“He latched!” I cried, staring up with wide eyes at the lactation specialist the nurse had sent in to help. I'd been having trouble all night, trying to get my tiny bundle of joy to eat.

“Yep, there he goes,” she whispered, her voice low and calm and peaceful. “You’re doing so great, Daisy.”

“Thank you,” I said, tears filling my eyes.

Praise wasn’t something I was used to receiving and maybe it was my hormones going wild from giving birth, but I was an emotional wreck. I kept fluctuating from nervousness to fear to this immense joy that enveloped me in happiness every single time I looked at my beautiful son.

He was perfect.

The small tuft of red hair on top of his head felt softer than anything I’d ever touched. His ten little fingers and toes were the cutest things I’d ever seen and I’d counted them five times already. His fat little red lips kept puckering up and I couldn’t stop touching them. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.

“I can’t believe this is finally working,” I thought, the relief flooding over me. I was still in a lot of pain, though. Each time I tried to move, I felt like a hot knife was slicing into my abdomen. My face was swollen and bruised and the stitches on the back of my head itched like crazy.

“Just takes a little practice, that’s all,” she said. “I’ll leave you two alone for now. Let him eat as long as he wants on that breast, don’t worry about switching him too soon. Right now, let’s just concentrate on keeping him attached.”

“You’re a life saver,” I said, smiling up at her.

“It’s my job,” she shrugged, flashing me a gentle smile before she walked out of the door.

I looked back down at my boy, my heart full of wonder.

I’d made this. I’d created this little human.

Never mind how I’d created him, none of that mattered now.

All that mattered was keeping him safe.

And that meant keeping him far away from my past life.

The door opened and another woman walked in. A tall blonde with bright red lips, she wore a plain black suit and had a file in her hand. My heart raced as she approached my bed.

“I’m not ready to talk to the police yet,” I blurted out, holding the baby close.

“I’m not the police,” she said, shaking her head and flashing me a reassuring smile. “I work for OHSU. I just need you to fill out your child’s birth forms.”

“Birth forms?”

“Yes. We need his full name and address and some other information about you.”

“I see,” I nodded slowly, as I tried to think fast.

What if they took the baby away once they figured out who I was?

“Do I have to do this now? I’m feeding my baby.”

“Not at all, ma’am. I’ll leave this all here with you and come back to pick it up in a few hours. Will that be okay?”

“Sure,” I nodded, grateful for a few minutes to figure out what to do on my own. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” she said, opening the file in front of me. “Here’s the most important part. You can put your baby’s name right here, and yours goes here.”

She left me the papers and walked out and I looked down at my son once more. He was still happily feeding, staring up at me and making the most adorable cooing sounds I’d ever heard. I held him close, knowing I was supposed to be the comforting one now, but I couldn’t help but draw deep comfort from his warmth.

I grabbed the pen, going over the names I’d been thinking about in my head.

I could name him anything.

Finally, I wrote the names down and looked at them, trying them on for size as I said them out loud.

“Alexander Jason Morgan and Daisy Mae Morgan.”

Alexander had always been my favorite boy’s name and it only seemed natural to name my son that.

His middle name was taken from the only man who’d ever really been kind to me. I had no intention of telling him, and I hoped like hell he never had to see the birth certificate, because explaining that would be a little embarrassing.

Even so, I couldn’t resist taking a little piece of Jason home with me. If he hadn’t saved my life, and Alex’s, then we’d be dead in a ditch, right where we’d been tossed.

I pushed those memories away, focusing on the future from now on.

That girl that lived in my body before now didn’t exist anymore, as far as I was concerned.

Now, I was Daisy Morgan again, just a normal girl with a normal baby and no past to speak of.

It didn’t matter where I came from.

It didn’t matter what I’d been through.

All that mattered now was this baby and keeping him safe, even if that required me to go back to my real name.

I never really liked who I was before anyway.

But I was certain I’d like being Daisy, mother of Alex, the most beautiful baby boy that had ever been born.