“Wow.”
When he’d gone, Gabriella asked, “What were the names you were thinking of?”
“Well, I wanted Kizzy, but she said no. Apparently, people have a hard time with it, and she didn’t want my baby to go through the same thing.”
“How about something that sounds like it but is a bit different?” Gabriella started rhyming names. “Lizzie, Busy, Dizzy…”
Kizzy held up her hand. “No. Nothing after me, thank you. She should have her own individual identity.”
Ruth smiled down at her baby and said, “Or I was also thinking of naming her after Mom or Grandma.”
“Mary or Ann?”
“Or both of them. I was thinking I could name her Mary Ann if she was a girl. Mitchell if she were a boy, since that was Mom’s maiden name.”
“Well, I vote for Mary Ann,” Kizzy said.
“I like that too,” Aaron added.
“All right then. Her name is Mary Ann Samuels.”
“You don’t want to give her Gordon’s last name?” Aaron asked.
Ruth shook her head vehemently. “No. He doesn’t deserve that honor. I’ll use our last name, Dad, if you don’t mind.”
“I’d love that. Mary Ann Samuels. It has a beautiful ring to it.”
“It does,” Gabriella said. “So would you like me to go tell Dr. Ortega’s secretary so he can fill out her birth certificate now?”
“Yes, please. Be sure it’s spelled M-a-r-y space A-n-n. I’m sure he’ll let me go as soon as the secretary has that information.”
“Maybe not forever,” Kizzy said and winked.
Ruth blushed and smiled down at her daughter. “Hello, little Mary Ann. My darling girl.”
“So why do we need two drivers?” Aaron asked.
Kizzy groaned. “Well, don’t get mad. Keep in mind that I had to be with Ruth in the back seat while she was in hard labor, just in case, and the only person left to drive my car was Gabriella.”
“And that’s a problem because…”
Gabriella strode back into the room. “Because I don’t have a driver’s license.”
“What?”
“It’s okay, Dad. We got here safe, and so did Mary Ann,” Ruth said. “Now let’s take her home.”
“Home? You mean to our hotel room?”
“No, of course not. Toourhome,” Gabriella said. “I’ve invited Ruthie to stay in our guest room.”
“You may regret that at two in the morning,” Aaron said.
Gabriella laughed. “I’m used to it.PlusI’m the new muse of parenting…or didn’t you know?”
“And that means…you can get children to stop crying in the middle of the night?” Aaron asked.
“Absolutely not. But I can get up and feed them without losing more than half an hour of sleep.”
