AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, you can. Just breathe and do as I say.”
I took a long, deep breath in and let it out slowly.
When Devyn screamed in pain again, I felt it in every fiber of my being. There was no more“I can’t do this” after that. Ihadto do this.
Our baby was coming, whether I was ready or not.
A few seconds later, when I looked down between her legs, I saw it.
“Oh my God. There’s something there. I think it’s the baby’s head! I see hair!”
“Okay. Make sure there’s a towel near you, and place your hand down by the head to keep it from coming out too fast.”
Devyn let out the loudest scream I’d ever heard as I reached down and guidedour babyout of her. Then came the crying—the most beautiful sound.
The baby was in my arms, wiggling. Time seemed to stand still for the most surreal moment of my life. My mouth fell open as I froze, in complete awe, staring into my child’s eyes. Then I snapped myself out of it long enough to wrap the baby in my coat and place her on Devyn’s chest.
The sound of sirens registered in the distance. The ambulance was finally making its way toward us through the traffic nightmare.
I’d been so in shock that I hadn’t checked to confirm whether we’d in fact had a baby girl. Or was it a boy?
Devyn finally looked up from the baby on her chest and whispered, “It’s a boy.”
What?“A boy?” A tear fell from my eyes.I have a son.
It was radio silence from the front seat. I think the kids were just as shell-shocked as I was.
The paramedics finally converged upon our car and cleared a way for us to pull over. They assisted with the delivery of the placenta—which I had no freaking idea was even a thing. (Probably good that I hadn’t a clue, or I might’ve fainted after all.) Then they brought Devyn and the baby into the ambulance. Since Heath couldn’t legally drive, I wasn’t able to ride with Devyn to the hospital. Letting her and my son go ahead while I figured out the quickest way to get to them was excruciating. It felt like my entire life was in that ambulance as I watched it speed away.
***
The following day, Devyn and I were alone in her Connecticut hospital room while she cradled our son. Mia had just left, so we were in between visitors.
I rubbed his delicate caramel brown hair with the back of my finger. “I can’t believe how wrong I was.”
“About having a girl?”
“About everything.” I shook my head. “I thought being a father would feel unnatural to me, but from the second I held him in my arms, it felt right. I nearly forgot to give him to you when he came out. I know it’s only been a day, but I feel like I’ve known him forever. Like, I can’t imagine a time when he wasn’t here. Like I was born to be his dad.”
She smiled up at me, her eyes glistening. “You know, we should probably come up with a name at some point.”
“You mean we can’t call him Baby Dawson forever?”
We’d been so sure our baby would be a girl that we hadn’t thought about boy names.
“What about Devin?” I suggested. “Spelled D-E-V-I-N. But pronounced like Devyn.”
Devyn nodded as she looked down at our son. “Devin Dawson. That has a nice ring to it.” She lifted him and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. “It would be an honor to share a name with him.”
“We have a deal, then.” I hesitated a moment. “I’d like his middle name to be Ryan, if that’s okay. It’s sort of a tradition the guys already started.”
Not a day went by when I didn’t feel Ryan’s spirit, and it had seemed stronger since my son was born.
“Of course,” Devyn said. “I expected that. Whether it was a boy or a girl, that’s one thing I was sure of, that we would honor Ryan in some way.”
“Thank you.”
There was a knock at the door.
