But then there was soccer, always stealing me away.
“Are you…is the baby…” He blew out a breath.
“The baby is okay,” I said. “She’s okay.”
His head jerked up from where he’d let his gaze fall to the floor, and his eyes lit with an inner peace that I hadn’t seen in so long.
“A girl?”
I nodded.
“A girl.”
I pulled out my phone, then hit send on the texts that I’d had waiting in the reply bar for just this very moment.
He pulled out his phone at my urging, then his eyes latched onto the screen and held.
“So much bigger than our Julep.”
Just hearing the name of the baby I’d loved so much squeezed my heart.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “You can see her fingers and toes really well in the last one.”
He quickly swiped to the last photo I’d sent, and once again froze.
“What’s all that squiggly stuff at the top of the toes?”
“The ultrasound tech told me that’s hair. Her feet are up by her head.” I laughed. “I asked if it was normal to be able to see hair at four and a half months, and she said yes.”
“I’m curious how much she’ll have when she’s born,” he replied quietly.
Too quietly.
“Talk to me.”
His eyes came up to meet mine. “What happens next?”
My shoulders slumped. “I don’t know.”
Three
She told me to take care of my eyes, because they were the only balls that I had.
—Text from Boone to Denver
Boone
I was in a state of shock.
I didn’t know which way was up and which way was down.
And the woman in the kitchen I’d specifically designed for her was staring at me like I was the answer to all of her questions.
I may look put together, but I definitely wasn’t.
“So what do you think we should do?” she asked the one question that’d been circling around in my brain.
I mean, there were others of course. But that one was the first one that needed answered.
