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The love of my life loves me back.
I don’t even care if she never wants to get married anymore. So long as I can keep her and Addy. So long as Sofia is my life partner and we can grow old together—that’s the only important thing in my life now. I want everything that comes with the marriage, but I don’t need the wedding, or the contract, not if it means I can’t have her.
* * *
Her eyes flutter open,and she smiles at me. “We have to go soon, don’t we?” she asks. I kiss her forehead and nod.
Sofia sits up and brings the sheet over her breasts, which is strange, then she grabs her phone from the nightstand. “Before we go, there’s something I want to show you.”
“Oh?”
She takes a deep breath. “I honestly really, really don’t want to, but I think I should.”
My brow furrows. She’s acting strange.
“My Mom was here when Addy was born. She helped me a lot, and she was in the delivery room.”
I know my face lights up because Sofia beams at me. She’s going to tell me about Addy’s entrance into this world. I stay quiet so she can go on.
“And so was my friend Mandy. And Mandy, without my permission,” she pauses and rolls her eyes, “had a camera with her.”
I shoot up into a sitting position with excitement. “She recorded it?”
The phone goes up to Sofia’s chest, where she clutches it. “You are about to see something I wish you wouldn’t, and once you do, you can’t unsee it. So, Bren, how badly do you want to see the birth of your daughter?”
I caress her arm soothingly. “If I had known, I would have been there, Sofia. There’s no doubt in my mind. I’d like to see it if you’re okay with it.”
She nods and hands me the phone.
I press play to find a different version of Sofia on the screen. Her face is a bit rounder, her hair longer and matted against her face with sweat. Her cheeks are red, and she’s panting and screaming between breaths.
“Mandy!” she shrieks, and the camera pans away from Sofia, but the audio recording continues. “Are you filming this?!”
“No, of course not—“
Another shriek rips through Sofia, and I wince at the sound, but it must allow Mandy to bring the camera back to Sofia.
Sofia’s mom is at her side, holding Sofia’s hand as the doctor asks her to push once more, and Mandy manages to film as Addy’s head starts to crown. My stomach grows hot. This is so...unnatural. I peer up at Sofia over the phone in awe of her and her strength.
“One more push,” the doctor says, and Sofia screams for a longer stretch that time. “This is your fault!” Sofia roars.
Mandy speaks behind the camera. “My fault?”
She screams again, and when she stops, she continues. “Yes! If you hadn’t dragged me to that stupid concert, this wouldn’t be happening right now!”
“What are you talking about...” Mandy trails off. “Wait, don’t tell me—“
“If you hadn’t forced me to the concert, Bren would never have put a baby in me!”
The camera falls away from Sofia with a thud. Mandy must have dropped the phone. Another long scream follows, not captured on camera. Then Addy’s first cry follows once Sofia quiets. The camera doesn’t catch the visual, but Mandy has given me the gift of hearing my daughter’s first cry.
My eyes sting when I look up at Sofia again, and I lean forward to kiss her temple. “Thank you,” I say.
“For what?”
“For showing me that, and for the best gift you’ve ever given me. Thank you for giving me Addy,” I say.
“There’s more,” Sofia says shyly.
