Twenty-Seven
The nurse brought our beautiful boy back to us, wrapped tightly in a blanket. He was all cleaned up and his skin was pink and beautiful. He was so small that as I held him I was afraid he might break. He was wearing a little stocking cap and Alex pulled it up and peeked underneath.
“Blonde fuzz,” he said with a grin.
The baby had his eyes closed, so I hadn’t seen the color yet, but none of that mattered. He was gorgeous and like the doctor said, “Perfect.”
“How much does he weigh?” I asked.
“Four pounds eleven ounces,” the nurse said.
“Wow, that’s incredible,” Alex said. “It’s amazing that something that weighs less than five pounds can be such a perfect little person.”
“It is amazing. It’s also amazing that I already love him so much. My chest feels like it’s going to burst when I look at him.”
Alex reached over and let his finger trace the round line of his tiny little face and said, “Me too.” I looked up at him and I could see that he was as consumed by this child as I was.
That did my heart good because no matter whatever happened with he and I… anything or nothing, the baby would have a father who would love him. “Do you know what you want to name him?” he asked me.
“No, not yet,” I said. I thought about Manny and all of his silly names. “What’s your middle name?” I asked him.
“Michael,” he said.
“Hmm, I like that. What about Michael Alexander Reigns?”NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.
He pulled his head up to look at my face quickly like he was afraid I was kidding. “Really?”
I nodded, “Yes, I like it, don’t you?”
The tears began to flow freely down his face and he said, “I love it. I didn’t think you would give him my last name.”
“Is that okay?”
“I don’t think I could put into words how okay it is,” he said. He touched the baby’s cheek again and said, “Hi there, Michael Alex. I’m your daddy.”
We sat there silently staring at him, watching him sleep, watching him breathe and finally I asked the question that had to be asked. “What about Cassandra… and the lawyers… and the tabloids…”
He sighed and said, “Cassie will not be easy. She’s angry and I understand that she has a right to be. But most grown-ups would take that anger and try to begin their own new life. Cassie is not the most grown-up. She’ll come at me hard… and you.”
“I should probably not work at the house then…”
“Cassie’s not going to be at the house, Vicki. I’m going to finish the divorce. I don’t love her. I’m not going to stay with
her out of fear that she’ll take my money any longer. My attorneys can deal with her and I’ll do my best to help them settle with her so that she’s satisfied. But I don’t want to be with her any longer. We’re both miserable and it’s as unfair to her as it is to me.”
That news made me happier than I probably had a right to be. I felt a little ashamed that divorce made me happy. But I’d heard so many awful fights and I’d borne witness to the fact that he was right; they didn’t belong together. “I want to share him with you, Alex… but please promise me something.”
“Anything,” he said.
“Please promise me you will never try and take him from me. I couldn’t bear it. I already love him so much that the thought of being without him makes it hard to breathe.”
He shook his head and looked back down at our son. “I promise. I would never consider it. He needs you and you need him and we need each other. We’re a family now. How ’bout that, Michael Alexander? You made us a family.” He looked up at me again.
His long, dark eyelashes were wet with residual tears and he said, “Vicki, I’m so sorry for everything. After we were together that day in the basement… I was so confused.
I didn’t understand why being with you had made me feel so differently from being with the other women I’d been with since Cassie left. I was overwhelmed by the emotional part of it and it scared me to death so I just tried to ignore it and pretend it never happened. That was so wrong.”
I reached up with the hand that didn’t hold our son and touched his face. “It was a confusing situation,” I said.
“Maybe,” he said. “But my behavior was inexcusable.”
“But not unforgivable, and that’s what matters.” He brought my hand to his lips and held it there for a few beats.
“Thank you,” he said. “I need to apologize for so much more… the lawyers, the fights with Cassie that you had to overhear… I thought that I was grown up and a man of the world and then I slept with my maid and realized I didn’t know anything at all.”
I laughed. “I think I have a lot of that growing-up stuff left to do myself,” I told him. “Maybe Michael can help us with that.”
“Vicki?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I hold him?”
“Of course.” I scooped the tiny little man with one hand under his bottom and kept the other under his head as I handed him to Alex. Then I watched as the baby yawned and stretched and peeked open one of his little eyes… his hazel eyes.
He looked at his daddy and the look on Alex’s face was priceless. They were bonding and I knew that my baby would never have to want for anything, most especially love.
When Alex was able to tear his eyes away from Michael he said, “Michael and I were wondering if his Mama might consent to have a date with his daddy when she gets out of the hospital?”
I laughed and said, “Mama would love that… but I don’t think I’ll be able to get too far from him for a while.”
“That’s okay,” Alex said, looking down at his son. “He has a standing invitation.”
VICTORIA’s [POV]
Baby Michael had to stay in the hospital for a few days after his birth. They wouldn’t let him leave until he was five pounds. They let me stay on a recliner in the NICU, partly I think, because they knew I wasn’t going to leave unless they physically removed me.
I can hardly believe how much I love him still. It’s so overwhelming that sometimes there’s hardly room in my chest for anything else. Sometimes I begin to wonder how people can have more than one child.
How could you possibly open up your heart that wide more than once… then Alex comes in to see us and I realize that the heart knows no bounds. Mine stretches to accommodate him as well. I tell myself that I don’t have a right to feel that way about him.
He’s Michael’s father but technically, he’s not even my boyfriend. My heart and brain are in a constant battle over it. He’s been here every day.
He brings me food and makes sure that I’m eating it and he holds our son and tells him about all of the things they’re going to do together someday. It’s adorable to watch and once again, my heart swells.
I was sitting here today next to the crib watching my handsome boy sleep when the doctor came in and Alex snuck in right behind him. My heart, still not listening to my head, sped up at the sight of Alex and my breaths quickened.
“How is Sir Michael doing today?” the doctor asked. He’s called him “Sir Michael” since the day of his birth. He said it’s his eyes, they make him look regal.
I smiled at him and my eyes drifted over to Alex and I smiled at him too. He smiled back at me. I melted. Focusing back on the moment I said, “He’s perfect, Dr. Samuels, just perfect.”
The doctor grinned and looked at Alex and said, “We’ll see if she’s still saying that in a few years when he’s sliding down the banister backward. Raising boys is not for the faint of heart, you know.”
“I’m sure my mother would agree,” Alex said.
“And I’m sure my boy will be the best banister slider there ever was,” I told them. Dr. Samuels laughed and unwrapped Michael’s blanket. He started poking around on his little belly. Michael started to fuss, annoyed at the intrusion.
“You don’t like that little man?” Alex asked him, stepping up to the other side of the crib. He put his hand down next to the baby and as the doctor pressed his cold stethoscope into the baby’s chest, Michael reached up and grabbed onto one of Alex’s fingers. Alex’s eyes widened and he looked at me with a look of pure awe on his face. “He’s so strong!”