Page 108 of Together

“Congratulations, Mom and Dad. You’ve got yourself a healthy baby boy. Ten fingers, ten toes.”

Sarah and Carter make quick work of checking him over and doing their best to complete the child birthing process. Things need to be stitched and cut and sewn up. All things that I would not have paid attention to whether we were in a sterile hospital room surrounded by doctors and nurses or not.

Because I’m too busy staring at my son and whispering to Ashley how amazing she is. How in awe of her I am.

“You just had a home birth,” I remind her unnecessarily. “You’re a total badass.”

She snots through a cry. She seriously looks like she’s been through hell and back, which seems appropriate. “That was really fucking hard,” she admits.

“I imagine it was. You kind of hurt my hand there for a second or two,” I joke.

Sarah places our little bundle of perfection in Ashley’s arms. “We’ll transport you to the hospital. They’re waiting for you.”

“Can’t we just stay here now? Isn’t it all done?”

Sarah smiles. “It’s good to have him checked out by your doctor, and you as well. They can help you manage any pain you’re feeling, too.”

They push her out on the rolling cot the firemen brought in, Carter and Sarah working together with the rest of the emergency crew standing by. “I can’t believe this happened,” Carter says. “Sorry, that’s probably inappropriate but holy hell. When we came upon that accident, I was scared that we wouldn’t…” he trails off, clearing his voice, “anyway, that’s not important. It’s justreallygood to be here for this. To see that you’re doing all right.”

“We’re more than all right,” Ashley tells him. “We’re doing great. Maybe you two are the reason this happened so quickly. Because I needed to be able to tell you both thank you in person.”

“Just doing our jobs,” Carter mumbles.

“Glad you do them well,” I say. “Thank you. For what you did then and what you did today. All of you.”

The police escort the ambulance to the hospital while the firemen head back to the station. This time they let me ride with Ashley and our son.

As we’re riding, Mr. Trouble Causer himself looks up at me. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Wrinkly olive skin. Scrunched up face.

“How much do you think he weighs?” I ask Sarah.

“Over eight pounds for sure. We’ll get exact measurements when we arrive, though. But in my opinion, he looks like a healthy baby boy. Any ideas of what you’re going to name the little guy?”

It dawns on me that we haven’t said it out loud yet. Heck, we only just decided a week ago. “Jackson Paul. Paul is my middle name, too.” Saying his name for the first time is amazing.

“Jackson Paul. I love that. Welcome to the world, Jackson Paul. You sure do like to make a grand entrance.”

“Lord help us,” I mutter and Ashley smiles, laying her head back on the bed while holding Jackson in her arms. I’m not sure if the paramedics are supposed to let her hold him but I assume we aren’t breaking any laws here. Besides, I’m not sure you could pull Jackson out of his mother’s arms right now.

“I love you,” I tell Ashley.

With a smile, she replies, “I love you.”

“And I love you, Jackson. Thanks for shaking up our world and bringing us together.”

Epilogue

Ashley— One Year Later

“Are you one?Show me one finger, Jackson. One! That’s right! You’re such a big boy, aren’t you?” Grace coos. To say we’ve seen a big turnaround with her over the past year would be a huge understatement. She quit her job, moved back to our hometown to be closer to our parents and Lucy. Nik and I made it clear that we were absolutely fine with her not moving to Liberty. She might have changed some but we’re still not willing to just forget that she at one point asked to adopt our child.

Besides, as much as we love my family, we like our privacy even more. Over the last year and nine months, our family of three has been through a lot of changes and we’ve needed to adjust to those changes. My family has a tendency to be a bit intrusive. Not to say that Josie can’t be, but she’s busy with their own baby as well.

“You’re such a weirdo,” I tell Grace while I put the finishing touches on Jackson’s birthday party decorations. She smiles and stands from her place on the floor where she’s been playing with Jackson.

“Good. Aunties are supposed to be weird.”

Nik raises his eyebrows and I shrug. Grace went from being a rigid, judgmental… well, bitch, to the goofy one in the family. It’s hard not to wonder where the complete one-eighty came from. Aside from her marriage falling apart, that is.

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