“I’ll remember not to make the same mistake with our little one,” I chuckled, cradling my belly.
“So, Greece?” Alexander said.
I grinned. “Greece.”
Alexander loosened his bowtie. “Any other bucket list destinations I should keep in mind?”
“So many!” I chirped.
“Lay them on me,” he said. “You know, for honeymoon and future anniversary possibilities.”
Thinking about years of anniversaries to come made my heart break into a tizzy. Alexander was perfect. Back to the question at hand, I thought long and hard. “Well, I’ve always wanted to see Venice. And Tahiti. In the country, I’ve always dreamt of visiting the Grand Canyon or going skiing in Lake Tahoe.”
“You ski?” Alexander asked, visibly surprised.
“Not in the slightest,” I giggled. “But I would in Lake Tahoe. It’s just one of those random things I’ve dreamt of doing. Oh! And I forgot Fiji! I’d like to get to Fiji someday.”
Alexander shifted in his seat to face me at a more direct angle. “On a scale of one to ten, how much do you trust me?”
Without missing a beat, I said, “Eleven.”
“Good,” Alexander said. “Because, when the time comes, I’m going to surprise you with our honeymoon destination.”
“That sounds perfect.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Preston,” the limousine driver started. “We’re here.”
Alexander stepped out of his side first, and came around to help me out of the limo. It was sweet to see him come to help me when he just as easily could have let the driver do his job. I couldn’t say I was surprised, though. Alexander was a true gentleman. I made a mental note to thank Lynn—for probably the fifth time—for raising such a wonderful man.
I’d heard about this hotel in magazines and through the occasional waiting room gossip at the clinic, but I didn’t have a clue what to expect beyond an “exquisite lobby area,” as one of the local magazines had put it. I let Alexander carry the suitcase as I followed behind with my toiletry bag in tow.
“Oh m-my,” I stuttered, dropping the bag on the linoleum floors beneath me.
“Casey,” Alexander exclaimed. “Is everything alright?”
I realized that my surprised reaction could easily have been mistaken for some sort of injury or pregnancy complication, so I quickly assured Alexander that I was fine. “I’ve just never seen anything quite so magical,” I said.
The open space around us was more than a lobby. It was a tropical oasis, complete with meticulously painted murals and real, functioning waterfalls and koi ponds. The few pictures I had seen didn’t even begin to do this hotel justice. I thought back to just a couple of months earlier, when I’d thought the Sheraton was the most beautiful hotel to exist. I had to chuckle when I compared it to this.
A grand staircase was the center focus of the large room, with elegant wooden steps and carved railings. I picked up my bag and slowly took it all in as Alexander checked us into our room. The etchings in the railings were even more exquisite up close. I traced my pointer finger along the bottom rail and tried to figure out what the designs were meant to be. Some were clearly just geometric patterns, while some looked more like symbols or hieroglyphics.
“I guess you like it here, huh?” Alexander asked, joining me by the staircase.
The only way I could think to respond was with a quote from one of my favorite movies. “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Alexander laughed. “Welcome to your new life, Mrs. Preston.”
Chapter 34
Alexander
“Oh boy.” Casey moaned with relief as I rubbed her swollen feet. I knew heels were a bad idea, but it was what she had wanted for our big day. What kind of husband would I be if I had denied her what she wanted? Casey had her wedding dress pulled up over her knees as I dug my fingers deeper into her foot tissue. I silently chuckled at the silliness of it all and focused on the task at hand. As I tried to offer her some sort of relief, I looked around the hotel room. Who would’ve thought that I’d be sitting here, massaging my new wife, staying overnight in a honeymoon suite in the same town I lived in? Boy, had life changed.
“Babe,” Casey said, her voice shaking.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “Was I pressing too hard?” I was too far into my own thoughts—and too high on cloud nine—to even look at Casey as I answered.
“Alexander,” she nudged.
I looked up at Casey in the bed from my spot on the ottoman and saw a small puddle gathering by her inner thighs. I gulped. “Is that…uh…?” I jumped from the ottoman, throwing Casey’s foot back at her, without finishing my sentence.
“My water just broke,” Casey said. Tears began falling from her eyes as she shook her head, as if to say, “No.”
“That’s great,” I replied, gathering the few things we had unpacked and putting our suitcase by the door. “Why are you upset?”
Casey wiped her tears on the back of her hand. “I just wanted us to enjoy our wedding night together.”
“We will,” I said. “With our baby.” I wasn’t sure if it was the words I’d said, or if the realization that she would soon be delivering our child was finally hitting her, but Casey sprung to her feet with newfound determination.
Once it occurred to me that we had left my car at the venue in favor of taking the limousine, I called the driver, who I’d decided couldn’t have gotten far in the fifteen minutes since we’d left him. I told him we needed a ride to the hospital immediately. When that wasn’t alluring enough for him, I offered to double his hourly rate if he would just come back right away. That seemed to do the trick.
I tried my best to keep Casey calm as she complained that the baby wasn’t supposed to arrive for another week or two. In my own mind, I knew that words wouldn’t change a thing, but I let Casey vent as I held her in my arms.
“Any contractions yet?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” Casey said, whimpering. Now was probably not the time to tell her that, according to the first-time parent books I’d been reading, she would most certainly know if she was having a contraction.
The limousine driver called and told me he was downstairs and ready for us. I took our suitcase in one hand and took towels from the hotel room in the other. I figured I could put them under Casey, just in case. I wasn’t exactly sure how this whole water breaking thing went. No one talked about the not-so-pleasant stuff that came in between the water breaking and the baby being born.
The hospital was 4.2 miles away, but it felt like a lifetime. I had been so wrapped up in caring for Casey in the hotel room that it hadn’t quite hit me until we were sitting in the car that I would be meeting my baby in a matter of hours. We’d just gotten married, and it was time to start our life as a family. Casey fidgeted in her seat for the entire ten minutes and 16 seconds of the car ride, and I tried my best to crack jokes and ask questions to take her mind off the pain she must have been feeling.
Casey saw right through me, which was clear when she told me that she appreciated my efforts but that she just wanted to focus on getting to the hospital. As soon as the limousine stopped, Casey and I sprinted into the emergency room. Well, we sprinted as fast as a woman in labor could. I told the first person in medical scrubs I could find that my wife was in labor—basking in the glory of being able to say wife—and they led her into a wheelchair. Apparently, in the world of the maternity ward, having had your water already break is like a fast pass at Disney World. Within minutes, we were taken back into a room, leaving behind at least three or four other women who looked like they were about to pop.
After what seemed like an eternity, Casey was finally comfortably resting in a hospital bed. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Miss Donohue,” a nurse said, emerging from behind the worn-down curtain. She took one look at Casey’s wedding dress, still as beautiful as ever with the exception of a few wet marks, and corrected herself. “Or is it Mrs.?”
“Mrs.
Preston,” Casey said, a smile emerging onto her face for the first time since we’d gotten back into the limo.
The nurse chuckled. “I hope you at least got to say your vows.”
“Made it all the way to our hotel, actually,” I joked, introducing myself.
“I’m Tina, your nurse” the nurse said. “We’re going to take good care of your wife and baby here.” Her tone shifted, and I braced myself for whatever she was about to say. Surely nothing could be going wrong already. “I do have to tell you both that Dr. Ellis is unfortunately out of the country until Wednesday, so we’ll have to bring in another doctor to assist with the delivery.”
I looked at Casey to see how the news sat with her. Neither of us had any strong feelings for or against Dr. Ellis, but I had a feeling that, at this emotional moment, it would absolutely matter to Casey. I was right. She immediately burst into tears. I motioned to the nurse to give us a moment alone, and I moved from the uncomfortable guest chair in which I’d been sitting and made my way onto the end of the bed.
“It’s ok, Case,” I said. “Take a deep breath.” Casey obliged, and her red face slowly began fading to more of a pink color. “All of these doctors know what they’re doing. The only thing that matters is that we’re going to meet our little girl soon.”
That seemed to calm Casey down, at least for now. “I guess you’re right,” she mumbled. “And Dr. Ellis is visiting his new grandchild in Wisconsin. He told me so at my last appointment. I should be happy for him.”
Casey’s calmness lasted until a contraction sent her into a fit of pain. Even though I knew that Casey knew this was part of the deal when she’d decided to have a baby, I wished there was something I could do to take the pain away. A nurse came in and gave Casey a hospital gown to change into. I helped her take off her wedding dress as cautiously as I could with the adrenaline rushing through my veins. As she stood there, naked, waiting for me to hand her the hospital gown, I thought back to our earlier tryst and felt myself longing to do more than cover up Casey’s flawless body. Just the same, I watched Casey slip on the robe and helped her back onto the bed.
Once I gave them the all-clear, Tina and three other nurses took turns checking on Casey, timing how far apart her contractions were. They seemed to be getting closer and closer together, which I knew only meant one thing: the baby would be here soon.
Mid-contraction, Casey squeezed my hand and pulled me closer to her. “Call your family and Liana,” she said. “They should know we’re here.”
I had to admit that even I was impressed with how thoughtful my bride was. In the midst of what had to be one of the most painful experiences of her life, she was still worrying about everyone else. She’d told me about a week earlier that, when she did have the baby, she wanted Liana to be the first call. Casey had been the very first person Liana had reached out to when she was in labor, and Casey wanted to extend the same courtesy.
Not wanting to be the subject of her wrath, I followed Casey’s instructions. I was nervous about the possible awkwardness of the conversation with Liana, given that we’d only met a handful of times, but I quickly learned that the news of the labor trumped everything else. I gave Liana the hospital information and tried to answer as many questions as I could about contractions and dilation. Liana finally seemed to get the memo that I didn’t know anything other than that my wife was having a baby, because she said goodbye with a promise to come over as soon as she fed the twins their bottle.
The next phone call was easier but more nerve-racking. My parents were about to become grandparents.
Instead of answering with her usual chipper voice, my mother surprised me with a curt tone. “Alexander Marcus Preston, didn’t I raise you better than to use your cell phone on your wedding night?” she demanded. “Get off this phone and go spend time with your bride.”
“Mom,” I said, catching her just in time.
“What is it?”
I drew in a breath and let the words fall out. “Casey’s in labor.”
“OH MY GOD!” My mother screamed so loud that I was certain that, despite not being on speakerphone, everyone around me could hear her. “Marc! The baby’s coming!” The call ended with a click on the other end.
I took my mother’s scream and abrupt hang-up as her way of saying they’d come over soon. It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t even told her the name of the hospital or given her directions before she hung up. I quickly sent her a text message with the information before heading back into the room where Casey was.
The doctors and nurses had all cleared out by the time I came back. Casey’s face, though covered with beads of sweat and a look of clear fatigue, was angelic. I’d never met a more naturally beautiful person in my life. I kissed her quickly and sat down beside her. “All we can do is wait,” Casey said.
“All we can do is wait,” I agreed.
I started a discussion about our first impressions of each other’s relatives and friends we’d met at the wedding as a way of distracting Casey from the pain. Lucky for me, she was on board. We talked about her strange friend Jane, who thought her first grade teaching tips would somehow be relevant for my high school teacher brother, and my Uncle Richard, who was a notoriously horrible hug-giver. “You know who takes the cake? Your cousin Carrie!” Casey exclaimed.
“I’ve known that for years,” I said with a laugh. “But what makes you say that?”
Casey threw her head back and laughed her way through another contraction. “I met her before the ceremony, and she pulled me aside and told me that she had some great tips on getting back into sex after having a baby,” she said. I opened my mouth to respond, but Casey held her hand up, motioning to me that she wasn’t done. “That’s not all. During the reception, she came up to me not one, but three different times asking if I had any Benadryl. At my wedding!”
I shrugged. “Yeah, Carrie’s kind of the worst.”
“Did you meet my cousin Sandra?” Casey asked. “She’s an interesting character.”
“Is she the one with the really bad snaggletooth?”
Casey giggled. “That’s the one.”
“Oh, I met her, alright,” I said, shuddering. I raised my voice and threw my hands in the air as if I was putting on a show. “She planted a big, fat kiss right on my lips.”
Casey snickered as I made jokes about how her cousin had traumatized me for life. After several minutes, a flood of two nurses and a doctor broke up our conversation as they examined Casey. “Well, Mrs. Preston, you’re fully dilated,” the doctor said.
“And what does that mean, exactly?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound like a complete idiot.
The doctor pulled his surgical mask over his mouth. “It’s go-time.”
Chapter 35
Casey
Nothing I’d read, nothing I’d heard about, and nothing that anyone had told me had prepared me for the pain of delivering a baby. I now understood why mothers used, “I gave birth to you”, as a bargaining chip for years after the fact. It was a sensation like no other, one I was not in the mood for after four hours of laboring.
I heard the word, “Push”, over and over again from doctors and nurses and Alexander, but, the more I heard it, the more I wanted to squeeze in just to rebel. I wanted to scream at them that I was pushing as hard as I could. When I’d spent all those years dreaming about having a child, I’d never pictured this exact moment.
My hair clung to my sweaty forehead as I tried to follow the doctors’ directions. I just wanted this baby out of me already. “You’re doing great, babe,” Alexander said. How could he be so calm? I glanced over at my new husband, who looked handsome as ever, still in his tuxedo from the wedding. He gave me the little motivation I needed to force another push.
“We’re almost there,” one of the nurses said to me. I zoned out for the remainder of my laboring. I took my mind to another time and place, to a beach with my mother when I was a child. I pictured us walking down the shoreline, collecting seashells
in a pink bucket I’d taken with me on every trip to the beach. Mom’s smile told me everything was going to be alright.
The next thing I knew, a baby’s cries were filling the small hospital room. “You did it, babe,” Alexander said, kissing my forehead.
“Congratulations,” the doctor said. “You have a healthy, beautiful baby girl.”
They placed the baby on my stomach and I felt my heart rate quicken. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Her little nose was scrunched, and her teeny face was pure sweetness. The doctors ran some minor tests on her, but all I could do was stare at this majestic human Alexander and I had created.
“We’ll give you three a few minutes alone,” one of the nurses said. “Congratulations, again.”
As the medical personnel left the room, I felt what it was like to be a family of three for the first time. It had only been a matter of minutes, but I knew my life would never be the same. I gently ran my hand along the baby’s blanket and looked up at Alexander. “It’s been a crazy nine months, huh?” I joked.
“You can say that again,” Alexander said with a grin. “You did great, Case. She’s beautiful.”
“Well I had a damn good sperm donor,” I shot back, hoping Alexander would take it as lightly as I meant it.
“That you did,” he said.
Alexander looked at me tenderly. “Have you given any thought to what we should name her?” he asked. “I think we kind of dropped the ball on that one.”
I laughed. If only Alexander knew that I’d had some baby names in my back pocket since I was a teenager. “I was thinking Madeleine,” I said.
“Madeleine,” Alexander repeated. His lips formed a smile. “It’s perfect.”
“I thought I’d let you pick the middle name,” I said. After all, Madeleine was a product of both of us. I knew Liana hadn’t given Greg an ounce of input into their children’s names, but I wanted Alexander to have input. “I do have veto power, though, of course.”
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