Page 70 of Best Friend Burden

“Time to push, Ms. Cruz,” the doctor said.

“You don't need to give me an answer right away,” I said. “I know you're in the middle of something right now.” I tried using the same comedy style as she did, but she didn’t respond. It looked as though she was on a different planet with a mission I would never understand. I knew what I was saying right now was completely ridiculous, and she couldn’t even fathom an answer. But I was just talking to help her through the pain the best that I knew how because I was running on adrenaline and love.

“Very good,” the doctor said. “Just a couple more pushes should do it.”

And, before I knew it, there was a beautiful, screaming baby in the doctor's hands.

That was our baby. That was Olivia. And nothing would ever be the same.

“Congratulations,” the doctor said. “You've got a healthy baby girl.”

The doctor turned towards me.

“Would you like to cut the umbilical cord?”

Yes? No? At the moment I wanted a million things. I wanted to hear a yes out of Melody's mouth. I wanted to hold Olivia in my own arms. I wanted to know that everything was going to be okay.

But none of those were what I was being asked.

“Yes!” I said, overcome with emotion.

A nurse handed me a pair of sterile scissors and guided my hand to cut the cord. With a quick snip, the physical connection between Olivia and Melody was severed, and she was now officially on her own in the world.

“Let me go get her cleaned up for you,” the nurse said and took her from the doctor.

As I watched the nurse move to the other side of the room, I felt a brief emptiness as if a part of me was gone too, even though she was a few steps away.

Part of it was how much calmer the room had become now that there was no more chaos going on.

It was the same feeling I'd get after a big concert with a good, raucous crowd. I'd return to the green room, and there'd be a low as I came off the high of all the adrenaline and dopamine flowing through my system from doing what I was put on this earth to do.

It was that same low feeling I'd get when the pills I'd taken would start wearing off.

That was the low I felt right then immediately after the birth of my daughter.

Fortunately, that low feeling was extremely transient.

Because barely five seconds passed before Melody said, “Yes, I will marry you.”

“Really?”

“Of course. There's nobody else I'd rather spend my life with.”

“Me either,” I told her, then leaned down and kissed her. At that moment, I felt an immediate high greater than any drug I'd ever taken. What's more, this drug never managed to wear off. From that moment on, Melody and Olivia ensured that I never once felt another low ever again.

EPILOGUE

***MELODY***

Having a baby usually means people's lives change a bit, but nothing could have prepared me for what came along with Olivia when she came into this world. The day after she was born, I had a talk with Kiefer about rushing into things, and though I accepted his proposal to me while I was drugged up and recovering from giving birth, I had to retract the acceptance.

It wasn't that I didn't want to marry him. I absolutely did, but it would have been a silly thing to make a major life decision at a moment where we were both in very strange positions emotionally. He'd already given up a trip to Tokyo for me, so I wanted to be sure that he knew what he was doing and had fully thought it through before he proposed again.

And six months passed without that happening.

It was, in some ways, for the best, though. We could genuinely appreciate the time we had together without having to worry about planning a wedding. We could focus on Olivia and I could continue to give at least some attention to The Vegan Vaquero.

With all the business we'd been doing, it made sense to go forward with the next big thing, which was to open a physical location. The investors were enthusiastic about the idea and fronted me more than enough money to make that happen.

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