by Kitty Parker
"Cut the cord, dad?" The doctor smiles at him from behind his face mask and Jack doesn't even hesitate in stepping forward, taking the surgical scissors from his hand and cutting where he's shown.
Ophelia is still crying and the nurse takes her away for a moment to clean her up some. Jack looks back to Daisy and she is crying and smiling and she's covered in sweat but he's never seen something as incredible as her. She's been a champ this whole time and he knows, without a doubt, that he wouldn't be able to do what she had just done. There's a reason women are meant to be the ones who deliver babies. They're the only ones who can handle doing it.
He returns to her side, where he's been for the past thirty hours and he leans in, kissing her forehead, brushing sweaty hair back from her sweaty face for her, and she smiles tiredly up at him. Words clump in his throat as he looks down at her because what can he possibly say to her that could completely express everything he's feeling right then?
"Here she is," the nurse smiles, coming back with Ophelia swaddled in a white blanket, and she passes the baby into Daisy's arms.
"Seven pounds, five ounces," the doctor tells them as he writes in his clipboard. "Ten fingers, ten toes and healthy lungs," he says with a chuckle.
Daisy and Jack haven't stopped looking at the baby, her cries finally quieting down now that she's in Daisy's warm, safe arms and the baby has already learned that this woman is her mother. Jack eases himself down on the bed at Daisy's side, perching at the side, almost not wanting to blink as he stares down at the little baby in case he misses a second of her. He wonders if he'll ever blink again.
"You have quite the fan club outside in the waiting room," the nurse smiles as she and the doctor begin cleaning Daisy and the room up around them.
"Oh, they can't see me yet," Daisy is quick to say, looking up at Jack.
"You look beautiful," is his immediate response and she just smiles and rolls her eyes while shaking her head. He reaches out and runs his thumb over Ophelia's tiny knuckles. Everything about her is so damn small and he feels like a fumbling giant.
"Here you go," Daisy says, gently moving her arms, making the move to pass their daughter from her arms into his.
And Jack wants to protest and tell her that he's not ready yet but a second later, he changes his mind and he's ready. He's been holding Matty since that kid was four and Ophelia's much smaller than a four-year-old but he has the general idea. He's had practice on Nathaniel and Maybelle's daughters, too, when they were this size. There's no reason for him to be afraid of holding his own daughter.
Her eyes remain closed as he adjusts his arms so she's resting in them securely and comfortably and he's read in the book that she won't open her eyes for a bit longer and when she does, Jack already knows they will be blue – as a lot of baby's eyes are but Jack knows that they are going to stay blue.
He moves his eyes to Daisy to see that she's watching them with a smile and tears in her eyes. He smiles a little in response. "Looks like an Ophelia," he says and she laughs.
"Alright. We are going to transfer Daisy to her room and get her cleaned up and we're going to take the baby – just for a little bit – before you get settled again and we'll bring her back," the doctor tells them.
"You should go tell everyone while they're doing this," Daisy says, looking back to Jack.
And Jack knows he should but he really doesn't want to leave her to go and do it. "Yeah," he agrees reluctantly and he leans down then, pressing a kiss to Daisy's lips and slowly passing Ophelia back into her arms.
He waits until Daisy and Ophelia are both wheeled out from the delivery room before he leaves, too, still wearing the blue scrubs he had to change into. He realizes how utterly exhausted he is as he heads down the hallway but he won't dare yawn. He's not the one who just pushed a watermelon through a Pringle's can – as Celtus had once described labor and delivery to him; like Celtus has any experience with something like this. For as many women as his brother's been with, it's always been a miracle that Celtus doesn't have at least one illegitimate child running around, out in the world somewhere.
The nurse wasn't lying. Their family and friends are there, waiting for news, and Jack wonders how long they've all been here. Not for thirty hours, he hopes. Matty – who has been staying on the farm for the past couple of days – sits next to his Uncle Shawn and they're watching highlights from the pro football games that day. Johnathan, Annette, Maybelle and Nathaniel are all there as is Casey, Tana, Adam and Carolina.
"Hey," Jack then says and almost wants to smile at how casual he is able to sound. Everyone's heads whip around the instant they hear him and he smiles a little. "It's a girl," he then tells them even though they already all know the sex and then they come rushing towards him, Jack being swept up in a flurry of hugs, kisses and slaps on the back. Matty is there and Jack wraps an arm tight around him, keeping him at his side.
"They're both gettin' cleaned up and gettin' comfortable in the room and then we're gonna take Matty in on his own 'fore everyone else," Jack tells them and everyone nods with agreement.
"How's Daisy?" Annette asks, tears glistening in her eyes, unshed.
And Jack smiles again and nods her head. "She's amazin'."
…
Ophelia is a quiet baby – which isn't surprising to Daisy.
"Look at who her father is," she teases Jack with a smile.
She wakes them up about two times a night and is always smiling whenever she sees Daisy, Jack and Matty. They knew he would be but Matty is so good with her and as soon as he gets home, before he has to go to practice, he wants to hold Ophelia. He has already begun explaining football to her, sitting with her in his arms on Sundays, watching the games – usually the Panthers – and explaining plays and rules to her. And Ophelia seems to love her older brother, always having a smile for him, even when she's been fussy for most of the day before he comes home.
They take her to the prison to meet Celtus. All of the guards know both Jack and Daisy by now and the guards all smile and make faces at the baby when they bring Ophelia the first time while sending the diaper bag through the x-ray machine. And Celtus isn't permitted any physical contact but Daisy holds the baby up to the glass and Celtus puts a hand to it from his side, holding the phone to his ear with one hand and doing his best to blink quickly even though they can see the tears but pretend that they don't.
Daisy loves watching Jack with their daughter and she knows she'll never get tired of watching him and Ophelia interact with one another. He almost looks as the sort who wouldn't have children – let alone a daughter. Some would say he's intimidating looking – even his friends and family who know him. He looks too big and too gruff and even too rough around the edges to have a daughter, let alone hold a little baby in his big arms.
But he has always been so good with Matty. When they first met one another in their apartment building, living across the hall from one another, Jack seemed far more comfortable with the little boy than he ever was with her. And then Maybelle and Nathaniel had their twin daughters and Jack never had a problem holding them, even when they were screaming their heads off, or changing their diapers. He, surprisingly, has always been so at ease around little kids.
And their daughter, of course, is no exception.
Sometimes, Daisy will catch Jack standing in the nursery, standing at the crib, just watching Ophelia sleeping as if he's afraid that he'll find that she's not really there at all. And sometimes, Daisy will leave him alone with his thoughts – whatever those might be – but other times, she walk quietly up behind him; even though no matter how quietly she thinks she's walking, he always knows she's there and never looks surprised.
She smiles faintly at him and stands at his side and together, they look down into the crib where Ophelia is sleeping. Her eyes have stayed blue and her hair is already curly – just like Matty's is – but instead of blonde like her older brother's, hers is gaining a dark brown shade. She's a beautiful baby and Daisy knows that nearly every
parent thinks that about their child once they're born but Daisy know it's the truth. Ophelia Ruth Belton is such a beautiful baby and sometimes, Daisy will find herself looking at her, too, like Jack does. Just looking at her as if she's not real at all.
When she's two weeks old, they take her to her first Saturday football game. They sit on the bottom row so they don't have to climb up steps with her – Jack's worried about someone, mainly him, dropping her – and their friends and family crowd around for the first few minutes, all wanting to get a look at her and wanting to hold her. They have dressed her in a festive green onesie and have bundled her up in a matching green coat.
"Little Gators fan already, huh?" Johnathan smiles as he holds his newest grandchild in his arms, smiling down at her with pride and love shimmering in his eyes.
"She's a fan of any team her big brother 'll play for," Jack answers, splitting his attention between his daughter and his son playing on the field.
Matty's having a good game – one of his best so far that season – rushing yards and scoring touchdowns and from the corner of his eye, Jack can see a couple guys standing off away from the stands, on the sidelines, clipboards in their hands and their eyes set on the field. He recognizes one of the men as Jim, that man from St. Ignatius High School who had already expressed interest in Matty coming to play for the school.
He watches them for a moment and then looks to Daisy, currently talking with Maybelle and Annette about Ophelia's checkup with the doctor they have scheduled for next week and gently, he brings a hand to her arm, getting her attention. She looks at him and without a word, he tilts his head towards the two men. Daisy looks at them for a moment and then, she gets to her feet. She is holding onto Otter's leash so where she goes, the pit-bull goes, too, and Jack follows after both of them.
"Hello," Daisy says to both men with a friendly smile once she reaches them. "Enjoying the game?" She asks.
"Hello again, Daisy," Jim smiles at her. "Hi, Jack," he says and holds out his hand and Jack shakes, giving him a head nod. "Congratulations on the baby," he then says.
"Thanks," Jack says and looks to the field as a roar of cheers rise from the Gators stands. Tavon has just made a pass to Sammy, who has scored his first touchdown of the season and his teammates on the field are crowded around him, slapping his helmet in celebration. Sammy is both the youngest on the team – having just met the age cutoff – and the smallest as well and everyone affectionately calls him Pip.
"Good game today. Real good game," Jim comments.
"One of his best," Jack hears himself say and he wonders if he should have Shawn here with them for talks like this because Jack has no idea what to do. He is Matty's dad but that doesn't mean he knows squat about what is best for him when it comes to playing football and what he should do.
"Jack and I haven't discussed anything with Matty," Daisy informs Jim. "He's just coming off a break and we just want him to focus on having fun for the time being."
"We heard about that," the other man speaks up. "Is he alright?"
Jack looks at the slightly heavy-set Hispanic man but Daisy answers before he can.
"He just needed a break," Daisy says as diplomatically as possible, not wanting to give too much away and Jack agrees. It's no one else's business.
"Jack, Daisy, this is Joe Morales. He's the assistant coach at St. Ignatius and I wanted to bring him to a game to show Matty playing. Joe, this is Jack and Daisy Belton, Matty's parents," Jim makes the introductions.
"You have an incredible son," Joe compliments with a small, genuine, smile.
"Thanks," Jack says with a nod of agreement though he has absolutely nothing to do with Matty being as good at football as he is.
He doesn't know where Matty gets it from. Yes, his uncle Shawn was a great player in his day before busting up his knee and having to give it up but do talents like being good at a sport follow blood like that? Or does it come from someone closer? He wonders if the sperm donor was good at football. Daisy's never mentioned it whether or not he was and it's just not something Jack wants to know, to be honest.
It doesn't really matter where Matty got the talent from. Wherever it comes from, that kid works his ass off to keep it.
"If possible, we'd like the opportunity to come and talk with you both and with Matty as well about his future once he grows out of this league," Jim says. "I assume he'll be playing football in junior high."
Daisy shrugs and nods. "I would assume so."
"Would it be possible to come talk with you?" Joe asks.
"Sure," Jack nods before Daisy can and she looks at him, clearly surprised.
Jim hands them a business card – to add to the other one he's already give them – and he promises that they'll be in contact with them within the next few days to set something up. Perhaps they could go for barbecue – his treat.
"That was a surprise," Daisy smiles up at him as they walk back towards the bleachers.
Jack shrugs. "Don't see the harm in talkin' to 'em. No one says Matty has to go there."
Daisy thinks that over for a moment and then laughs a little with a shake of her head. "One of our kids is heading to college already and the other one will be right behind him before we know it."
Jack's lips twitch a little at that and he puts an arm around Daisy's shoulders, pulling her closer into his side. "Think you're gettin' jus' a lil' ahead of yourself," he comments and he's not alarmed when she's wiping at her cheeks, wet with tears. He knows her hormones are still all over the place. After reading the book through once, he read it through, cover to cover, a second time. Nothing is a surprise to him.
He squeezes his arm around her shoulders and kisses her on the head. "You should be lookin' on the bright side of this," he then says and Daisy frowns up at him at that because he's not the sort to ever look on the bright side of anything and he knows it, too, because his lips turn into a small smile at her expression. "We'll be gettin' a free barbecue dinner out of it."
It does the trick and the tears are forgotten as Daisy laughs at that. He kisses her head again and her arm slides around his waist, holding onto him.
Back at the bleachers with their family and friends, Maybelle is holding Ophelia but passes the baby back into her mama's arms when Daisy sits down again.
"We getting pizza after this?" Nathaniel asks no one in particular because that's one of the things about Nathaniel they're all used to. He likes to think about where his next meal is coming from. And even though he owns a pizza parlor, he never seems to get sick of eating it. Maybelle has joked that he'd eat it for all three meals if given the opportunity.
"Whatever you want, Nathaniel," Annette smiles at her son-in-law, which gets Maybelle to immediately tell her that she's spoiling him and she needs to stop doing that because Maybelle will not continue that treatment at home.
Daisy looks down at Ophelia. Her eyes are open and she's blinking them up at Daisy and Daisy cradles her a little closer, smiling down at her. She will love Ophelia no matter what and will love whatever Ophelia does but she hopes, really hopes, deep down, that Ophelia doesn't grow up to become an athlete. It is just too stressful.
…
As they do on every Saturday night, there are episodes of Cops to watch and after they get home from the game and pizza, Matty goes upstairs to take a shower before coming back down to watch and Daisy takes Ophelia upstairs as well to get the baby changed for bed and Jack steps outside on the back deck, watching Otter immediately shoot for the tree in the back corner, barking his head at the squirrel that constantly torments him from the branches overhead.
He thinks of the week coming up and everything he's got going on. Martinez has been great with Ophelia's arrival and has approved of Jack's schedule. Daisy and him take alternating days, each taking turns and staying home with the baby while the other goes to work. He stays home on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Aaron has already called him, asking if he wouldn't mind coming over on Tuesday and take a look at the drain in the basement. It seems
like it's clogging up and he and Eric don't want a flood in the basement and Jack had immediately said he'd be there.
Jack already knows that Aaron will try to pay him for helping him out. It won't matter to Aaron that their friends and Jack doesn't charge for handy work like this. Aaron will try to pay him and Jack will refuse. He already knows what he will want from Aaron instead. Daisy's birthday is coming up and he wants to do something special. Really, really special because this woman is his wife and just gave birth to his daughter and she puts up with him and she deserves to have the best birthday in her life.
He just doesn't have the first idea of what to do for it. And he's not going to ask Aaron because he's gay and the stereotype is all gays know how to do stuff like this. He's asking Aaron because Casey suggested he make Daisy dinner – if it's not grilling meat or using a microwave, he's shit at cooking – and Adam had suggested taking her to a hotel for a night – which didn't sound that great to Jack because they have a newborn and Daisy won't want to leave her and Jack's not too keen on the idea either and besides, taking Daisy to a hotel doesn't sound special enough.
There's one idea in his head, in the way, way back of his head and he can't stop thinking about it though he doesn't know if he'll really do it but maybe… maybe, he can get an application for Cupcake Wars and fill it out with Daisy's information.
"Dad!" Matty shouts from inside and Jack is shaken from his thoughts.
He goes back into the house, Otter nearly knocking him over to beat him into the kitchen, and Matty's there, dressed in a black tee-shirt and red basketball shorts and his hair is damp from the shower. He's standing in front of the microwave, popping a bag of popcorn and Jack goes to the refrigerator, getting them two cans of Coke.
Daisy's in the living room now, Ophelia washed and changed in a fresh onesie, and Daisy is feeding her a bottle of her breast milk. "Want to burp her?" She asks and he nods, setting the cans down on the coffee table and sitting down beside her on the couch.
Matty races into the living room and plops down in the armchair, the bowl of popcorn in his lap, and he turns on the television, Morris curled on the stand right in front of it, as he usually is, but they're used to watching shows with a cat-shaped body in the way and they don't get him to move. The "Bad Boys" theme song begins to play as the episode just begins and Matty sings along as Ophelia finishes her bottle and Daisy drapes the cloth over Jack's shoulder before handing him the baby. Jack pats her gently on the back, working on getting a burp out of her, and Daisy leans forward, Matty stretching the bowl of popcorn for her to take.