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“Can I meet her now?” Juliette asks from her bed.
While Shane and I relinquished all our toughness and surrendered our hearts, the hospital staff had helped Juliette clean up and refreshed her bedding. We come alive once more, and he hurries, carefully, to give their daughter to her. Juliette presses the newborn to her chest, smiling and crying all at once. I draw a steadying breath through my nose and catch Charlie and Dr. Amhurst giving me knowing looks.
Charlie pushes me toward Shane and Juliette. “Get in there.”
I do. I interrupt their first moment as a family and follow Charlie’s instructions to sit right next to Juliette to sandwich her between me and Shane. My head is spinning, but my world feels more wholesome now, somehow.
“Look at what you made,” I say to Shane while Charlie snaps her photos.
“Excuse me?” Smiling, Juliette elbows me. As expected. “He made? I did all the work.”
“You did, you did.” Shane snuggles next to her, much to Charlie’s delight. The internet will squeal for days from cuteness overload.
“So what’s her name?” Charlie asks.
The new parents exchange a quick look, and Juliette announces, “Jacelynn Rosemary Davenport.”
Surprise ripples through me like lightning, sending me jerking away and toppling off the bed, hitting a corner of some monitoring machine with my head in the process. A month and a half after I had cracked my skull.
“Jace!” Juliette leans over the edge of her bed to check on me while Shane guffaws.
The baby cries.
I jump to my feet. “Don’t scare her,” I scold Shane even though I can barely stand.
“Are you okay?” A nurse guides me into a chair and examines my head.
I should stop hurting myself. I already make poor decisions all the time as is. No need to inhibit my thinking with repeated trauma. If I keep going like this, they’ll have to spoon-feed me.
“You’ve got a good bump. I’ll get you some ice.” The nurse hurries out of the room.
I sit there and stare at my hands. Juliette named her firstborn after me. “Why would you name your poor daughter after me? Are you mad?”
“He’s finally losing it.” Shane keeps grinning.
I glare at him. He’s calm now, and I’m on the brink. I’m not even the father! I storm out of the room. Air. I need air. Tonight’s been… My head spins harder.
“Here you go.” The nurse deposits an ice bag on top of my head right as darkness starts claiming my vision. “Hold it, rock star.” She supports me by the upper arm and leads me to the waiting room full of my friends, where she leaves me on a bench and tells me to take slow breaths.
Laughter surrounds me. “Jace is out. Good thing we’re at the hospital already.”
Someone presses a small cup into my hand. “Drink this.”
I take a sip. Orange juice.
“Can we see the baby?” Jelly asks.
“Two at a time,” the nurse warns.
“Graham first!” Zach announces.
“You go ahead,” Graham replies, “or you’ll explode. We don’t need to deal with that mess.”
More laughter.
Jelly sits beside me. “How are you?”
I drink the rest of the juice. My vision clears. “Better.”
