Page 108 of Craving Silence

I want to laugh at the abject horror on his face, but I can’t because I’m instantly overwhelmed by a wave of pain, this time in my lower abdomen. It’s so intense, I have to hold on to the sink to stay on my feet.

“Whoa, easy does it,” he mumbles, a steadying hand on my back.

“I’m guessing this little one is coming now. My water just broke,” I announce when the pain subsides.

Rick ushers me to a dining room chair.

“Sit here, I’m gonna get the bag in the truck and warm it up.”

We’ve talked about all the possible scenarios, living out here on the mountain with a baby due in the middle of winter. So far, other than this baby should’ve baked for another couple of weeks, this isn’t a bad way for this to play out. I’m glad Savvy sent Rick home early.

Before he gets back, I’m already in the middle of my next contraction, and I’m caught by another one as I’m about to get into Rick’s truck.

“Brace, honey,” I tell him when he drives us down the mountain. “I have a feeling this’ll go fast.”

Rick

* * *

Two and a half hours from the moment the water broke. That’s all it took for this little nugget to be born.

I already knew Dana was tough, but that was enforced today. She’d planned for an epidural but she never had a chance. By the time we got to the hospital, she was already experiencing pressure and was found to be eight centimeters dilated. In hindsight, she’d probably been in labor all morning, feeling the contractions mainly in her back until she ruptured her membranes.

It all went so fast, my adrenaline is still pumping as the nurse hands me a little bundle.

I’d forgotten how tiny newborns are. If not for her long legs, I’d be able to carry her in the palm of my hand.

A girl.

I had no preference, really, and I would’ve been equally happy with a boy, but part of me is so grateful it’s a little girl.

I lift her up to my face and brush my lips over her downy little cheek. So damn soft and fragile.

“I’ll be right back with something to eat for mom,” the nurse, whose name I’ve already forgotten, informs us on her way out the door.

“And here we thought we had a few more weeks to come up with a name,” Dana says, smiling as she lays her head back against the pillow.

She looks so happy when she looks at us, and my heart contracts almost painfully at the absolute joy and deep fulfillment I’m experiencing.

I take a seat beside her bed and turn so Dana can look in our baby’s sleeping face. I have to swallow hard before I respond with a question.

“Any ideas?”

We’d tossed around some names, but nothing really jumped out, and we weren’t feeling rushed yet to decide on anything.

It’s different now she’s here. She’s a little person and deserves a name that suits her.

“I don’t know. You?”

I do. I know what name is right for our little girl.

When she starts fussing, I give her a little kiss and place her in her mom’s arms.

“I think her name should be Stella.”

Dana looks surprised as she rests her cheek against the baby’s head, and the next moment her eyes fill with tears.

“Yeah…Stella.”