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“I’m good… just throwing on a robe and realizing that we’re going to meet our little girl very soon.”
“LikeHOWsoon?” he said in a high-pitched voice, causing her to laugh as he took her hand and wrapped an arm around her waist, guiding her to towards the stairs like she was fragile and could possibly break.
Emily hesitated, looking at him.
“You know…” she began softly, meeting his tender green eyes as he gazed at her with so much concern, love, and anxiousness. “Who would have ever thought we would be here? I still think back to that moment when I walked up to take Vapor’s arm at Karen’s wedding - and saw you standing there. That exact moment where you looked at me will forever be with me.”
“You better not be saying goodbye…” he said hoarsely.
“Nope, we’re having a baby, silly,” she smiled, laying a hand on his cheek. “I was just thinking how ‘hello’changed both of our lives – and we are going to say ‘hello’once again… and I’m so incredibly happy you asked me to dance that day.”
“I couldn’t help myself,” he admitted. “The moment I laid eyes on you, I was fascinated, curious, and needed to know more about you. I’ve never looked back since.”
“No regrets?”
“Believe it or not… there’s nary a one,mon Coeur…” he said tenderly, before leaning forward to kiss her softly. “Can we please go now? I’m going to be a basket case.”
“No,” she whispered, feeling another contraction wrap around her. “Need… two… minutes…”
Six hours later, Emily was in the throes of labor and John was right there beside her the entire time, holding her hand and talking her through each contraction as she pushed.
Her body was beyond sore and exhausted, but her heart and soul were thrumming with intensity as something in her recognized that her baby was coming now.
“John…” she looked at him, unable to say anything else – and he seemed to understand as he nodded at her.
“I see the head…” the doctor called out, and Emily took a deep breath, bearing down with all of her might and feeling her body shaking with the intensity of effort as she felt the baby slip from her only seconds before an angry wail split the air.
A screaming, wet baby was laid on her chest as she looked at her daughter mindless in the wave of love that encapsulated her in that split second. She put her shaking hands up, touching the child’s body, realizing that every bit of squeamishness she’d anticipated regarding children was gone…
Forget the snotty noses, poopy diapers, and drooling?
Seeing amniotic fluid, white, cheesy looking vernix, and some blood all over their daughter, was about the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen in her entire life…
Emily was sobbing, overwhelmed with emotion, and looking to John, needing that bond with him – only to see that he was crying and smiling as much as she was.
His hand trembled as he reached out to touch the baby’s head, marveling at the dark hair on her head as she wailed unhappily at them both, wanting comfort.
“She’s incredible…”
“Our miracle…”
“Look at that hair…”
“That attitude…”
“That’s your temper,” he teased, leaning forward to kiss her, their tears mingling as they both gazed at their daughter in amazement as the nurse came to their side.
“Papa, we are going to need you to cut the umbilical cord, and I’m going to clean her up a little bit,” the nurse explained, smiling. “The doctor has been trying to get your attention, Papa bear.”
“Oh…” John exclaimed, laughing nervously as several others tittered in understanding and amusement around them.
Emily watched as John moved towards the doctor and cut the cord, looking a little pale as he did so, but then returned quickly to her side.
“She’s so beautiful…” she began, watching the baby and feeling strange as her body worked on its own to expel the afterbirth. She was listening distractedly as the doctor spoke to her, things happening all around her, but her main focus was the man beside her – and their daughter.
They brought her the swaddled baby, who had calmed down significantly and was working a pink pacifier in her mouth, making little sucking sounds and snorting faintly.
“Oh, my goodness…”
