“It’s a boy,” he breathes. “Welcome to the world, son. You’re a little devil, aren’t you? Living up to your name already.”
“Good pipes on him,” one of the paramedics says. “What’s this little guy’s name?”
Zane looks at me. We’ve been debating back and forth for weeks.
“Finn Kincaid,” I say, my voice raspy from moaning and carrying on.
“Good name.”
“First kid in our family to be born with the name he’s going to keep forever,” Zane says, bursting at the seams with pride. If the paramedics wonder what that means, he leaves them hanging, because he’s shifting around me to give them room to work, to check my blood pressure and help deliver the placenta.
“You’re pretty calm, Mom,” the other one says.
“She’s done this before,” Zane says, his lips against my temple.
But I shake my head. I haven’t done this before. Never gave birth surrounded by this much love before. Never knew it was going to be okay before. Never had anyone to hold me like this, and protect my baby like this.
From across the hall, I hear Bellamy’s little voice. “Mommy?”
Luna’s voice is immediately there, whispering that Mommy is busy, but I know there’s no stopping them. Both of them want to see that I’m okay, that the baby is okay.
I try to tell Zane, but I’m choked up.
He reads my mind, anyway.
“Guys, can we just cover her up for a minute?” His arm circles around me and Finn, flicking a towel over my lower body. Commanding. Sure.
And then Bellamy worms her way into the bathroom.
She comes to an abrupt halt when she sees her little brother on my chest.
“Oh.” Her eyes go wide.
Like she doesn’t pay any mind to the two strange paramedics in the bathroom with us, but the tiny little wriggling infant…he has all of her attention.
And she’s not sure.
“Mommy?” Her gaze skips to my face. Her lip juts out. She’s grown up a lot the last few months, but she’s suddenly not my baby anymore, and that’s hard.
My heart exists outside of my body in more than one little form now.
“Come here, Bellaboo,” I whisper.
And because Zane has his hand on Finn, I can give her all of my attention for a minute.
“Your baby brother came really fast. Faster than you did. But I’m okay, and he’s okay, and in the morning, we’ll have a nice long cuddle together and you’ll get to look at him all you want, okay?”
She presses her face into my neck and nods.
“Can you go upstairs and sleep with Grandma Luna tonight?”
Another nod.
“I love you,” I whisper. Just for her ears. “I will always love you so, so much.”
“Love you, Mommy.” And then she wriggles free.
She stops before standing up, and then she very delicately leans in and air kisses Finn’s towel-covered back. “Love you, Baby.”
