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“I am still here, ya know,” I mumble, feeling my cheeks turn heated as they talk about me.
“We know,” he says, placing a kiss on the side of my head and making my blush turn even darker. The show of affection makes me blush and feel a little self-conscious, but when I glance up at my sister, she’s merely smiling at us, which makes me smile.
We visit for a bit until the nurse comes in with discharge papers. Dad also arrives, ready to help Jaime and Ryan home with their new daughter. After giving him a quick hug and promising to come over and see the baby once Jaime and Ryan get settled, we head across the hall to Lexi’s room.
As soon as we step over the threshold, I immediately feel like we’re invading on a private moment. Lexi and Linkin are both sitting on the bed, baby Stella cradled in her mom’s arms. Linkin has Hemi in his arms, while Hudson crawls between them, his small hand reaching for his new sister.
“You have to be gentle with the baby,” Linkin instructs softly as Hudson grabs the blanket Stella is swaddled within. I can’t help but smile adoringly at the moment, which is actually broken the moment Hudson swings and hits his new baby sister in the leg. Stella startles and instantly starts to scream, Hudson quickly turning to look at his dad with big innocent eyes.
“Yeah, you did that, buddy. You have to be nice to your sister,” Linkin grumbles, taking Hudson in his arms and setting Hemi down between he and Lexi.
“Not sure this was a good idea,” Lexi says as Hemi now reaches for his sister. But instead of hitting her, Hemi gently rubs his sister’s leg and starts to babble baby talk. Stella immediately calms down and falls back asleep, while Hemi crawls onto his mom’s lap and lays his head next to his sister’s.
My heart soars.
“Do you see that, little man? That’s how you’re supposed to treat your sister,” Linkin says to Hudson who seems more interested in chewing on a plastic set of keys than trying to make nice with his new sister.
Lexi glances up and gives us a smile. “This might be more challenging than I thought.”
“They’ll get used to her. They’ve had you two all to themselves, and now they have to learn to share,” I tell my youngest sister as we come over and sit in the empty chairs. “I thought the grandparents would be here.”
“I made them leave,” Linkin says, blowing kisses on Hudson’s neck and making him giggle.
“He did not. They started to give each other the do-me eyes and said something about a broom closet,” Lexi says with an eye roll.
“Do I want to know what’s happening right now in the broom closet?” Nick whispers over my shoulder.
“Not unless you want nightmares,” I confirm.
“Someday we’ll tell you stories, Nick,” Lexi says as she stands up with baby Stella. “Here, Miss Stella. Meet your auntie Meggy.” She kisses the baby’s cheek before placing her in my waiting arms.
She’s tiny, but not nearly as small as her brothers when they were born. She fusses for a moment before settling into the crook of my arm and falling back asleep. Something inside of me starts to yearn, something that I wrote off as a life goal. But holding all of these babies? I’ll be honest, it makes me hungry to be a mother.
And sad that the one person who I pictured in this moment isn’t here.
Then I just start to feel guilty because the man who is here has been nothing but supportive as I deal with my crazy issues.
“So, I have to admit, I was a little surprised that you chose the name Stella. I don’t remember it being on the list,” I say to my sister as she picks up one of the boys and changes his diaper.
“It wasn’t on the list,” Lexi says as she removes the wet diaper and replaces it with a fresh one.
“What was on the list?” Nick asks, staying right by my side, his large fingers gently touching the baby’s cheek.
“Henry for Henry Ford and Shelby for one of my favorite cars,” Linkin says, moving to change Hudson’s diaper right beside my sister.
“Shelby GT 500? Nice,” Nick agrees with a smile. Linkin glances his way and raises his knuckles for a bump.
Guys.
“I didn’t want Shelby. I wanted Stella. And since we named our boys after his other favorite cars, I decided I wanted this one to be feminine and classic.” Lexi smiles down at her happy son and sweeps him into her arms.
“You should have gone with Nova,” Nick says casually, but there’s no mistaking the way Linkin tenses.
“Nova? That’s fucking brilliant. Babe, why didn’t we name her Nova?” he asks his wife.
“Because if you ever want to use your dipstick again, you were going to let your wife name your daughter Stella,” Lexi says without even looking his way.
“Ahhh. Yeah, we decided on Stella, man,” Linkin says to Nick with a wink. “But there’s always next time.”
