I got on my belly beside Merrick, and we pushed together. He screamed, and the sound tore shreds off my heart. The pushing went on for ages. Push, scream, grunt, and pause. My mate’s strength was waning, and we’d have to get to a hospital if he couldn’t push the baby out.
But dad yelled he could see the head, and that gave Merrick the impetus to keep going. Dad urged me to help deliver the baby. What did I know about bringing babies into the world? But he reminded me of what I’d said earlier, that instinct was guiding our child and my mate.
“Oh my gods, yes, I see the head. Merrick, I see our little one.”
“And the shoulders.” He encouraged me to hold our child, saying they wouldn’t break.
My mate pushed again, accompanied by a screech, and the baby slid out onto the towels.
“Did I do it? Is the baby here?”
Before I could answer, our son cried, and it was the most glorious sound. I sobbed along with the baby, unable to take in that this was our reality.
Dad helped Merrick lie down while I held our son close. He had dark hair like Merrick and his nose, and he wasn’t happy about being in the light. After breathing with Merrick during labor, I now couldn’t breathe as I stared at our son.
My mate held out his arms, and I placed the little one on his chest. Dad slipped out of the room and closed the door.
“I hope he doesn’t expect this type of luxury every day.” Merrick kissed the baby’s damp head. The room was sumptuous, with silk wallpaper and a chandelier.
“You’ll have to prepare yourself for Father.” Much as he’d not paid me attention, he’d been showering us with gifts since we announced the pregnancy.
We have a very fine cub. My bear was in love with our son already.
Dad poked his head in, asking if we wanted to wait until tomorrow to have visitors. It was up to Merrick. He’d done all the work over the last nine months.
“Best to do it now and then we can cocoon ourselves for the next few days.”
Dad held our son while I helped my mate shower and got him back into bed.
“My grandson chose to be born on expensive sheets.” Father nodded as he stroked our son’s head.
“Of course, the first thing our son queried after he was born was the sheet's thread count.”
Father laughed, though the kids were amazed the baby could talk already.
“The cabin is yours for the rest of our stay.”
Poor Father, he’d have to slum it at our place.
Dad shooed everyone out, and I ordered room service because we were starving after giving birth and helping in the delivery.
“We need to choose a name.” Merrick was studying our son’s face as if looking for clues regarding a name.
“Maybe one that means mountain.”
“Ridge?”
I checked the phone. “Montgomery, and we call him Monty.”
“I like it.”
EPILOGUE
MERRICK
It was the Christmas season once again, and in the spirit of new traditions, we went back to the resort where we first rekindled our relationship after all those years apart. Only this time, it was as a family of three.
Traveling with an infant was not for the weak, but there was something I really wanted to do, not only this year, but every year. That was to go back to the Christmas tree festival and spoil as many people and pets as we could in the allotted time. It would be easy and very effective to just give random donations to charities, and we did that. But this, it felt like we were being Santa too, in a way, and it was something I wanted our son to grow up with. I wanted him to know that we were the lucky ones without having to learn the way that I did… by being on the end of things where you didn’t know if it was going to be instant noodles for another week.
