He remembered that I couldn’t take a bath until my incision was healed, only showers. Or that I couldn’t lift anything heavy; he didn’t let me lift anything heavy when Halo was inside of me anyway so this wasn’t anything new. Plus my ankle was twisted, so he wouldn’t let me carry anything, period.
Not to mention, he remembered that my scar would hurt in the weeks to come.
And so he made a note to stock up on all the over-the-counter pain medications that are safe for me to take. He made a note to help me move around the glass house and stretch my muscles.
Oh, and he made a note to help me. When I initially breastfed Halo and I didn’t know how to hold her and find a comfortable position that wouldn’t hurt my stomach.
He made a note of everything.
He’s not here right now though, at the glass house.
Even though he wanted to be because today’s Halo’s first day out of the hospital and he wanted to be here for every single second of it.
And hewashere for most of it, before he got called away.
We went to the hospital together; brought her back to the house together. The house that was decorated to the fullest, courtesy of all Halo’s aunts and uncles.
God, she has a lot of them.
Four uncles who’re going to be as overprotective as they were —are— of me, Conrad, Stellan, Shepard and Ledger. Four aunts too, actually. My St. Mary’s girls, Salem, Poe and Wyn, and of course, my oldest best friend and Reed’s sister, Tempest.
And together, they all decorated the house to welcome Halo home.
She slept through most of it though.
All the festivities and all the laughter.
But then they started to hold her. One by one.
First went Shepard. Because according to Shep, he’s going to be her favorite uncle. Ledger objected to that of course. But then Shep said that Ledge didn’t have a say in it because first, Shep is older and so he had authority over these things. And second, look at how Halo was already smiling up at him.
When I told him that Halo’s only a month old, she can’t smile right now, Shep told me that I was jealous that my baby was smiling at him instead of me.
Anyway.
After Shep came Tempest. Somehow Ledger was okay backing off for her; isn’t that interesting, that my rowdy, angry brother backed off for a Jackson?
Then it was my St. Mary’s girls’ turn, especially Wyn, because my oldest brother, Conrad, declared that ladies would go first and then the guys. Also interesting that Con would tell everyone to back off soBronwyn— that’s what he calls her — could have her turn. Not to mention, he keeps staring at her.
But anyway, somewhere between Poe and Salem, my sweet baby had decided that she’d had enough so she started wailing.
I rushed over to grab her, but someone else was there first.
Again, the guy who’s been there for everything since the beginning.
He’d been standing off to the side, letting everyone have their turn with Halo while he kept an eye on things. But as soon as Halo started crying, he broke into action.
And then I got to see a sight that I die to see every day. I crave to see it. My little ballerina heart waits and craves and aches to see it.
Him holding our baby.
And he does it so well, too.
Like he knew right away, right from the beginning, how to angle his arm, how to hunch his shoulder, how careful he should be with her neck, how wide he should splay his fingers on her teeny tiny body to give her the maximum support and protection.
Maximum safety.
Her protector. Her hero.
