fuck I just said. Are you deaf?”
I step between the guys and push Jason away.
“Is Natalie okay?” That question mollifies Daniel because he nods. “Can we please see her and the baby, Daniel? We want this to be as drama free as possible under the circumstances.”
“Wait here.” He abruptly turns from us and walks into the room, closing the door quickly before we get a chance to peek inside.
“You okay, babe?” I let Jason wrap me in his arms, offering him solace. “I’ll call my dad if I have to. Take him up on his offer.”
Jason relaxes against me and even laughs. I don’t bother telling him that I’m serious. I watch, envious, as people with bouquets of flowers, balloons, or plush teddy bears enter the other rooms. I swallow my jealousy at the fact that another woman just gave birth to my husband’s baby.
“It’s your baby too, Alex. That’s our baby in there.”
“How do you always know what I’m thinking?” I ask as I wipe a stray tear. “You always know exactly what to say.”
“What kind of husband would I be if I couldn’t read my wife’s moods? Don’t want your dad coming after me.”
We hold on to each other until Daniel steps out of the room. “She wants to see you alone.” Unable to say Jason’s name, he points at him, then at the door.
“What? She’s not going to get alone time with my husband. No way.” Jason kisses the top of my head as I continue to look at Daniel. Behind the anger, is sadness wrapped in fear.
“Let her say goodbye, Alex. Please. Let her do this. I told her she has five minutes. Let her have five minutes so she and we can get on with our lives.”
I slow nod at him, understanding this closure is as much for him as it is for her. He leans against the wall, exhausted and about ten pounds lighter than he was the last time I saw him. He looks gaunt.
“I won’t go in there without you, Alex. I told you we were going to do this together.”
“It’s okay, Jason. Go.”
“You know you’re the only woman I love. The only woman I have ever wanted to spend every single day with. Tell me you know that.”
I look up at him. His eyes are searching mine, unsure. Despite the amazing day we’ve had at our first Thanksgiving together, he looks exhausted too. Just an hour ago, he was relaxed and happy while having dessert, and now this.
“I don’t ever worry about that. I know. Go say goodbye.”
“Can I ask you something?” I say to Daniel a few minutes later. When he doesn’t respond, I continue. “Why? Why are you staying with her? You seem like a nice person. Hell, you’re loyal to a fault. You deserve better, if I’m being honest.”
When about half a minute passes by and he doesn’t respond, I assume he’s either going to ignore me, or he’s thinking of a stinging retort to put me in my place. But he doesn’t do any of that.
“It’s the same reason why you married a man who had a baby with a married woman.” I open my mouth to respond, but he waves me off. “I know. I know. Jason didn’t cheat on you. I was already engaged to Nat when she got pregnant by him. I’ve considered walking away. In fact, when she told me the truth, I did walk away. I managed to stay away for a week, but I came back because I love her. We’re seeking therapy, and she promised she will never hurt me again. I’ve forgiven her, Alex. It’s that simple.”
I mull over his words. There’s so much more I want to say and ask, but I don’t. Daniel and I are not friends, and his marriage is not my business. I check my watch and see it’s been four minutes. As I’m pacing in front of the door, it opens.
“Can you both please come in?” Jason holds his hand out to me, and I take it. The blood pounds between my ears, and I feel my heart rate accelerate, but I plaster a fake smile on my face and walk through the door. Daniel follows behind us and takes a seat on the edge of Natalie’s bed.
I don’t bother looking at Natalie. My heart practically stops as I see the bundle in the bassinet next to the bed. I grab hand sanitizer and walk to the baby.
“It’s a girl,” I say wistfully when I notice the pink knit cap on her head. I pick her up and sit in the chair by the window. Her face is pink and pinched into a frown. Her perfect pink lips are like little rosebuds, and I fight my need to kiss them. Her eyes are closed, but I know from the shape, she has her mother’s eyes, but the rest is all Jason.
The tears fall without me noticing. I hold her closer, tighter, and inhale her. Jason wipes my tears as I hold our sleeping daughter against my chest.
“She’s perfect. So beautiful,” I whisper. At that moment, the baby stirs. I immediately tense as I wait for her to start crying. She looks at me, yawns and closes her eyes again. The nurse walks in and hands me a small bottle of formula. I place it by her mouth, she opens wide, and suckles. I watch, amazed, as she finishes the bottle. The nurse helps me put her on my shoulder and instructs me on how to pat her back to get her to burp.
When I cradle her back in my arms, I finally look up at Jason, who’s looking down on us, his own unshed tears in his eyes. He mouths I love you to me, but my words get stuck in my throat, too raw with emotion to speak.
Jason sits next to me and looks down at our daughter, a stray tear escaping his eye. The tender moment is interrupted by a soft whimper. I finally look away from the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen and look at Natalie for the first time since I walked into the room.
“She’s beautiful, Natalie,” I say softly.
“She is.” She sniffles. I’ve only seen her twice before today, but she looks a mess. Her long dark hair looks like it hasn’t seen a brush in days. Her face is void of any color, making the blue hospital gown look faded and worn against her skin.
“I’m releasing myself from the hospital tomorrow. We can do the paperwork for the birth certificate in the morning. The pediatrician says she should be good to go home. I didn’t have any complications and the birth was normal. She’s healthy. My lawyer will send the rest of the notarized paperwork to your lawyer. I don’t think we have anything more to say beyond that. I know she will be loved and taken care of, so thank you both for that.”
“Natalie, we never wanted to take her away from you. We wanted to co-parent,” I say. When I turn to look at Daniel, I say, “but we understand why that can’t happen.”
I turn to Jason and offer him the baby. “Can you take her for a moment, babe?” He takes her from me, and my heart swells as he cradles her head.
I slowly walk to the hospital bed, tentatively sitting next to Natalie. When she doesn’t ask me to move, I relax into the bed until she bursts into tears. Unsure of what to do, I take her in a hug. She holds onto me as she sheds her tears on my shoulder.
“Natalie, what you’ve done is a selfless act.” I pull away from her and look at her face, gently wiping her tears. “You love her enough to know being with you is not her best option. That takes strength. You never have to worry about her. We will love her. We’ll protect her and raise her in a home full of joy. She’ll want for nothing.”
Still shedding her tears, she grabs both of my hands with a strength I didn’t know she possessed.
“Please, send me a picture. Once a year, on her birthday. That’s all I ask. I hope one day, when she’s an adult, I can make her understand why I did what I did. Please, Alex. I have no right to ask but promise me you’ll do this fo
r me. Just once a year.” She looks so lost and scared. All I can do is think of my own mother, who was in a situation that was not so different, and nod.
“Of course, I can do that.” She breathes a sigh of relief and hugs me again. She asks us to leave the baby in the room with her for one last night, and we oblige.
“Goodbye, Jason,” she says as we walk out the door. “Thank you, Alex.”
“Goodbye, Natalie,” we say in unison.
CHAPTER 54
JASON
“Dad, did you really have to have all of those cops just standing in the hallway?” Alex grumbles at her dad as we take the car seat out of the back of my SUV.
“Just wanted to make sure there were no issues.”
I shake my head at those two. When we stepped out of Natalie’s room, we nearly collided with Alexander as he paced the hallway. I wasn’t the least bit surprised to see him at the hospital.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at his place, and because he said he’s not missing any more holidays with Alex, he insisted we, including Mellie, spend the entire day with him. The minute we ran out of there after the phone call, I knew he’d show up. Despite not telling him which hospital or Natalie’s last name.
He stayed the entire night, only running back to my place to grab a bag of clothes that Mellie packed. I had Alex spend a few hours sleeping in my on-call room, but her dad and I spent the night in the maternity ward.
Thankfully, Alex is too distracted to take note of all the cars parked on our street. The minute we step through the door, we’re accosted by friends and family as they all whisper, “Surprise.”
“It’s your baby shower!” Ananda grabs Alex, and I set the car seat on the ground, where everyone descends on the baby.
“Oh my God. It’s a girl version of Jason; unlike him, she’s cute,” Mellie says.
“Everyone,” I say to the room, “we’d like you to meet Addison Alexandra Dupree.”
For the next few hours, we celebrate the baby. Alex told everyone she didn’t want a shower. She wouldn’t even entertain the idea because she didn’t trust Natalie to follow through. But now, I watch, my heart full as she laughs, cries, and celebrates our baby.
EPILOGUE
ALEX
8 MONTHS LATER
“There’re my girls,” Jason says as he finds us in the backyard. He kisses me on the lips before he reaches for our squirming eight-month-old daughter. She squeals and kicks her legs when he takes her, and immediately starts sucking on his cheek, leaving globs of drool along the way.
Jason doesn’t seem to mind as he laughs. He lifts her and blows raspberries on her belly causing her to belly laugh. “Were you a good girl for Mommy?” he asks as if she’s old enough to answer.
She shrieks again and starts to babble. When he lays her across his chest, she sticks her little head in the crook of his neck, causing me to melt.
“And you look gorgeous, Mrs. Dupree. Like a pinup girl from the fifties.” I stand up and spin to show off my yellow dress with white polka dots. It has spaghetti straps, and it flares, landing right at my knees. To tease him, I grab my sunglasses and do a faux pout as I pretend to pose for the camera. He pulls out his phone to take pictures, and to drive him wild, I squeeze my breasts together, shaking them in front of his phone. “If you put that dress on to drive me crazy, it’s working. You’re much too gorgeous for a Saturday night at home.”
“That’s because we’re not staying home.” I smile at him, and he arches his eyebrows at me.
“I saw your dad’s truck outside. I figured he was here to grill us dinner.” I shake my head at him and tell him to guess again. My dad’s been a mainstay around here since Addison came home. While I had my shower and passed the baby around, Dad was in the nursery putting together the furniture. It became a source of teasing when we both found out that Jason is useless when it comes to carpentry.
“Dad’s here, but not to make dinner,” my father says as he walks out of the house and into the yard. When Addison sees him, she kicks her legs and throws her arms to him. He takes her from Jason and spins her around. I laugh along with my daughter as her grandfather plants kisses on her neck. “Grandpa and Tina are on duty tonight. You two are going out, and maybe you can work on giving me another one of these,” he says as he kisses Addison again.
My father has been amazing. He came over every day of my maternity leave to help me with the baby. He watched her so I could rest. He taught me recipes his mother used to make while making us dinner practically every night.
“Dad, we’re having too much fun with this one.” I kiss my daughter, who holds on tighter to her grandfather. “And you,” I say, turning my attention back to my husband. “You have thirty minutes to get ready. Our reservations are in an hour.”
He looks me over before grabbing my hands and pulling me to him. “How can one man be so damn lucky? I have the most beautiful wife. A perfect daughter. I have everything a man can want.”
“You also have a hungry wife, so go!” I slap him on the butt to shove him away, but he leans down and gives me a kiss that causes me to blush.
“What about your father-in-law?” my dad asks. “Any praise for him? He fixed the leak in your bathroom, and I’m building a bookshelf for the nursery.”
“My father-in-law is a saint,” Jason jokes. He fist bumps my dad as he runs inside to change.
Less than twenty minutes later, Jason comes walking outside, looking as handsome as ever in blue jeans and a white button-down shirt. He greets Tina, who’s arrived with Owen to spend the night with Dad and Addison. I laugh as Owen runs around the yard on wobbly legs, chasing the bubbles coming from the play lawnmower Dad is pushing. Tina is holding Addison so they can chase the bubbles together.
Our house and our lives are never empty. Between family, friends, and the nanny, there is always someone home. I spend more time at home too. For a while, I considered quitting my job to be home with Addison full time. Desperate to form a deep connection with her, for her to accept me as her mother, I wanted to be by her side as much as possible.
I never said the reason out loud, but Jason somehow understood my fear. He reassured me Addison loves me and only knows me as her mother. Luckily, I’m able to work from home up to three days per week. The nanny still comes, but I’m there for my baby too.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Jason asks, leaning down and nipping my ear.
“I got us a hotel room downtown. I lied about the reservations. We’re getting room service, but only after we’ve worked up an appetite because I am going to service you, husband.” I wink as I blow him a kiss.
“Like I said, luckiest man on earth right here.”
“And don’t you forget it.” We kiss both babies, eager to make our way to the car, but Mellie’s screeching stops us.
“Mr. Reilly!” she yells. “Where is your gun? I’m gonna need to borrow it for a quick second.”
We both roll our eyes, knowing exactly what’s about to happen. She bursts through the yard from the side gate with Adam right behind her.
“You don’t pull out a gun unless you’re ready to use it, Mellie,” my dad says.
“Oh, I’m ready. Believe me!”
“What did Adam do now?” I ask.
“Oh, you look gorgeous, Mellie,” Tina says from across the yard. Mellie’s stunning in distressed jeans and a long teal top over a tank top. She’s finished her outfit with a pair of wedges. Her hair is in loose curls and her makeup looks professionally done.
“I told you if you still want to go out, I’d take you,” Adam says.
“But I don’t want to go out with you!” She turns on her heels and takes a few menacing steps toward him. Anyone else would be scared, but Adam stands there without a care. “One more word from you and I’ll rip your balls out and shove them down your throat.” To prove her point, she reaches for his crotch, but he grabs both her wrists.
“If you want to touch me, brown eyes, all you have to do is ask.”
“I didn’t say a word to the idiot. There’s no law against me standing outside in my own neighborhood. What kind of man turns tail and runs like that? Not much of a man, if you ask me,” Adam challenges.
“One who doesn’t want to go toe to toe with a giant. And nobody asked you.” She gets right in his face and points her index finger. “Stay out of my life or I’ll end yours.” For good measure, she pokes him in the chest a few times and walks inside.
Adam watches her until she’s out of his eyesight, then he sighs. “That woman drives me insane.” He shakes his head and walks out of the yard.
“I’ll have a talk with him tomorrow, but tonight is for us. Let’s go, angel.” He wraps an arm around my waist, and we kiss the kids one last time before finally leaving for the night.
“I think I saw stars,” he says as I climb my way up his body. I lay on top of his naked body, both of us coated with sweat.
“You think?”
“I know. I’m going to need at least an hour to recover. That sweet little mouth of yours is deadly.” I raise my head and kiss him softly on the lips. He puts one of his large hands on my ass and presses me into him.
We’re quiet for several minutes as our heart rates return to normal. His hand leaves my ass, and he reaches over for one of the Chinese food containers. We share an order of dumplings; him feeding me the entire time.
“Being married to you…” he finally says. “I have no words. I never thought I’d have what we have.”
“I never thought I’d get married, period. I never even thought about it, and I don’t think I would have married anyone but you. I love what we have. Love our family, especially our little Addison.”
“I have two miracles, you and our daughter.” He grabs my face with both hands and looks into my eyes. Despite hours of lovemaking, heat pools between my legs immediately. There is nothing sexier than my husband, open and vulnerable, something I know he reserves only for me. “Thank you, angel. Thank you for going on this ride with me, for trusting me and loving our family as much as you do. I could never have done this without you.”