Page 204 of Healed

“Oh, no, baby, it’s not horrific. It looks…” I looked back down and swallowed. “… lovely.”

“Another one is coming,” she said, her eyes closing tight.

“Right. I need you to push, Gabriella. Vienna, hold on to her stomach. When you feel it tighten, that’s a contraction. Gabriella, put your chin to your chest and push. I need you to push all the way through it. Take a deep breath and—”

Gabriella nodded, focusing on her movements. She shuffled back, her back against the door, sitting up ever so slightly.

“Are you ready?” Rachel asked.

Gabriella nodded once more. I put my hands on her stomach and felt it tighten.

“It’s coming, princess. Are you ready?”

Gabriella breathed deeply through her mouth and then sucked in a deep breath. As her stomach tightened even more, she began to push, her face turning red with the effort.

“That’s it, that’s it,” Rachel encouraged. “Keep going, don’t stop.”

I lost track of time in that car.

I have no idea how long she pushed for. I have no idea what was said or what was done.

All I knew was that in no time, I was holding my baby girl in my arms, her face screwed up in anger, looking like a huge injustice had been done to her.

“Are they okay?” Gabriella said, beginning to cry.

“More than okay,” I breathed, gently cradling my baby’s head as I lowered her onto her mother’s chest.

The baby immediately settled, nuzzling against the mother who had carried her all this time.

I looked at Gabriella then.

Her hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, her chest rising and falling with every exhausted breath. Tears streamed freely down her cheeks, yet somehow, she was smiling wider than I’d ever seen before.

I had watched men survive bullets. I’d seen brothers crawl through unimaginable pain without making a sound. I’d witnessed torture, death and more violence than anyone should ever have to.

None of it came close to what she’d just done.

And in the back seat of a car, no less.

I’d never seen anyone stronger.

“She’s here,” Gabriella said to me, laughing with relief.

“She sure is.”

I reached out, stroking her little hand with my index finger.

“Welcome to the world, little Michelle.”

She grabbed my finger and wrapped her little fist around it so tightly, and I felt my heart fly from my body and into this little girl.

My little girl.

“Michelle?” Rachel asked, wrinkling her nose. “Who the fuck is Michelle?”

“Her mother?” Dante muttered as though Rachel was a moron.

“Well, I know that,” she hissed back. “But what happened to Viennetta?”