by Megan Smith
I reached out to shake the doctor’s hand, “Thank you for everything you’ve done.” He took my palm in his and shook firmly. “Are we able to go see the baby now?”
“Yes of course, you need to go up to the fifth floor and the nurses there will be able to help you. Congratulations son.”
“Thank you.” I turned to everyone; they all had tears in their eyes, even badass Mason.
“Let’s go see the newest McCormick.” Mason said, clapping me on the back.
We all rode the elevator up to the fifth floor and went quickly to the nurses’ station. I explained who we were and a friendly looking woman escorted us to the waiting room, explaining that only two people were allowed in at a time.
I looked over at Mrs. Cahill, knowing she would want to see the baby. She nodded at me and we followed the nurse back to a locker room, where she handed us scrubs. “I need you to put these on for the safety of the babies and your own. When you’re done I will show you where you can visit.”
She left the room and we quickly put the blue scrubs over our clothes. I opened the door and we followed her down a hallway and turned left into a room where I heard all kinds of different machines. My stomach clenched thinking that my baby was hooked up to one of these.
The nurse gave me a small smile, probably noticing my panicked expression, “It’s ok to be afraid, it’s a little overwhelming.” We strolled a few more feet before she stopped in front of one of the tiny beds. “Here’s your little miracle.” She smiled at me then stepped aside.
I took a step forward and my eyes landed on a little baby all bundled up, but from what I could see, looked perfect. I noticed a little card above the baby’s head.
Wow, I had a baby boy! I took a shuddering breath and looked back over at the smiling nurse. “Can I hold him?”
“Of course!” She came closer to us, realizing my hesitation. “Do you want me to pick him up and hand him to you?”
I nodded my head. She leaned in and scooped him up and he started fussing. She pointed with her head to a rocking chair that was next to me. “You can sit there if you want.”
I took a seat and she handed me my son. As soon as he was in my arms he took a deep breath and settled down. Mrs. Cahill had tears in her eyes but stood aside and gave me this time with him.
The nurse winked at me and said, “Looks like someone knows who their dad is. I’ll leave you two alone for a little bit; if you need anything just let me know.”
I looked up at her and smiled. “Thanks. By the way, what’s your name?”
She returned my smile, “I’m Lynn.”
“Thanks Lynn.”
I looked back down at my pride and joy. He was so little but so chubby. I pulled his cap off and chuckled to myself, “Looks like I won the bet, little man.” He had a head full of dark curly hair, almost exactly like his little cousin Alex. I laid him down on my legs and gently put his cap back on. I opened his blanket and his little fist came springing out, so much like his mom already, so much fight in him. I took my pinky to his little fist and he opened it and latched on. I cuddled in close to him; I was going to remember this moment for the rest of my life. A few tears dripped down and landed where my finger and his hand connected, I looked at his face and he cracked a little half smile. I knew he didn’t understand what was going on around him but at that moment my whole world changed. I did not care what anyone thought or was going to say about us having a baby together so soon, or that she was too young. All that I cared about was this little man and my soon to be wife.
A bond was created today, a bond so strong that we wouldn’t allow anyone to break it. Our little family is where our roots would take hold and we would grow. We were now molded into one, which would allow us to prepare for what the world would throw at us, and how we would deal with it.
I was enjoying my time with my son but I was also getting antsy about going to check on CC. I needed to see her for myself, to make sure she was really okay. Mrs. Cahill had left us alone after she’d got to hold her grandson for a little bit and he was just starting to wake up from his slumber. Nurse Lynn came back around to check in on us just as he started fussing. I didn’t have the first clue what to do, so when she sauntered in relief rushed over me.
Lynn smiled at me, “I think it’s feeding time. You ready?”
“Umm,” I shook my head. “No. I don’t have the first clue how to do this.”
She patted me on the shoulder, “Sure you can. Let me grab a bottle and I’ll be right back.”
I guess I’m going to feed him. I didn’t like that CC was missing this; she shouldn’t be missing this. Guilt started to set back in. I looked down at my little man, flailing his arms while his face turned beet red. I tried to reel it in but Lynn came back and frowned at me.
“Hunter, are you ok? You look as white as a ghost and you’re sweating.”
I wiped my forehead and looked down at the baby. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
She handed me a napkin and the bottle. “Just put the nipple in his mouth and he should latch right on. If he doesn’t, try and wiggle it around on his tongue.”
I did as she said and he latched on perfectly, his color soon returning to normal. I looked up at Lynn and she was smiling at me; I couldn’t help but feel proud.
“See, nothing to it. We’ll pull the bottle out and burp him in a few minutes.”
Lynn walked me through burping him and after he finished eating we got to work on changing his diaper. We were in the middle of the changing lesson when another nurse strolled in and told me that CC was in her room. I was torn. I felt like I needed to stay here with my son but I needed to check on CC too.
Lynn saw the turmoil on my face. “Hunter, he will be fine here. Go check on MacKenzie, we’ll still be here when you get back.”
I picked up my little man and kissed his warm, smooth cheek, “Sorry you were born into this chaos. I’m going to check in on your mom. I’ll be back.”
I handed him back to Lynn and turned to leave without looking back, afraid that she’d see me crying.
Right before I pushed the door open she called my name. I stopped but didn’t turn around.
“If he’s cleared by the doctors tomorrow, he’ll be moved down to the maternity ward with MacKenzie and you.”
I nodded and walked out of the door, making my way down the long hallway still dressed in my scrubs. When I walked into the waiting room a police detective walked out. I didn’t recognize him. I thought I’d met all the detectives in the surrounding area at a lunch meeting for work a few weeks back.
I glanced around and everyone’s eyes were on me. I wandered over to my mom and Mrs. Cahill to show them the picture of their grandson that I was able to take before I left him.
Mom started crying and gave me a big hug. Mrs. Cahill walked over to show her husband, he hugged her and offered me a proud smile.
“Well?” Hailey said, coming up to Mrs. Cahill to grab the phone.
“It’s a boy!”
That seemed to bring a smile to everyone’s faces. Jaylinn untangled herself from Cooper and came over to give me a hug. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, congrats bro.” Cooper walked over and pulled Jaylinn back to his side. I still wasn’t sure if I liked them being together, but right now I had other things to worry about.
Jackson, Chloe and Alex came over to me and offered their congratulations as well. Everyone was here but Mason. I looked over to Hailey and she must have read my mind, “He went in first to check on Kenzie.”
I nodded my understanding. He knew that once I got in there I wasn’t going to be leaving for a while and he needed to check on her for himself, just like I did. Mason and I were a lot alike.
A few minutes went by and Mr. Cahill cleared his throat, “So, the detective said that there was another car involved in the accident but they took off before the cops arrived. Witnesses described the car and by the sounds of it, Mason said it could have been Brittany’s car.”<
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The news hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn’t respond for a few minutes, trying to work it all out in my head. Could she have been the cause of the accident? I prayed for her fucking sake she wasn’t.
Cooper spoke up, “They’re going to pull the video from the highway cameras and figure out exactly what happened.”
“In the meantime, the detective wants us to contact him when Kenzie wakes up so that he can ask her a few questions.” Jackson said.
Mason stormed back into the room but didn’t look at me. He walked over to the table, grabbed his keys and left again. Hailey ran out behind him.
Everyone stared out of the door they just left through. Fuck this shit! I’m going in next so that I can get back to my little man.
I marched up to the nurses’ station, told them who I was and they informed me what room she was in. I walked in and tried to brace myself for what I was about to see. Taking a deep breath, I pushed into CC’s room.
My beautiful girl lay there. Wires, tubes, bandages and all other kinds of shit covered her body. FUCK! I fought back the tears; I put my fist to my mouth and bit down hard. I should have stopped at the house and picked her up, then none of this would be happening right now. She wouldn’t be lying here in this sterile, freezing room and our baby boy wouldn’t be by himself right now. As I stood back at the door, frozen, a nurse walked in. She went to CC and checked her vitals. She glanced at me, smiled and left the room.
I took tiny steps and inched closer to her. When I finally reached the bed, I grabbed her hand. The second our hands connected, her heart rate spiked slightly; I let go and it went back down. Interesting, at least I knew she felt me here. I knew she couldn’t hear me but I needed to tell her about our boy.
I ran the back of my fingers along the side of her face that didn’t have stitches. “Hey baby,” Her heart rate spiked up a little again. “I got to meet our baby boy. He’s perfect, CC. I wish to God you could see him, he looks so much like you.”
A doctor strolled in; she nodded to me and made her way to the opposite side of the bed, introducing herself. “I’m Dr. Stopper, I delivered MacKenzie’s baby this afternoon. I’m just here to check on her incisions.”
I stepped back and gave the woman some room to do what she needed. She pulled the blankets back and lifted CC’s hospital gown. Her body was covered in bruises, the worst being from the seat belt. Even with all those bruises, and everything else, she was still beautiful. She looked like an angel.
“She really is lucky. And so is that baby boy. Not many people survive something like that. Did you pick a name?” Dr. Stopper asked me.
“No, we didn’t know what we were having,” I took a deep breath. “We have a few names picked out but I don’t want to name him without her.” I stepped forward and grabbed her hand again. Just like before, her heart rate spiked just a little.
Dr. Stopper looked over at the monitor and then back at me, “It’s clear she knows you’re here with her. That’s a good sign.”
I offered her a small smile; it was all I could manage.
“Your son should be moved down here sometime tomorrow. Maybe that will help MacKenzie wake up; mothers sense their babies even in situations like this.” She pulled the blankets back up and left the room.
Without breaking my connection with CC, I pulled over a chair, sat down and brought my head to rest where our hands were connected; I was exhausted from all of today’s chaos. I closed my eyes and sent a silent prayer that everything would be okay in time.
“Hunter,” my mom rubbed my head, “wake up sweetheart.”
I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “How long have I been out? I need to get back to my son.”
“Relax sweetheart, it’s only been a little while. Everyone is doing just fine.”
Looking down at CC, she was still the same way she was before I closed my eyes. “Can you stay here with her? I want to go check on the baby.”
“Of course.”
I kissed the top of CC’s head and left to go check on my son. When I arrived the room was empty, I started to panic, where would they have taken him?
I ran back down to the nurses’ station but right before I reached it, Lynn strolled out of the last room on the right with the incubator behind her.
“Looking for someone?” she asked me with a smile.
I sighed in relief, “Sorry I took so long. Is he ok?”
She looked down at him, all bundled up in blankets, “Yes yes, we just ran some routine blood work. If that comes back clear you can bring him downstairs tomorrow.”
I nodded my head, “Great. I think he needs his mom just as much as she needs him.”
“I agree.”
We wheeled my little man back into the NICU and I spent a few hours with him, holding him, feeding him, and bonding with him. Making memories that would last a lifetime. The only thing keeping this from being a perfect moment was CC, and I hated that she wasn’t here.
I’d spent all night holding my little man. Lynn had taken him to get checked out one final time before we could move him down with CC, so I ran down to grab something to eat while I had the chance. On my way down to the cafeteria I called and checked in with my mom.
She picked up on the first ring, “Hey, Mom. Just wanted to let you know, they’re moving our little man down to the maternity floor with CC in a few hours.”
She sniffled, and I knew something was wrong. “That’s great news, Hunter. Jaylinn and I will be by this afternoon. There are some things around here that I need to take care of before we can make it up there.”
“Ma, what’s going on?”
Sighing, “Nothing you need to worry about. Go get yourself something to eat and get back to that boy of yours. I’ll see you soon.”
“Alright Ma, but when you come up here you need to tell me about it.” I was going to find out one way or another.
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I called Mrs. Cahill to let her know what was going on as well, “Hunter? Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, everything is fine. I just wanted to let you know that they’re moving our little man down to Kenzie’s room in a little while. I thought maybe you’d like to come and visit him.”
“Oh Hunter, that’s great news! I’ll be up there as soon as I get ready.”
“Ok, we’ll see you soon.”
I hung up and as I walked through the doors to the cafeteria I ran into Dominic. He was the last fucking person I wanted to see and I only hoped he hadn’t been up to visit CC.
“H-hey,” He looked down to the floor then back up to me. “How’s Kenzie doing? I heard what happened on the news. I called Mr. Cahill and he said it was her.”
“Cut the shit, Dom. Where is that fucking bitch, Brittany?” I was trying to control the urge to punch him straight in the face for even being involved with that stupid whore.
He held up his hands. “Dude, I have no idea. She left a few weeks ago and I haven’t seen her since.”
“Well the cops said there was another car involved but it took off before they got there. And from what Mason says, they described it as a perfect match for Britt’s car.”
He shook his head, “I swear I haven’t seen her. We got into a huge fight and I told her since she couldn’t get over the fact that Kenzie’s baby wasn’t mine, we were through. I don’t know why she is so hell bent on believing that.”
I was done listening to his bullshit - I needed to eat and get back to the ward; I didn’t want to leave my son alone any longer than I had to. I shoulder checked him on my way past and left him in the corridor. I picked up an Arizona Iced Tea and heard someone clear their throat. I knew that Dom had followed behind me but I didn’t want to waste anymore of my time with him.
“Is it alright if I go up and see her?” He asked, just above a whisper.
“No! Stay the fuck away from my family! I think you’ve done enough!” This time when I walked away he didn’t follow.
I paid fo
r my food and sat down at an empty table. I pulled out my cell and logged into Facebook, I had over fifty notifications. People were asking how CC and the baby were doing, asking if they could do anything, sending prayers and well wishes. I guess word spread pretty quickly. I tapped the search bar and typed in Brittany’s name. I was hoping she had updated her status recently and I could see if it said where she was. Just like I thought, she was stupid enough to do so. Yesterday she wrote “Karma’s a bitch” and it said she was in Cherry Hill, NJ.
I closed the app and called Mason. “Yo, what are you up to?”
“Um, Hailey is in the shower. She wants to come up and see Kenz. Are you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m not leaving unless they’re both with me.” I finished off the rest of my food and got up to throw my trash away.