Skylar
“I don’t understand why this is taking so long,” Greyson muttered, craning his neck to try to peer through the door that was wedged open.
I sighed and closed my eyes. “They’ll bring her back soon. They have to put her bracelet on and make sure she’s healthy. You know, the things professionals do? Then she’s all ours. Forever.”
I opened my eyes when I felt Greyson staring at me. I gave him a smile that I hoped didn’t look as tired as I felt.
I had been lucky to only have to suffer through four hours of labor. I knew most women didn’t have that kind of luck in the delivery room. My own mother had spent twenty one hours in labor with me before I finally came out, and I had been terrified that was what my experience was going to be.
But four hours after meeting Dr. Browning our little girl came out crying, and I was finally afforded a moment to breathe and rest.
Greyson, however, was having a hard time keeping it together. The doctors and nurses had taken our little girl out of the room only five minutes ago to make sure she was fit and healthy.
“What if they bring back the wrong kid?” Greyson asked.
I fought back the irresistible urge to laugh at him. “They won’t bring back the wrong kid. They’ll bring back our kid. Relax. Then Renee can come in. I’m sure she’s losing it out in the waiting room.”
Greyson was still stuck on the whole ‘doctors swapping our baby with another baby’ thing and ignored my comment about my sister. “I’ve heard crazy stories of parents taking the wrong baby home and not finding out about until years later. What happens then, do you think? Do they keep the one they took home or do they switch back?”
“I’m not feeling up to this sort of philosophical conversation right now,” I said.
“It’s not philosophical. It’s real. I don’t want them giving our little girl to some other couple who-”
Greyson immediately stopped talking when the doors opened and got to his feet. The doctor came in with a pink bundle of blankets in his arm and came right to our bed. He stood by my side and I saw a little hand with tiny fingers reach up out of the bundle.
The time it took for the doctor to lower her into my arms felt like it lasted an eternity. Greyson was leaning over on my other side trying to steal a peek at her as she was placed in my arms.
I stared down at my daughter. She was perfect. Her eyes were barely open and blue. I knew this was likely to change over the next month or so. She had a full head of black hair that swirled at the crown of her head. Her cheeks were pudgy and pink and her nose was the size of my fingertip.
“Hello baby girl,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “Daddy and I have been waiting a long time to meet you. Welcome to the world.”
I lowered my arms so that Greyson could see her. When I looked over at him he had tears in his eyes. He reached out slowly and resting his hand ever so lightly on the blankets above her little chest. His forefinger stretched out to run gently across her tiny fingers.
“You sure they brought us the right one?” I asked.
Greyson wasn’t even able to look at me as I poked fun at him. All of his attention was on his daughter; his perfect little daughter. “I’m sure,” he said quietly. Finally his eyes rose to mine. “She looks like you,” he whispered.
“She looks like us,” I said, bowing to kiss her forehead and cheeks. She closed her eyes and made a small sound that made me smile. “She still needs a name.”
“A name,” Greyson whispered as he pondered.
We were alone in the room. It was silent save for mine and Greyson’s breathing, and the soft little sighs from our baby. I stared at her and waited for a name to strike me.
“What about Gwen?” Greyson asked.
“Gwen,” I said, mostly just to see how it felt speaking the word. “It’s pretty. What made you think of it?”
“It was my mother’s name,” Greyson said, his eyes still glued to our daughter.
I looked back down at her, too. “Gwen Kline the second,” I said softly, dropping my head to kiss her once more. Her forehead was warm beneath my lips and when I pulled away I couldn’t fight the tears that escaped.
Greyson wrapped an arm around my shoulders and the two of us sat there together staring down at her. I knew that I would be content to do this for the rest of my life. Everything had changed in a matter of hours.
“Do you want to hold her?” I asked Greyson.
He nodded and sat down on the edge of the hospital bed. I passed Gwen to him and he took her like a natural, snuggling her up against his chest and pulling the blankets up under her chin. “You’re perfect,” he cooed to her, “Just like your mom.”
I rested my head back on my pillow as I watched my husband with his daughter. It was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen. This moment made all the others before it seem so much smaller, like the day Greyson saved me from the Bravo mansion, or the day he surprised me at the hospital. This even beat his proposal.
I wiped tears from my cheeks as Greyson slipped his forefinger into Gwen’s tiny hand. He let out a sound that wasn’t a laugh or a sob. It was something in between.
“How am I ever going to get anything done now that you’re finally here?” Greyson asked, wiggling his finger ever so slightly. “There are going to be two girls in the house constantly distracting me.”
“You’re in trouble, that’s for sure,” I said.
“Big trouble,” Greyson nodded. He met my eyes. “I can’t believe she’s finally here. We did it. You did it.”
“We,” I agreed.
There was a soft knock on the door and I peered around Greyson to see Renee poking her head in. “Hey,” she said, “May I come in?”
“Of course,” I said, waving her in.
Renee came in quietly and closed the door behind her. She came to us and hovered over Greyson’s shoulder to peer down at Gwen in his arms. Her eyes instantly filled with tears and she covered her mouth. When she finally managed to speak, it was in a crackly whisper.
“She’s beautiful,” Renee said, “She’s so perfect. Congratulations, you guys. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thank you,” Greyson and I said in unison.
When Greyson had his fill of holding his daughter he gave her to my sister, who cooed and whispered down at Gwen as Greyson lay down beside me on the bed. He entwined his fingers around mine and kissed me. “I can’t wait to bring her home.”
“Me too,” I said. “I could really go for some of those homemade pancakes of yours. I’ve been thinking about them since she came out.”
Greyson threw his head back and laughed. Renee shushed him the corner and scowled. “Your daddy is so loud,” she said to Gwen, who still appeared to be sleeping soundly.
“I will make sure you get those pancakes within an hour of being home,” Greyson said, “I promise.”
“I’m going to hold you to that. Maple syrup has never sounded so good.”
“You’ll have it before you know it,” Greyson smiled.
Renee went back to Greyson’s later that night after I was told I would be staying in the hospital until the following morning. My sister promised to make sure the house would be ready for us when we got back. She ignored Greyson and I when we told her to just relax and enjoy having the place to herself.
She had only been gone for a couple hours when Greyson drifted off to sleep in the armchair beside my bed. He had fought valiantly to stay awake, but I knew the stress of the day had taken a toll on him and he needed to rest. When his chin hit his chest I didn’t say a word. I let him drift off into a deeper sleep while Gwen lay bundled up in my lap like a pink fleece burrito.
I traced her eyebrows with my fingers, and her lips. I explored her little ears and gums and counted her eyelashes. She was such a little wonder that everything about her amazed me. Her little fingernails were so perfect. Her hands were wrinkly and her skin was softer than what I could have imagined.
I looked over at Greyson again.
“You’re a lucky little girl, Gwen,” I said. “You are going to be the apple of your daddy’s eye. He’s so happy that you’re here. We both are. Your nine years on the inside are done.” I chuckled at my own joke and ran a hand gently over her head. She grunted and yawned, but her eyes never opened. Smiling to myself, I kept talking like I was talking to another adult.
“When you get older we’ll have so many stories to tell you. Like how I was kidnapped because of your daddy,” I shot another look at Greyson. He still hadn’t moved, and I doubted he would until morning. Or until Gwen cried. “How about I tell you that story now? It can be just between us girls, and daddy can tell it to you again when you’re older. He’ll probably tell every boy you ever bring home too, just so he can make sure they know that your dad knows Vegas’ mob boss. I’m sorry in advance for that.”
Gwen’s little feet moved as she squirmed for a brief moment. Then she settled again. I continued rubbing her head as I told her the story of Greyson and Luccio Bravo.
“I of course had no idea any of this was going on,” I said, “So when we were on the way to the airport and the driver took us down a different road, I suspected something was amiss. I had no clue just how messed up everything was until the driver told me and your Auntie Renee that Greyson owed his boss a lot of money. A lot of money. Over a hundred thousand dollars.”
“Long story short, I spent a lot of time in a room in the basement of the Bravo mansion. I made a new friend down there. Her name is Nikki. You’ll meet her one day, and I think you’ll like her. She’s a little crazy, but in a good way. Anyways, your daddy showed up to save me and the others. I felt a bit like Lois Lane when he opened the door and came in. You’ll also learn who she is one day.”
“He swept in and took us away from that place, and he’s been saving me ever since. There isn’t a better man on this planet who could be your daddy. You just wait and see.”
I continued telling Gwen stories well into the night. A nurse came in and offered to take her around midnight, but I turned the offer down. I knew I should sleep, and I was definitely tired, but after waiting for nine months to hold her I just couldn’t put her down. I wanted to be as close to her for as long as possible, and just one night wasn’t nearly enough time.
The nurse was wiser than me, though, and she returned an hour later and offered to take Gwen again. “I’ll just put her next to you in a bassinet so you can get some sleep, okay?” The nurse offered. “Baby needs a well-rested mom, trust me. Tomorrow is a big day for all of you and dad has the right idea of getting some shut eye,” she pointed her chin at Greyson as she leaned over to take Gwen.
I reluctantly let her take Gwen and watched as she lowered her into a plain bassinet and rolled it right up beside my bed. “You just rest, dear,” the nurse said, “We’ll come in and check on her. If she cries I’ll come in and help, okay?”
“Okay. Thank you,” I said.
The nurse gave me a warm smile before leaving.
Without having Gwen in my arms I found it quite hard to keep my eyes open. Staring at her and holding her had proven to be something I could do and would never tire from. But now, with empty arms, the exhaustion set in.
I rolled my head to the side to look at Greyson. His chest was rising and falling slowly and every now and then he let out a soft little snore. I smiled to myself.
As I closed my eyes I eagerly thought of returning home with our new family member. I dreamed of pancakes and sleeping in my own bed with my husband curled around me and our daughter sleeping in her bassinet beside one of us.