I nod and give her a hug because I’m so grateful for the women in our lives that were here for Gabi when I couldn’t be.
“I am,” I say as I walk back to Gabi. “Let’s have a baby.”
CHAPTER 37
GABI
“And then she walked up on stage with me, and let me tell you Tiny Tot, she was the prettiest girl I ever saw.”
I have no idea how long I was sleeping, but I open my eyes enough to watch as Maddox sits in the recliner in my hospital room, our son to his bare chest, as he talks to him in what I assume is the story of how we met. He hasn’t noticed that I’m awake, which I’m glad. Being in this moment, seeing this interaction between him and our son, has me intrigued like it’s something I didn’t live through.
“And then she danced with me. On stage in front of a huge crowd. It was so exciting. She moved like she didn’t care that there were hundreds of people watching. She was living in the moment, and I got to be a part of that. One day you’ll learn about love at first sight. I didn’t think it was real until I met your mom. But I promise you it is.”
Love works in such mysterious ways. Here’s Maddox, who says he’s loved me from the first moment he met me. If it were anyone else on the planet, I’d tell them that they were crazy. That no way someone could fall in love with a random woman who hijacked the stage with you in Vegas. Especially when it wasn’tlove at first sight for me. No, to me, he was going to be a good time. A hot time. A way to start the new chapter of my life. Little did I know…
“And then she sang with me. My man, there are going to be times in life when you meet a girl, and she does something that might not work for other guys, but it’s going to make you fall in love with her that much harder. And that was what happened when I heard your mom sing. Wait until you hear her voice. I can’t wait until the first time she sings you a lullaby. You're going to want her to sing to you every night.”
Well now I’m crying. Which, it wasn’t going to take much for that to happen. I can already feel the hormone swing and I’ve been not pregnant for roughly eight hours. But hearing Maddox talk to Tiny Tot right now? I think I’d cry no matter what.
“Then after we sang together… well I can’t tell you about that, but you’ll figure it out one day when you can do math and realize when your birthday is. Also, when that happens, I’m going to talk to you about condoms and how they aren’t always effective.”
I know I said I didn’t want to make a sound, but how do I not laugh at that? I try to keep it under my breath, but I watch as Maddox turns his head to me, a dazzling smile on his face from ear to ear.
“I’m sorry. I know you were asleep?—”
“No,” I interrupt. “I liked hearing it.”
“I don’t know if he did,” Maddox says as he stands up and walks over with our son and sits next to me. “He slept the entire time. Of course, now he wakes up.”
I laugh as I take our son from Maddox and position him for another feeding. “Or maybe your voice relaxed him so much that he could close his eyes and take it all in.”
“Let’s go with that.”
Maddox helps me sit up a little more as I do what I need to do to feed this little guy. We’ve already done it twice since hisarrival this morning, and the fear I had about not being able to breastfeed was quickly dispelled when this guy latched on like a champ and has every single time.
I couldn’t help but notice the proud look on Maddox’s face the first time he did.
“How are you feeling?”
“Weird,” I say, not truly able to come up with another word. “My body is my body again, kind of, but not really. There’s some pain. I’m wearing a diaper. But somehow, I also feel good.”
“You look beautiful,” Maddox says as he kisses my cheek.
“You’re biased.”
“So what if I am? I also forgot to say that you’re strong. Your body is able to feed our son, which might be the most impressive thing anyone can do. You were a fucking rockstar during all of this. And I’m not going to tell you this nearly enough in our life, but I’m amazed by you.”
I tilt my head so it can rest on Maddox. I know I did those things, and I don’t want to downplay them, but I do wonder how the hell I did it. It almost seems surreal. How a body can endure that type of pain and trauma, and a few hours later, be sitting upright? It’s baffling.
I also know that I’m lucky. Tiny Tot’s birth, despite the hours of labor leading up to it, was seamless. He waited for his dad to get there, and an hour after that, he was born. At least one person in this scenario got the memo about a non-dramatic birth. His mom and dad on the other hand? Not so much. If anything, it’s going to provide years of good story telling about the day that he came into the world.
“Is it time?” I ask as I maneuver him to burp. “I don’t think we can put off the name anymore.”
We were asked immediately if we had a name, which of course, we didn’t. In our original birth plan, we were going touse the time that I was in labor and waiting for him to arrive to decide on that. Clearly that didn’t happen.
“It’s time,” Maddox says, not moving from the bed.
“Did you bring the notebook? I remember most of them, but I don’t want to accidentally forget one.”
