Page 12 of Stowaway Whirlwind
Davis swallows, a trembling smile slowly spreading across his cheeks. “You’d really name her after my mom?”
“Well, I mean…without you, I’d probably have given birth on the side of the road in New Mexico, so…why not? If that’s ok with you? Wait, you probably want to save it for your own—”
“No, no,” he rushes to say. “I like it. Thank you.” Davis drops his gaze to Lily, who has wrapped her teeny tiny fist around his thumb. “Welcome to the world, Lily Jo Lewis.”
Oh man,the way he looks at her…be still, my battered ovaries.
I slump down in the bed, wiggling to get more comfortable, drowsy in the silence, while I watch thembond. Just as I’m about to drift off to sleep, Lily stirs and begins to fuss. Davis carefully stands and brings her to me, and the nurse helps me put her to my other breast. I’d be mortified to be half-naked in front of Davis if he hadn’t already seen everything.Literally everything. He must be just as bewildered by this whole situation as I am, but he’s good at hiding it.
I spend the next hour staring at my little Lily as she nurses and drifts off to sleep in my arms, though I’m still highly aware of the fact that Davis never put his shirt back on after he scooted his chair closer to my side of the bed, then slumped back in it with his eyes closed, as tired as I am.
I reluctantly give Lily up to the nurse when my eyelids continue to droop no matter how hard I try to keep them open, afraid that I’ll drop her. Nurse Martina puts her in a clear plastic bassinet that she rolls between my bed and Davis’s chair. His head is dropped all the way back while he snores, his broad chest rising and falling, the calla lily tattoo proudly on display. I fall asleep with the image of him holding my daughter in my mind’s eye.
* * *
I reach for Lily at her first cry, pull her from the bassinet before I’m even fully awake after a pitifully short nap, and bring her to my chest to nurse. When I see that the chair next to my bed is empty and I’m alone in the dim room, a heaviness presses down on my center. Did Davis leave? He wouldn’t just leave after everything we’ve been through without telling me, right?
The next second, as if he could sense me thinking about him, the door to my room swings open, and in walks Davis, looking more than a little rumpled, carrying a large box and a handful of shopping bags. He’s fully dressed again, but his flannel is wrinkled and hanging open instead of buttoned and tucked neatly into his jeans. His baseball cap is flipped backward, so his normally shadowed eyes are visible, dark circles just below.
“You didn’t leave me.” That heaviness dissipates, replaced by a fluttery feeling.
“I did, but only because the nurse said you wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital without a car seat. I figured I’d get some more things for Lily while I was at the store since there wasn’t much in your backpack.”
He drops the car seat still in its box on the floor with a heavy thud and empties several shopping bags next to me on the bed. There’s a soft, white fuzzy baby blanket, a set of white newborn onesies, a tiny, adorable pink and gray long-sleeve flannel shirt, an infant-sized pink star ball cap—which makes me smile and him grin—baby socks, a sleeper sack, pacifiers, wipes, and several packs of teeny tiny newborn diapers.
“Oh wow, did you buy out the whole store? You didn’t have to do all this,” I say as I sift through everything. And I start to cry. Great, heaving sobs that come out of nowhere, wracking my chest as I hold Lily, who now owns more than I do, all thanks to Davis.
He drops the last bag on the bed and palms the back of my head so he can look me in the eye. “Hey, hey, did I do something wrong?”
“No! Y-You’re amazing.”
“Then what’s the matter?” He looks so earnest and genuinely distressed by my reaction. That makes me cry even harder. “Shhh, it’s ok, baby.” He wraps an arm around us and kisses my forehead.
“You’re amazing. You stayed when you didn’t have to, and now you’ve spent all this money on stuff for Lily when you don’t even know me, and that’s so, so, so sweet, and I don’t know when or how I’ll be able to pay you back. I know you have to be exhausted, and…and…”
Davis pushes his purchases to the end of the bed, sits on the edge next to me, and drapes his arm over my shoulder to pull me into his side for a hug. He gently runs his fingertips over my daughter’s head as she continues to nurse. “You don’t have to pay me back. I just…I don’t know. I saw all this stuff when I was in the baby section at the store and started piling things in my cart that I thought you and Lily might need.” His voice drops lower, and I lean closer to hear him when he says, “I told you I’d take care of you until I can get you to your dad.”
I whisper his name and tilt my head. I swear time stops ticking as we lock eyes. He brushes his nose against the tip of mine. Just when I slant my head to the side, thinking he’s going to kiss me—
“Hello, hello,” a new nurse says as she knocks on the door and comes in without waiting for one of us to answer. “Aw, don’t y’all look so cute!” She’s so bubbly and pretty in her fitted pink scrubs, with her bright, shiny hair the color of butterscotch pulled up into a high ponytail that swings with each step she takes.
I feel like a swamp creature in comparison, and I have to fight not to burst into tears all over again when the nurse smiles from ear to ear with pearly white, perfectly straight teeth. I don’t even remember the last time I went to the dentist for a checkup. I’m sure my breath reeks, too. Maybe it’s a good thing she interrupted us so I wouldn’t offend Davis with my breath.
“Do y’all want me to take a picture? I’m just dropping by with the birth certificate forms for you to fill out, but I’d be happy to take a photo if you’d like.” She hands Davis the clipboard she brought with her and waits.
“Oh, sure. Davis? Can you hand me my backpack?”
Davis gets up to find it tucked in a corner. He sets it on my lap gently, then takes Lily from my arms since she’s done nursing so I can rummage through it. I find my cell phone at the bottom of the bag, completely dead.
“Here, use mine.” Davis hands the nurse his phone after unlocking it. Instead of handing Lily back to me, he motions for me to scooch over, then toes off his boots and sits on my right, swinging his legs up to stretch them out. Finally, he hands Lily over to me to cradle, then drapes his left arm around my shoulders, helping me support Lily’s weight with his right arm, holding us like we’re his family.
“Pst, darling. You might want to cover up the girls if you plan on showing anyone this picture.” The nurse winks, and that’s when I realize my tits—in all their swollen, sweaty, aching glory—are just hanging loose for anyone to see. Like Davis, who’s apparently had an eyeful since he walked in and didn’t tell me. He skirts his gaze when I hastily pull my hospital gown back up into place.
I’m sure my face is as red as my hair when the nurse winks again and snaps a photo before handing the phone back to Davis. I groan when I see the picture on the screen. Swamp creature would actually be a step up from what I look like, but I don’t askhim to delete it since I don’t know if I’ll ever get another picture of the three of us once Davis drops us off at Dad’s apartment. I’m not sure I’ll ever evenseehim again after that, so I want this photo to remember him and how kind he has been since he caught me hiding in his rig.
After I give Davis my phone number so he can text me the picture, the nurse—Call me Sandy—walks me through the forms. “Take your time filling that out. Since it’s so late, I’ll come back for it in the morning before you’re discharged,” she says before she and her bouncing ponytail leave, closing the door behind her.
Without having to discuss it, Davis takes off his hat and leans back against a pillow he shoves behind his head, and then takes Lily from me, dressing her first in one of the onesies he bought, then lays her on top of his chest.
