I couldn’t believe I was a father. It was so much more than I ever could have hoped for, so much more than I’d ever dreamed.
Just like my dad had said, the first time I heard my baby’s heartbeat, I fell in love. When my wife pushed her out into the world and I held our daughter for the first time, my entire world shrank down to the two girls who made it worth living. The tsunami of love I had for them was all-consuming.
We named her Harmony Alexandra, and I thought she was the most perfectly beautiful little person I’d ever seen. When she opened her eyes for the first time and I saw that she had the same eyes I did, I bawled like a baby. In them I saw little echoes of my father, my sister and my little brother, living on inside of my child.
Every sound she made and each little kick of her feet entranced me. Seeing her tiny mouth latching on to my wife’s breast to feed hit me right in the heart. It wasn’t just the two of us anymore—we’d become a family.
Introducing her to the band and Daisy’s family was like a dream come true. I’d never felt more pride than I did as I showed off the child Daisy and I had made in love.
It just didn’t get any better.
We were getting ready to leave the hospital to take Harmony home for the first time and I was crazy excited. I’d hated being away from Daisy for two nights, and hadn’t slept more than an hour at a time. I’d come a long way since the days of not being able to share a room or a bed.
“Baby, grab me Harmony’s going home outfit. It’s in the diaper bag right on the top.”
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as I opened the zipper and pulled it out. My mouth hung open as I held the outfit up and stared at it. Closing my eyes, I remembered seeing my dad holding the dark haired child in the yellow outfit with the white flowers. Opening them, I looked back down to the outfit. It wasn’t just close—it was spot on, right down to the ruffles on the butt area.
“Tyson? Are you okay?”
I knew there were tears in my eyes when I looked up at my wife.
“Where did you get this outfit?”
She shook her head in confusion. “I was shopping with Vi in town the last time we were in Harmony. There’s a store there called Dusty’s Creations. It’s been there for a few years, but I’ve never been in. I’ve always been curious but never made it through the door. When we passed by I saw this outfit in the window and… I know it sounds silly but Dusty’s Creations? I felt like it was my chance to include my brother in the first few days of her life.”
And she had. I knew she had. It was a sign.
“Why are you crying?” she asked frantically.
“I’ve never been so happy,” I answered. “Not ever.”
I told her about my dream, specifically the part about my father holding the baby.
“For you to have found this outfit in a store called Dusty’s Creations ties it all together. They sent her to us, Freckles.”
We both cried then, but they were tears of joy.
We’d been together for long enough that I just knew when my husband was dreaming about his family. Each time I’d wake up, careful not to disturb him. It didn’t happen often, but at least once or twice a year, there was a visit.
Three years after having Harmony, we had another little girl, Lyric Rebecca. When she was six months old we made a big change. It was a difficult decision but in the end we’d realized we didn’t want to live in LA full time anymore. We lived in Harmony about seventy percent of the time, going out to LA every few weeks for business meetings having to do with the record company, which was wildly successful.
Within a year of us making the change, all the guys had houses in Harmony to use as vacation homes. Something about the small town life appealed to them, too. The bond they’d formed was for life, and the brotherhood was as strong as ever. Nothing made the guys happier than to watch all of their kids playing together, the next generation already bonded at the hip. Even their extended families spent time in Harmony, enough that I suspected in the coming years a few would make the move permanent. I imagined Gavin would be the first one to take the leap.
Life wasn’t just good. It was great. When Harmony was six and Lyric was three, we decided to try to get pregnant again. Unlike when we tried for Lyric, this time getting pregnant hadn’t been a snap. The girls were now seven and four and it hadn’t happened yet. As Tyson continued dreaming, I crossed my fingers that he’d wake up and tell me his dad had been holding a baby. It had happened with Harmony and Lyric, so I was waiting for that sign again.
It felt like an eternity passed before he finally woke up. When his eyes opened, he looked at me and smiled.
“This time he was holding a boy.”
Eight months later our son, Jonah Jason McCafferty, named for my grandfather and Tyson’s dad and little brother, was born. With him, our family was complete.
Together Tyson and I greeted each day with hearts full of love. What we had together was everything, almost an embarrassment of riches. We could never erase the pain we’d each endured, but our love for each other gave us something to believe in and hold on to during good times and bad.
It was the best feeling in the world.
The End