EPILOGUE
Skye
Eighteen months later…
“Push!”
As the nurse began counting, I bore down, trying with all my might to push the baby from my body. Jake held my leg up with one arm while the other supported my back, helping me to lean forward as I grunted and cursed through the pain.
“You’re doing so great, Skye,” he murmured as the contraction ended, and he pushed my sweaty hair back from my face. He swiped an ice cube from the cup and rubbed it over my parched lips. I licked at it, needing a little bit of water. I’d been laboring for nearly nine hours.
Too quickly, my stomach tightened again, a huge vice around my torso threatening to tear me in two.
The nurse began to count.
“Push, baby, you’re doing so great,” Jake said. “I’m so very proud of you.” I gave another enormous push, gritting my teeth through the pain.
Go natural, they’d said.
It’s better for the baby, they’d promised.
Well, they were going to get their asses kicked the moment this baby was outside of my body. Natural? Screw that. If I ever had another child, I was getting two epidurals, and… and a morphine pump.
Then it happened.
Just as the nurse counted to four, a huge explosion occurred around my butt region. No, it wasn’t a baby. It was a projectile turd that hit the doctor right in the chest. I was surprised it didn’t knock the doc from his stool, it hit him so hard.
Like a paintball bullet shot from a gun, a brown two-inch circle appeared on his blue birthing apron. Mortification wasn’t something that came easily to me, but I was mortified. And I was still contracting, the pain tearing at me. There was only one thing I could do, and I screamed it.
“Shit!”
Jake laughed. “Literally.”
I smacked at him, pushing him away even as the pain ripped through me. “Get out! Get out now!”
Jake just stood there and took the beating, his body shaking with suppressed laughter as he held my leg up. “It’s no big deal. Shit happens.”
I growled at him. “I want a divorce,” I yelled, but he only laughed harder. By then the contraction was over and I turned all my attention to him, wondering if I could get to his balls through the bed’s rails.
The nurse leaned toward him. “If you want to come out of this with your life, you’d better stop that soon.”
Jake pressed his lips together, but his shoulders were still shaking as the nurse helped the doctor change his apron, then wiped my butt with a wet towel.
Yes.
She wiped by butt.
I groaned and placed my hands over my face. If I couldn’t see what was happening down below, maybe that meant it wasn’t real.
Then another contraction started to build and there was no more time for embarrassment.
“I see the head,” the doctor said and Jake practically dove between my legs to get a look too. If I could have worked up another turd, I’d have blasted him in the forehead with it.
“I see it,” Jake yelled. “Brown hair. He’s got brown hair.”
“She,” I corrected through gritted teeth.
It had been an ongoing source of debate. We had decided not to find out the sex of the baby and let it be a surprise at the birth. But I knew the baby was a girl. I could just feel it. This pregnancy felt different somehow.
Even as Jake and Jagg both insisted it was a boy, I’d stuck to my guns. In my heart, I really didn’t care. A girl would be nice but giving Jagg the little brother he desperately wanted would be good too. Either would be a wonderful addition to our little family.
Another contraction hit and the internal debate ended. Boy or girl. I didn’t care. I just wanted it out. Now!
“Oh my god,” Jake breathed, “half of the head is out.”
It felt like a cannonball between my legs. My torso was consumed in the powerful vice of the contraction while the pressure down below was like a hot blade slicing through me over and over.
Jake looked at me. “This is so cool.”
I scowled at him. “Cool?” I said between gritted teeth, feeling like a demon was rising out of my soul. “How about I cut off your balls and see how cool that is.”
He shot the nurse a yikes look. “Will her head start spinning around soon? Should I watch out for pea soup?”
The nurse snorted. “You really need to be quiet. I heard that a jury let off a woman who killed her husband during labor. Said it was justified since he was cracking jokes.”
I gave the nurse a high five. I liked her a lot.
“Sorry, honey. I’ll shut up now.”
I gave him a high five too.
“Almost there,” the doctor said, cutting into our conversation. “Another hard push. Let’s get this baby out.”
I bore down hard, not giving a shit about the possibility of shit. It was strange and amazing all at once to watch the head pop out, its furry brown mass of hair all gooey and slick. I reached down to touch him or her, crying as I felt our baby for the first time.
“That’s it. We have shoulders.”
“Wow,” Jake said, his lips pressed against my hair as I pushed. He reached down too, touching his child as the doctor turned the baby. A suction bulb was inserted into the sweetest little nose I’d ever seen. The doctor quickly suctioned the mouth.
“One more push, Skye, and we’ll have your baby.”
It didn’t even take that much of a push for the little one to completely slide out. While it had been torture getting the head out, the rest of its little body slithered out of me in a rush.
More suctioning, then the sweetest sound in the world filled the room. I glanced up at Jake as he burst into enormous laughing sobs. The doctor placed the baby on my belly, and we both reached for her, pulling her up to my chest.
“You have a little girl.”
Then it was my turn to burst into tears as I held the gooey, screaming mess in my arms, so filled with love I thought my heart would explode.
Still crying, Jake pressed his lips to my forehead and cheek. I raised my head and our lips met in a lingering kiss.
The horror of only a few minutes ago disappeared, and I laughed, energized and exhausted all at once.
“I love you, Skye,” he murmured against my lips. “Thank you so much for everything.”
I smiled, and my eyes burned with fresh tears. “I love you too. And thank you for having such exceptional sperm.”
He laughed so loud, he scared the baby, whose little arms flew out in the startled reaction. He kissed a little fist. “Sorry about that, little girl. Daddy will be quieter now, I promise.”
Memories assaulted me from the day Jagger was born.
My mother had convinced me to have an epidural back then, knowing I wasn’t mentally prepared to face the pain and overwhelming responsibility of childbirth. She had been right. I wasn’t prepared then. Hell, I’d barely been prepared this time.
Back then, I’d held Jagger’s tiny body in my arms, but there had been no laughter within my spirit. I loved him immediately. Felt fiercely protective of him immediately. But there had also been so much pain. So much guilt. So much… loss associated with his entry into the world. I’d fallen into a deep well of depression following his birth.
Sure, some of it was postpartum depression, but most of it was simply trying to survive the loss of my best friends. I’d mourned Jake and Trey in the days following Jagger’s birth even more than I had when they both first… left.
When the hospital kept asking me what name I wanted to put on the birth certificate, I couldn’t come up with anything. Then I remembered the time Jake had talked about having kids. The boy name he liked was Jagger. Trey’s middle name was Daniel. In some small way, my baby would have both of the most important men in my life with him always.
It had taken weeks for me to become a proper mother to my little boy, and there had been enormous guilt about that too. I hadn’t breast fed him. Guilt. I hadn’t changed his first poopy diaper. Guilt. My mom and Cadence had done practically everything for him those first weeks. Guilt.
I’d simply laid in the bed and stared at the wall while life went on around me.
Then one day it was over, as if a thick cloud had been blown away from my mind. I got out of bed. I showered and washed my hair. And I picked up my baby and promised him I’d never leave him like that again.
And I hadn’t.
From that moment, I’d been the best mom I knew how to be. I screwed up often, but still tried my best every day. And I would try my best with this one too.
As I held her, my baby girl opened her eyes and stared up me, the dark newborn blue shining in the overhead light.
“Hi, Ella Grace. I’m your mommy and this is your daddy. Thank you for coming into our family.”
Her little mouth opened and closed, like a fish in water. I wondered what she was trying to say. Hello? No, it was probably, put me back.
“Want to cut the cord, Dad?” the doctor asked and Jake jerked his gaze away to stare at the scissors in his hand.
“Um, maybe we should leave that to the experts,” he hedged.
“Afraid?” I dared him.
He shot me a look. “Petrified.”
“It’s easy,” the doctor promised, “you can’t mess up.”
I smiled as Jake took the scissors in trembling fingers, this great big man looking scared half to death. When he snipped, he grinned at me. “Whew.”
“Ready to hold your daughter?” I asked.
He looked terrified again. But he nodded. “Yes.”
Taking a fresh blanket from the nurse, I bundled Ella Grace up tightly before gently raising her into Jake’s strong arms.
His face was a combination of agony and pure joy as he held her stiffly. I smiled. He would get used to it soon enough.
“Hello, Ella Grace Truman. It’s very good to meet you.”
The baby farted, and we all laughed.
She was going to fit into our family perfectly.
***
The next hour was a whirlwind of activity as the nurse did all the needed tests and assessments, then took Ella Grace away for her first bath.
When she was back, she smelled like baby shampoo. The most wonderful scent in the world. We tried nursing, and after a few failed attempts, she latched on and began guzzling with gusto.
“That’s the most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen,” Jake said as he watched his daughter consume her first meal.
“When are you going to get Jagg?” I asked in a quiet voice.
“I called Cadence a few minutes ago and she had finally convinced him to lay down for a nap. She said he’s been a terror on two legs, bouncing with excitement. I thought I’d give him a couple hours to sleep, then bring him here.”
The hours passed quickly. Feeding and burping and changing that first black tar diaper, that must have contained asphalt as hard as it was to scrape off her skin.
Jake had been gone a couple hours when the door clicked open and I looked up.
Jagger bounced into the room wearing a “I’m the big brother” t-shirt. Behind me, Jake carried an enormous vase of what had to be fifty red roses.
Jagg vaulted onto the bed, climbing up me to inspect the bundle in my arms. His nose wrinkled. “Is that it?” He didn’t seem impressed.
I smiled at him. “Yes, this is your baby sister, Ella Grace.”
He looked appalled.
“A girl?!” He was a picture of disappointment. “Are you sure? But I wanted a brother.” He looked at his father. “You all are just going to have to fix this problem.”
“Hey, girls play with GI Joes too,” Jake jumped in, “and they like snakes and to climb trees. Remember me telling you how much of a tomboy your mom was? She could bike faster than me. And one time, she jumped off a cliff into a quarry at night, and none of us guys were crazy enough to try it.”
Jagger looked at me with a new appreciation. “Did you really do that?”
I nodded. “Yep. Pretty crazy huh? I also always won at paint gun war.”
Impressed, he looked down at his sister with new eyes. “Wow. You should have been a SEAL too.”
I reached out and ran my fingers through his soft strands. “I got to be a mom instead. Best job ever.”
Still looking down at his pink-faced sister, Ella Grace opened her eyes and looked directly at her brother. Her little mouth twisted in what could only be a newborn grin.
Jagger laughed and touched a finger to her cheek. Hungry again, she whipped her head to the side and latched onto it with her mouth. He yanked it away, his eyes wide. “She bit me!” He looked at his finger, working it up and down to make sure it still worked. “I’m going to have to watch my back around this one.”
It was my turn to laugh. “So, having a sister isn’t so bad?”
He shrugged and touched her again, this time only going so far as her hand. She gripped it tightly, and he laughed. “I think she likes me. It must have just been a love bite.”
“That’s exactly what that was.”
Jake sat down on my hospital bed. “Did you tell Mom what we’ve been doing?”
Jagger clapped his hands together, causing Ella Grace to startle. “Sorry, baby sister,” he cooed. “I didn’t mean to scare you. But I’ll tell you the secret too. Daddy and I finished putting together the rocking chair for the nursery.”
I smiled at my son, then at Jake. I’d told him he could decorate the nursery however he wanted since this was his first go at it. I was excited and a little more than curious as to how it had turned out. I had been banned from going inside. They’d even locked the door to keep me out.
I adored the house he bought us and still often walked around in wonder of how beautiful it was. We got married in the back yard and we’d already made such memories there. Jake had even hosted a party and invited all the Beasts baseball team to join us. He had started working with Ace Newman, funneling large chunks of money into the veterans’ program. I even got to meet a wonderful older woman who insisted I called her Nana Steele. I loved her right away. I loved them all, and we went to the games often, being sure to never look Jagger out of our sight.
My mom and dad took up residence in the guest house, splitting their time between here and Weston. It was wonderful to see them so much. And they were so much help as I pursued my masters
As for Cadence. Well… that story was for another day.
Right now, I nestled my children and husband around me, knowing I was the luckiest woman in the world.
The next day, we were released from the hospital and Jake drove about thirty miles an hour all the way home. It was adorable. And annoying. But I didn’t complain. I had no right to complain about anything for the whole rest of my life.
I was happy. More than that, I was content.
The moment we arrived home, Jagger was a jumping ball of boy energy as he pulled me down the hall to the nursery, Jake carrying Ella Grace behind me. Troop, a bundle of energetic Labrador was on our heels, his nose interested in the new bundle. And yes, we got a snake. It was funny, the big chocolate lab was terrified of Slither, the gentle corn snake Jagg negotiated from his dad.
Our little family was filling out really well.
“Ready?” Jagg asked outside the nursery room door, his eyes shining.
“Yes. I can’t wait to see it.”
Jagg threw open the door. “Ta-da!”
I stepped inside and was transported into a gorgeous pastel jungle.
Jagger ran in. “This is where the baby sleeps,” he said as he climbed the rails of the white crib. He jumped down and ran to the rocker. “And this is where you rock her.” Next was a wrought iron daybed, also white. He plopped down on it. “Or you can take a nap here, and I can sleep here all night so I can protect her all the time.”
Around and around he went, showing me the giant stuffed animals. The mural on the wall. Pointing high up, he showed me a stuffed snake. “It’s just like Monty Python!”
I smiled and laughed and took in every part of the room. It was truly beautiful and would have worked perfect for a boy or a girl.
“Thank you,” I said to Jake as he came to stand beside me.
He kissed my hair, Ella Grace wrapped firmly in his arms. “You’re very welcome. It was fun.”
“Put her in her bed and see if she likes it,” Jagger demanded, climbing the crib rails again.
Gently, Jake did as he was told, and our little pink daughter was the perfect addition to the room. Jagger climbed in next to her and curled up around her sleeping form. Troop plopped down on the floor beside them.
Adorable.
My heart so filled with love I thought it would surely burst, I turned into Jake’s arms and snuggled against his warmth.
“I never thought I could be this lucky,” he murmured into my hair, squeezing me tight.
I lifted my face, grinning up at him, and accepted his lips as they came down to mine.
Lucky? Yes.
Blessed? You bet.
“Yuck,” Jagger said from the crib. “Get a room.”
A life filled with laughter?
Absolutely.
I laughed and looked up at Jake, love shining in his eyes. “This is the best day ever.”
It was. And I knew we would have many, many more.
THE END
Curious about Cadence’s relationship with Ian? Want to know what makes him so intense? Then enjoy this complimentary short story featuring the couple.
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