The nurse at the computer in the room seemed exasperated by the circus of loved ones.
“I brought food,” Charlie declared.
The nurse looked at us and rolled her eyes. “How did you people get in here?”
Lola laughed. She seemed delirious but oh, so happy. Actually, they both did. It kind of hurt to look directly at them. They were glowing. Radiant. There was so much love and joy between them it leaped off their bodies and infected the rest of the room.
“We own a bar,” Will explained to the tired nurse. “We live odd hours.”
She turned to him with her hand on her hip. “You’re talking to a night shift regular. But that doesn’t mean I throw parties in the middle of the night.”
Will shrugged. “We just had a baby. It’s the first on both sides.”
She pointed her freshly sanitized finger at him. “All right, but if you get too loud, I’m kicking all these people out and banning them from this ward. Then they’ll have to wait till you go home to see you again.”
“Noted,” he told her.
Once she left, Eliza, Edison, Charlie, and I all crept quietly over to the bed to admire the sweet newborn. She looked so perfect as she slept in her daddy’s arms. Perfect long, dark lashes against ivory skin. Perfect little button nose. Perfect rosebud lips. Perfect shock of dark, curly hair.
I had never had baby fever before, so I was unprepared for the potency of a brand new baby. I had to lean against Charlie to keep from falling face-first into her sweet, pink perfection and demanding one of my own.
Charlie put his arm around my shoulders and reached out with his free hand to lightly brush her swaddled toes. “She’s perfect, brother.”
“Isn’t she?” Lola echoed.
Will had never looked this happy before. “I didn’t know it was possible to love someone so much. I mean, I only just met her.”
We laughed. “Well, yeah, but you made her. So that probably means you can skip over the formalities,” Edison suggested.
“Good point.”
We moved to wash our hands so we could all take turns holding her. Eliza went first before passing her to Edison. And then Charlie, who only held her for a couple of minutes before he handed her off to me.
I sat down on the vinyl couch and tucked her into the crook of my arm. Life was so amazing. This tiny little human didn’t exist nine months ago. And now she was here, in the world. She had a whole big life ahead of her. She would grow up, get a job and family, and be a part of history. But right now, she was tiny and precious, and everything lovely about life and love and family.
Charlie sat down next to me and put his arm around me again. He slid close to admire the baby. I could tell he was uncomfortable holding her, but he was trying. And that made me want to give him his own to practice with.
Oh my God, what was wrong with me?
“She’s so small,” he whispered. “I didn’t know anything could be this small.”
“And so perfect,” I agreed.
He leaned closer still and pressed a kiss to my temple. The kiss said so much. It reminded me of the future he’d promised me. It reminded me of how far the two of us had come. Of how sweet things were between us. Of how good they were going to get.
And of the entire room full of people who had stopped talking and moving and doing anything but watching us as we forgot they were here at all.
“What the fuck is going on?” Eliza whisper-hissed in the calmest but maddest voice ever. “What is this, Charlie? What are you doing to our poor Ada?”
Charlie and I slowly looked from Eloise to his two very angry siblings. Lola and Edison were only slightly bemused. And Lola’s dad continued to snore in the corner.
“Uh...” Nobody could say I wasn’t eloquent. Honestly, I could have been a politician in another life. Silver-tongued, some might say.
Charlie’s hand flexed against my shoulder. I could tell he was nervous, but he kept his voice soft and confident. “We’re seeing each other.” He glanced at me, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. “We’re seeing each other a lot actually.”
Will stomped over and took Eloise out of my arms. As if what was happening here was too offensive for his baby to witness.
“Charlie, I’m going to kill you,” Will threatened. Lola sat up and took the baby back from him. To be fair, he was threatening murder. “Dude, you fucking know better.”
