Page 41 of Shining Pearls
Dean leaned in and whispered near my ear, “You were amazing, Mama.”
I tilted my head toward him as he kissed my cheek. When I turned the other direction, I saw the fake smile etched on Claire’s face. Although she tried to insert enthusiasm into her voice when she said to her husband, “You have a son,” her tone sounded false to my ears.
Alex nodded, as he cupped his wife’s face with his palms, evidently not sensing her discomfort. “Did you see him? He’s perfect!”
She nodded, before turning in my direction and saying, “You did a great job. It’s a boy. I had the feeling it would be.”
I’d known it was a boy since the first ultrasound, but hadn’t shared the news with anyone, except Dean.
Alex turned to look in my direction as if suddenly remembering I was there. He awkwardly patted me on the shoulder and said, “You did good.”
I nodded to acknowledge the stilted compliment from the man who I had once believed loved me, but my attention was quickly stolen by the perfect, tiny bundle the nurse handed me.
Aunt Mimi chose that moment to join us in the delivery room. She had preferred to wait in the hospital’s small waiting room, not wanting the delivery area to be too crowded.
She cooed and fawned appropriately over my little guy with her eyes glistening with tears. Looking at her, I couldn’t help but wonder how proud my parents would be of their grandson if they’d lived long enough to get to see him.
I couldn’t stop looking at my sweet baby. It was almost impossible to believe he was really here in my arms. We all shared a long moment staring at him.
Claire finally broke the silence by asking, “Do you know what you want to name him?”
I’d given it a lot of thought, but I hadn’t shared those thoughts with anyone––not even Dean. They were all giving me expectant looks, so I took a deep breath and dove in. “Well, I love the name Jaxson, and we could call him Jax.”
Agreeable nods and murmurs came from all around, so I forged on. “For the middle name, I was thinking about Aldean.’
I sensed that Alex and Dean were both beaming, but Claire’s was the reaction I was watching. I didn’t want to overstep and mess up this fragile bond we were forging with each other.
Proving that she was both strong and intuitive, Claire nodded and said, “What a lovely tribute to Jax’s dads.”
I couldn’t think of a way to show her my appreciation, so I merely mouthed the words ‘thank you.’
Aunt Mimi broke the tension in the room by saying, “Ohhhh, Al-Dean. I get it. I thought you were naming him after that sexy, tight-bunned country singer, Jason Aldean.”
We all had a good, long laugh at the silly woman’s misunderstanding––everyone except Claire.
38
Claire
Ihad told myself that Josie’s baby was going to be a boy. I thought I had convinced myself of it, but that didn’t stop me from being disappointed when I was faced with the harsh reality of it.
Alex looked so thrilled, and Josie looked so proud––as they should be. I honestly didn’t blame them or begrudge them happiness over the birth of their son. That didn’t stop me from being jealous about it, though. I was Alex’s wife. I was the one that should be giving him a son. Instead, I was carrying another girl.
Shaking my head, I tried to force myself out of this negative headspace. I was thrilled to be giving Alex another daughter. We both were excited to bring a sister home to Hannah. But some mysterious, primitive cavewoman instinct in me couldn’t stop thinking about his first-born son and heir. Times had changed since that archaic reasoning had prevailed, but for some reason, my brain refused to let it go.
Thankfully, they were all fawning over the baby, so they didn’t notice my internal struggle. The only one that noticed my pain was Mimi. That woman seemed to have a heat-sensitive radar to zoom in on anything that wasn’t quite right. She gave me a pointed stare that must be what laser beams felt like when aimed directly at your forehead.
Turning her bright blue eyes towards my husband, she subtly, yet firmly, reminded him to be sensitive to my feelings. “Alex, you are one lucky man. Most wives wouldn’t be so understanding, but Claire is handling this with incomparable grace, dignity, and respect.”
I smiled at the intuitive woman, appreciating that she noticed my internal struggle with my emotions, but my attention was soon stolen by my husband. He focused solely on me and peered down into my face as if he was searching the depths of my soul.
His words were loud enough to be heard by the others in the room, but they felt like they were exclusively for me. “Claire is the most amazing woman there is, and I’m not just lucky. I hit the jackpot when she decided to share her heart with me. I’m the luckiest man alive!”
With that proclamation, he alleviated the fears and doubts that I had allowed to creep in. Alex and I belonged together and nothing would ever change that or come between us.
We shared a long, passionate kiss that was probably too intimate of a display of affection to be enjoyed in front of anyone else, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was too lost in the beauty of our love.
It vaguely registered in my mind when Dean said to Josie that he was the luckiest man alive, not Alex. Although I was happy that they had finally realized they were right for each other, I was too focused on my own love story to channel any of my attention away from Alex.
