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“Is everyone staying for the baby? Because we’re having a baby here,” the doctor announces and Emma’s mom takes up the position directly beside her, taking her other hand.
Leann glances around at everyone and then steps up behind her mother, standing at her shoulder and brushing her hand over Emma’s hair, gentle as ever.
And that’s it. The four of us sitting there together, while the doctor gets ready to deliver our baby.
Chapter Thirty-Two ~ Emma
Staring down at the infant in my arms, I can’t imagine anything more amazing. Anything more amazing than this.
“She’s beautiful,” I murmur, more to myself than anything, but Chris is right beside me, staring at the baby with just as much awe as I have.
In fact, he’s been surprising me all along through this process. And now, after seeing and experiencing everything that he did for me throughout my labor, I’m definitely surprised, but pleased at the same time.
“She’s just like her mother,” he replies, reaching out to gently touch her hand with one finger. His motions are slow, more gentle than I would have imagined was possible from him, but he’s definitely acting like he thinks the baby might break.
Though to be honest I think I am, too.
She just seems so small. And so fragile.
Mom and Leann have stepped outside for a few minutes to give us a little time to just relax. And have some time with our baby without them hovering over. I’m enjoying having Chris right here, his arm draped around my shoulders as he leans in.
“We never discussed what we were going to name her,” he says and I hesitate a moment.
“I had … thought about it.”
“And what did you decide on?” I feel a little nervous to tell him, especially because he’s right; we didn’t talk about it before.
“I … was thinking of Chloe.”
“It’s a nice name,” he tells me and I breathe a sigh of relief.
I was worried he wouldn’t like it and we’d be trying to find a name for our daughter for a while.
Our daughter.
The words bounce around in my head over and over again and I can’t help but smile brighter as I stare at her. I also can’t seem to take my eyes off her.
“Chloe Mackenzie,” he adds and it’s perfect. The perfect name for our perfect little girl.
“Chloe Mackenzie Warren,” I finish, and now it’s his turn to smile so bright it seems to light up the room.
“But the question is … will she have the same last name as her mother?” he asks and my mind dashes back to where we left things. Where we were just before I started feeling the contractions. And the fact that he proposed. He actually proposed!
“I’m not sure, where were we exactly?” I ask, feigning ignorance and the look he gives me says he sees right through me. But he doesn’t care.
Because right there, in that hospital room, he gets down on one knee again. One of his hands resting on my knee, as close to Chloe as he can reach from his current position.
“Emma Randolph, this has already been the most amazing day of my life, because you’ve given me the most beautiful baby girl imaginable. But will you make it even better by agreeing to be my wife?”
“Yes,” I reply, because my heart is constricting at the perfection of this moment. Of being here, with my brand-new baby girl, and the man I love on one knee in front of me.
Though a part of me would love to draw it out, to tease him, the larger part says that there will be plenty of time for all of that in the future. And that right now, this is about how much I absolutely love him, and the little family that we’ve created.
He stands then and digs into his pocket because now he’s not holding the ring. But luckily he knows where it is. And I get my first glimpse of the gorgeous thing when he slides it onto my finger, because when he held it out the last time I wasn’t paying attention.
Now, however, I can fully appreciate the beautiful ring, and especially the unfamiliar weight on my hand.
“Are we able to come back in?” Leann’s voice startles me from the doorway and I give a wry grin to Chris but nod my head.
