Marcus

 

Some gifts are unexpected…

 

 

 

 

I wake up to Emory laying on top of me and kissing my cheek. “Hey,” she says smiling at me.

“Hey, beautiful girl, where’ve you been all my life?” She starts giggling at my remark. I sit up and place her on my lap so she’s straddling me. I look into her eyes and realize just how much it is she means to me. “I love you, Em.” I say to her. She smiles up at me and instantly the world makes sense again.

“I love you too, Marcus. Did you have a rough shift?”

“One of the worst I’ve ever experienced, and there wasn’t even a fire to put out,” I tell her truthfully.

“Oh no, I’m sorry, Marcus. Do you want to talk about it?” I think about it and I worry that she’s going through so much already, should I lay my burdens on top of that? I must be thinking too long because she breaks into my thoughts.

“You don’t have to, Marcus. But you need to allow me to be here for you the same way you are for me. This is a fifty-fifty relationship, we both need to be able to give and take.”

“You’re right,” I say to her. I tell her about the mother and baby from the fire. I tell her about how both of the parents are now deceased, and this little girl is left alone in the word. She listens to me and never interrupts me as I tell the story. She has tears leaking out of her eyes and running down her face by the time I finish. “Don’t cry, baby, please don’t cry.”

“We have to do something, Marcus. She can’t be put into the system. I’ve heard some horrible stories.” Glory walks in the front door about this time and sees the tears on Em’s cheeks and immediately becomes concerned.

“Baby girl, what’s wrong?” she asks coming and sitting next to us on the couch. She runs her fingers through Em’s hair. Emory repeats the story that I just told her, and Glory looks horrified. “We have to do something,” she says, like mother like daughter, I think to myself. This is one amazing family and I don’t know what I ever did to find them and be accepted by them. They brought me into the fold before I even truly began dating Emory.

“I don’t know what there is that we can do,” I say to them.

“Well, we’ll just have to figure something out,” Glory tells us, nodding her head up and down as if she’s got a plan forming in her mind. Lord help us all, Glory is like a wrecking ball when she sets her mind to something, everyone better get out of the way if you want to avoid the path of least destruction. I am relieved however, that I am not carrying this burden on my shoulders alone anymore, if anyone can help get information on this little girl, it’s Glory and her daughters.

“Will you be working on Thursday next week?” Em asks me.

“No sweetie, I took the day off. I’m going to be with you when we get the results of your labs. Don’t worry, baby, everything is going to be fine…you’ll see.”

“Why is it that when you say that I believe it? But when I say it to myself I have a hard time convincing myself that it’s true.”

“Because we have a tendency to get lost inside of our heads and can’t ever get the worst-case scenarios out of our minds. Sometimes, it takes someone to break through those thoughts and help find the best-case.”

“My man is so wise,” she says with a bright smile covering her face.

“Didn’t you know, baby? I’m the all wise and powerful one.” I say, teasing her. I hear Glory snort in amusement and the next thing I know we’re all howling in laughter. “Thank you,” I whisper in Em’s ear.

“For what?” she asks me.

“For being you, for taking a shittastic day and turning it into something great.”

“Now you know how you make me feel.”

“Best compliment you could’ve given me, baby girl,” I say as I lean over and give her a kiss.

“I think I have an idea,” Glory says coming back into the room. I was so focused on Em that I didn’t realize she had left!

I break away from the kiss with my girl and look at her mother to give her my undivided attention. “What’s that, Glory?”

“Let’s register with the hospital to be able to visit the baby and help wherever we can.”

“How did you come up with registering?” Emory ask her.

“Dillon suggested it, he says he’ll call the administrator of the hospital and get the ball rolling for us.”

“Thanks, Glory,” I tell her. Maybe visiting with her and seeing her progress will help heal this empty hole in my heart.

 

 

Dillon either works fast, or else he just pulled the right strings. The next afternoon I find myself and Emory signing into the visitor’s log and we are shown to where the baby ‘Shyann’s’ room is. I have just learned that it is her name and her mother’s name was Carolina Sheridan, the name sounds familiar to me, but I can’t quite place where from. It will nag at me, but eventually I’m sure I will able to place where I know it from.

As we are led into the room that is decorated like a nursery, Emory and I walk up to the hospital crib. She is on the pediatric floor, so there are decorations and it’s perfect for babies and toddlers, it has a warm and inviting feeling to it. The baby, Shyann, is fast asleep. “She looks so peaceful,” I say out loud.

“That means she’s resting easy,” Em says grabbing my hand and comforting me. I can’t believe this sweet girl has lost everyone who ever loved her.

“She’s going to need us, Em.” Don’t ask me where the thought came from, but as soon as it entered my head I was spouting it out of my mouth.

“Then we’ll be there for her, however we can,” she says smiling down at Shyann who is beginning to stir. When she wakes up fully, she looks up at us with a gummy smile that only has a tooth or two. She reaches up her arms at Em, who happily swoops her up into her arms.

About that time the nurse enters the room and says, “She’s such a loveable baby.” She goes over and checks the patient chart that is now computerized instead of the way it used to be with a clipboard and paperwork. Looks like the hospital has finally upgraded. “I checked her vitals not long before you two got here. She’ll be wanting a bottle here soon—would you like to feed her?” she asks directing her question at Emory.

“I would love too,” Emory replies.

“I’ll go grab it, her diapers are under the bed. If you don’t want to change her, I can do it when I come back,” she says walking out of the room.

“Marcus, can you lower the railings on the crib for me?” I walk over and look at the crib…how hard can it be? Well, apparently pretty damn hard, Emory starts laughing at me and shows me the levers on each side of the crib. I pull them out and the rail slides down. Why must these things come with an instruction manual…or a woman to tell you how to do something that should be simple?

“I need to lay her in there to change her,” she says to me shooing me out of the way. I don’t need to be told twice. “Can you get me a diaper and see if there’s any baby powder down there?” I look and see the white bottle with a baby and its bottom is sticking up in the air. I chuckle at the label and pull it and the diaper out. “Are there any wipes?” I look again and see a square container that I’m assuming holds the baby wipes she’s asking for. I put everything on the bed next to where she’s laid Shyann, who immediately goes after the wipes. She grabs them with her chubby little hands and attempts to bring it to her mouth before Emory coos, “No sweet girl, you don’t want that in your mouth.”

About this time the nurse walks in, “She’s teething, after she has her bottle, I’ll bring in some orajel for her gums.” Emory opens up the diaper and the smell hits me like a tidal wave, I throw my shirt over my nose and back away…slowly, hoping not to be noticed by the women.

Needing to save face in the eyes of Emory, before she notices me backing away, I say, “I need to use the restroom,” and I haul ass out of the room gagging. What in the hell are they giving Shyann in her bottle anyways? That smelled worse than the dog shit we use to put in a bag, and place in front of old Mr. Gillis’ front door, when we were kids. He was a mean old bastard who would flatten our balls, throw our toys away and was just…grouchy all the way around. Being pissed off kids, we were looking for revenge, looking back now, we most likely just aggravated him more which caused him to act out against us. I hope they air the room out before I make my way back.