Page 73 of Dirty Money
“Seems I have. Go get ‘em peach. I’ll keep your dad company.” With a kiss, Weston and her father walked away, leaving her to go inside and deal with a laboring mother for the first time in her life!
The grip Clara had on Aulora’s hand had numbed it. But Aulora let her hold it anyway. “Great job, Mom! You’re doing so great.”
Clara’s face was red when the contraction eased. Aulora grabbed the cloth from the bed rail and went to the little sink to rewet it. “How many more of these things did you say you wanted?” Aulora asked with a light laugh.
“None! She’s it! This hurts too bad!” Clara said as she tried to turn to one side.
“So, I should never do this, huh?” Aulora asked as she went back to hold the cool wet cloth to her stepmother’s forehead.
Clara’s eyes were watery. One tear fell down her cheek then she took Aulora’s hand in hers. “You have to have at least one, Aulora. I know this looks awful and believe me, it is. But you have to do this, at least once. Weston and you will be wonderful parents. I know you will. You have a deep love and that’ll help you to be great parents.”
“You think so?” she asked as she wasn’t sure of that herself.
With a nod, Clara’s face went red again with another contraction. Aulora found her hand being clenched in a death grip once again.
An hour and a half later, the time had come. Clara was bearing down as Aulora rubbed her shoulders and coached her to push. The nurses stood by as the doctor waited for New Aulora to come on out.
“I wish my father would come in here,” Aulora mumbled.
Clara stopped pushing for a moment and tried to catch her breath. “Run and get him. He’ll come if you make him, Aulora.”
With a quick nod, she took off. Going as fast as she could, she slid around the corner and shouted, “Dad, come on. This is it. She’s not freaking out anymore and she wants you to see your daughter come into the world!”
His face was ashen as he sat perfectly still. Weston got up and pulled him up. “Come on, man! You need to see this. It’s awesome.”
He helped get Aulora’s father all the way to the room his wife was in. Weston earned a quick kiss to the cheek from Aulora before they both disappeared into the room.
Weston stood outside of it. His heart and mind a flurry of emotions. It had been so long ago but he could recall the exact feelings he’d had when his son was born. Terror, love, adoration, and most of all excitement.
He’d been so excited about the baby and their future. So many plans had been made. Weston Junior would be in little league. He’d be the best player on his team. He’d make tons of home runs and make him so proud. His son was going to be something! He’d just known it. How wrong he’d been.
With a heavy heart, Weston went to the bathroom. Tears had sprung up and he was in need of pulling himself together. It all came crashing down on him. He’d tried so hard to keep this about Aulora and not about him and what he’d lost.
But it was always there, waiting in the background of his soul. His loss was a part of him. It was such a part of him that at times he forgot it was there. Like you would a small freckle on your back that you seldom catch sight of. But it’s always there and you’re reminded of that, once in a while, when you see it in the mirror.
His son would always have a place in his heart. He’d moved on. But he could never forget the baby who never got a chance to play baseball, or even learn how to walk and talk. His life was cut short and Weston would never get to know that person.
The hole that was left when his son left this world, began to fill with longing. He longed to hold a baby in his arms again. He longed to hear the little cries they made. He longed to wake up and look into the face of his child.
But he’d never resort to making Aulora feel she had to hurry to give him what he so desperately desired, craved, needed. No, he’d hold on. Wait until she was ready.
But he prayed she’d not make him wait too much longer, though he had every reason to believe that she would, not out of selfishness, though. Out of fear of what might happen someday. And all because her father had made a terrible mistake. One that he might not ever be able to make up for.
Her first cries were so faint that Aulora had a hard time hearing them. “She’s here,” she whispered to her stepmother. “Your baby girl is finally here!”
“Thank God,” Clara moaned. “She certainly made me wait. Didn’t she?”
“Would you like to cut the cord, Daddy?” Aulora asked him as the nurse offered the scissors to her. It had been planned that she’d do it but Aulora suddenly felt that her father needed to do the deed.
“Should I?” he asked Clara who nodded. He took the scissors and let the nurse position them at the right place on the umbilical cord. He closed his eyes as he clamped them down on the rubbery thing. He shuddered with the act then handed the scissors back to the nurse. “That felt odd.”
“Yes, it does,” the nurse agreed.
Aulora watched the red, wiggly baby as she was wrapped in a blanket and handed to her father. “Here you go, Daddy,” the doctor said.
Aulora and Clara watched Charles as he went stiff. “I don’t know how to hold something that small.”
Aulora went to her father’s side. Unsure of how to do it herself. “Let me help you, Daddy. I want to see this little girl in your arms a hell of a lot.”
