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“My girlfriend is in labor. Traffic isn’t moving. I need your bike. I’ll give you all my money and my car for the afternoon.”
He took one look at my Mustang, which was idling with the door open and said, “Sweet.”
I knew it was a risk, but it didn’t matter to me what happened to the damn car. All that mattered was that Gia and the baby were going to be okay and that I could be there.
We quickly exchanged numbers before I hopped on his bike and started flying down the road, weaving in and out of cars and people. The bike was squeaking; it was old as shit. I hadn’t been on an actual bicycle in years. What they said about not forgetting how to ride one was apparently true.
It felt like all the air had been sucked out of my body by the time I arrived at South Hampton Hospital. Sweat was pouring off me. It was a good thing we were in a hospital because there was a decent chance I might collapse.
I ran to the front desk. “Where is Labor and Delivery?”
“Fourth floor.”
Out of breath, I ran to the elevators and banged several times on the up button.
When I got upstairs, I went straight to the nurses’ station. “My girlfriend, Gia Mirabelli, is in labor. Help me find her.”
“Are you the father of the baby?”
“Yes.”
“Your name?”
“Ru…” I stopped myself. “Heathcliff Rushmore.”
“ID, please?”
I took my license out of my wallet and handed it to her.
“Excuse me a moment.” The woman got up and walked down the hall.
Did she just fucking walk off and leave me?
Where the hell is Gia?
She returned with a plastic bracelet that she wrapped around my wrist. Then looked up at me and smiled. “Come right this way.”
My pulse was racing as I followed her down the hall. I looked down at the bracelet, which simply said Mirabelli along with a bunch of numbers.
When she opened the door to Gia’s room, I nearly fell over. Whereas I’d previously been in a rush, everything came to a screeching halt.
Time just slowed down.
My heart squeezed with an unidentifiable feeling as I walked toward the bed where Gia was lying with a beautiful baby clutched to her chest, its fingers and toes moving around.
It was alive.
My baby.
My eyes filled with tears as I bent my head down to kiss its soft head that had a full mane of dark hair.
Still staring at the baby in awe, I whispered, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here, Gia. I did everything I could to get here once I got your message. I’d gone into a store without my phone, and there was traffic and—”
“It’s okay. You probably couldn’t have made it anyway. It happened so fast. Ten minutes after I got here, she came out. Everything turned out okay. She’s here.”
I swallowed. “She?”
She smiled, and her voice was hoarse. “Yes, we have a daughter.”
That took a few seconds to sink in.
“A daughter?”
“Yes.” Gia was beaming.
Caressing her little face with my thumb, I watched in awe as Gia tried to get the baby to latch onto her breast. “How could I have been so wrong?” I laughed as I lowered myself down to kiss her head again, taking in her scent. She smelled so sweet—she smelled like Gia. I loved her so much already that my heart was literally hurting from the feeling.
As we sat there in silence, fear started to fill me. This was gonna be a long eighteen years. Let’s face it…more than that—a lifetime. All of the visions of doing manly things with my son went out the window. What did I know about having a girl? Nothing. All I knew was that I already loved her more than life itself. That would have to be enough until I could figure this out.
A doctor suddenly walked in. “Hello! Congratulations. Just checking in.” He turned to me. “I’m Dr. Barnes. You are?”
I looked him dead in the eyes and answered, “Fucked. I have a daughter. I’m fucked.”It had only been one day, but it already felt like we’d had her forever, like I couldn’t imagine a time without her.
We still hadn’t named our little girl. We had a ton of boy names picked out but nothing for a girl, so we needed to really think on it.
Rush had just come in with lunch from the Mexican place down the street. The baby was sleeping next to me in the little hospital crib after her last feeding. My dad had just left. It was the perfect window to grab a bite to eat before someone came in to check my vitals or the baby woke up to nurse.
Just as I’d unwrapped my burrito, an unexpected visitor appeared in the doorway.
Rush’s mouth was full when he wiped his hands. He looked shocked when he said, “Edward…”
