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He scores the winning touchdown and everyone in the stands on the screen erupts into loud cheering. I find myself cheering silently, so as not to scare the baby.
I'm both proud and happy for him. I lean over and kiss our daughter on the forehead.
"That's your dad on TV. He won the game. I promise you'll get to see him play in person one day," I whisper to her.
I know she can't understand me, but it makes me feel good that I said that to her. I feel like I'm taking a step in the right direction.
Chapter 13 – Bella
The next morning the sound of my daughter crying wakes me up. I open my eyes and turn over in my hospital bed. She was asleep in a small plastic bassinet next to my bed. But now she’s woken up crying.
"Oh, it's okay, sweetie," I say, trying to soothe her.
I haven’t named her yet because nothing seemed to fit perfectly while I was pregnant, and I decided I needed to see what she looked like and what her personality was like first.
I get out of bed and pick her up out of the crib. I hug her to my chest and rock her back and forth.
The nurse walks in at that moment.
"Is everything okay in here?" she asks.
"Oh, yeah, I guess she’s just a little bit hungry," I reply, smiling.
"Okay, good. If you need any help with nursing or anything like that, you can feel free to ask any of us questions or I can have a specialist come to your room," the nurse explains.
"Oh, great! That would actually be really helpful. Could we do that possibly later on today?" I ask.
"Of course, I'll send her in after lunch. Oh, I also wanted to let you know you have a visitor," the nurse replies.
"Oh, it's my friend Janice. You can just send her in," I say.
I rock the baby back and forth. Gradually, she stops crying.
"No, actually it's a gentleman. He says that he's your brother," the nurse says. I
look at her with a shocked expression.
"If you want, I can tell him to come back later?" the nurse asks hesitantly.
"No, I guess it'll be okay. Just tell him to come in," I reply uncertainly.
The nurse opens the door and motions with her finger. She leaves the room, and the door closes behind her. Now Derek is the one standing in the room.
We both look at each other in silence. The baby is calm now and contentin my arms.
"How did you find me?" I ask him.
"Janice told me. I called her. I was worried about you," he answers.
"Why would you be worried? We aren't exactly on speaking terms right now," I reply.
He sighs loudly.
"Look, you're still my little sister and I still care about you, okay? I just wanted to make sure that everything went okay for you," he answers.
"All right, fine. I can understand that. Thanks for checking on me. I'm doing fine. Would you like to see your niece?" I ask, eager to put our argument behind us.
"Can I?" he asks.
