Epilogue

“Come on, Li’l Dove. You can do this.” Brady held his sweat-drenched wife in his arms and helped her press forward. She stained with every fiber in her being, pushing. This was the hardest thing he’d ever been through. Including his experiences in Iraq. Watching Heather endure and work so hard to bring their baby into the world. The nurse encouraged Heather with cliches. “You’re doing good.” “That’s it. One more push.” But Brady knew exactly how hard Heather strained because he sat behind her, holding her and pressing her forward. He could feel every muscle in her body go rock-hard and then go limp, as she let go of her breath and fell back against him. Exhausted.

He lifted a wet strand of hair from her face and waited for the next contraction. It waxed and she grabbed her knees. Brady pressed her forward and counted for her to ride the wave of another muscle-wrenching contraction. “That’s it. One, two, three, four.”

“The head is delivered.” The nurse spoke calmly. Brady glanced her way. It looked like a dark, wet melon with black, bloody swirls. He turned his attention back to Heather. “Almost there.”

“Wait!” The nurse sounded alarmed. “Don’t push! Heather! Don’t push!”

“Don’t push, sweetheart,” Brady repeated, but he didn’t know why. “Don’t push, Lil Dove.”

Heather growled a scream. Saliva stretched like spider webs from her teeth as she threw her head back onto Brady’s shoulder. The effort to not push seemed harder than the effort to push. Brady held her firm against his chest, watching the nurse busily working with something purple and tubular around the baby’s neck. Was everything alright?

“It’s alright.” He lied to Heather. What else could he say?

“Alright. Now, let me rotate the shoulder and you push.” The nurse worked with the baby’s body.

Heather brought her chin to her chest and took a big deep breath. Every muscle tensed all over her body, and Brady pressed her forward. A long moment later, the baby slipped out and cried heartily.

Heather and Brady laughed and fell back on the pillows. Brady tried to look over Heather, to see if the baby was alright and what gender.

He couldn’t tell. It was wiggling on its side, covering the part that would answer his question. The nurse vigorously rubbed the baby with a cloth. Then she lifted the cocooned baby and brought it toward Heather. Brady watched everything as if it were in slow motion. The child peeked out of the wrappings.

“What is it?” He asked for lack of what to say.

The nurse smiled at them both. “You have a beautiful baby ... girl.”

Brady let his breath out. When had he held it? “A girl!” He turned his face to Heather. She took the baby and pulled her in close against her shoulder. “A girl.” Heather kissed the child’s forehead.

Brady’s throat tightened. He could barely speak. Tears poured from his eyes. “A girl.”

He buried his face in Heather’s hair and gently cried. Relief flooded from his heart. A girl. No more cursed male heir. It was over.

He slid out from behind Heather and stood for the first time in several hours. His arms and legs tingled as his blood refilled his limbs. He sighed and looked at his daughter. She whimpered against her mother’s skin. Brady reached out to touch her. A little hand reached from the swaddling and grabbed hold of his little finger. She held on to him. His breath caught in his chest. This was his baby girl. He would love and protect her as long as he was alive. Then it occurred to him.

She was now his only weakness.

The nurse scooped the baby up. “We need to get her vitals and weigh her. I promise we won’t be long.” Heather’s eyes followed the nurse longingly as the baby was put under a heat lamp, measured, weighed, cleaned up, diapered, and re-wrapped so tightly, she looked like a little burrito. Brady chuckled as she was brought back to Heather.

He looked deeply into Heather’s eyes. “I love you.” He kissed her sweat-soaked forehead. “She’s perfect.”

A flash of orange in his peripheral caught his eyes, he turned to his daughter. Her eyes! An orange glow elongated her iris and settled back into a deep blue. Did he see what he thought he saw?

His gaze jerked to Heather. He searched her eyes for an explanation. She smiled. “Oh yeah, there’s something I forgot to mention.”

The End ... or is it?

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