When they were all done, they wrapped her back up and we went back to Cleo’s room. Passing by the family waiting room we saw our crew and they followed us back in. One look at Cleo told us that she didn’t take the news too well.
The tired woman we had left was now a tiny little girl. She had been silently crying when we walked in. All the while her husband sitting next to her, holding her hand.
She wiped her tears from her face and tried to smile but failed. A few of us went and hugged her or patted her legs. She laughed and sniffled.
“The last words I ever said to him were ‘Goodbye’. I knew when I said them that it was the last thing I’d ever say to him. I just didn’t realize why that would be-” she choked again and let one last tear slip down her beautiful bruised face.
There was a long moment of silence in respect for Cleo. Finally, she sighed deeply, wiped her tears and straightened.
“Can I hold her now?”
I looked at her blankly. Had she really not had the chance yet? How did we miss her?
“Of course you can!” I exclaimed and looked towards my darling husband, who had been rocking our daughter back and forth in the rocking chair in the corner. He stopped and stood up to bring her over.
Cleo took her carefully and stared down at her.
“She’s got your eyes,” she said, looking at my husband. “And all that hair. Is it a wig?” She giggled, moving to brush it lightly away from her tender forehead.
“I know, right?” Mark exclaimed.
“That’s all Renee.” He walked over and embraced me from behind.
“She got the best of both of us.”
“We need to get her out of these pink blankets and into some purple ones,” Cleo commented. I agreed.
“Purple is much more her color.”
She leaned down and kissed her small cheek.
“You are such an amazing miracle little one,” she whispered.
Eventually a nurse from my own floor came and scolded me for staying away so long. Seeing the scene in front of her she softened a bit. Cleo suggested that we take her upstairs with us, since she was all ready to go now. I looked at Mark to see his thoughts and his face lit up excitedly.
“If that’s okay with everyone else. Hell yeah!” I thanked Cleo and her lips tightened. This was hard for her, despite her tough front. I asked if she wanted to hold her one more time before we left, and she eagerly took her back into her arms.
Everyone stood and started making excuses to call it a night. Suddenly a nurse came in with a clipboard shaking her head.
“We forgot one major thing. I don’t know how that happened. The chaos of everything, I guess. I apologize for that. We need to get the birth certificate finished. Do we have a name?”
The nurse looked over at Mark and I, but we shook our heads and pointed. All of our heads swung towards the woman holding the baby tenderly. She had a look of ‘Oops!’
Cleo nodded and gave our daughter another kiss and then positioned her so we could all get a good look of her tiny, round, face.
“Everyone, meet Lovelace.”
Everyone in the room grew quiet, taking in the name.
“There’s a long explanation but it basically translates to ‘outlaw’. How cool is that?” Cleo explained.
“I like it,” Derek said from the other side of the room. Everyone else agreed excitedly. I considered it and the more and more I said it in my head the more I started to fall in love with it. It was beautiful, just like her.
“We’ll call her Lola for short.” Mark smiled at Cleo, then looked down and winked at me. I raised my hands for him to hand me our daughter. He gave me her and I looked down at our newly named child.Lovelace Lacey.
“It’s perfect.”
