Page 139 of Unlikely to Stay
Epilogue
TWO MONTHS LATER
“Push!Push!You can do it, Breck!Give it all you’ve got!”Griff yelled.
CC and Annie were in the delivery room on either side of their best friend.Both were trying valiantly not to wince in pain as Breckin tried to crush their fingers in her vise-like grip.When CC had gotten Griff’s frantic call saying Breckin was in labor, CC had planned to be waiting in the lobby like everyone else.Instead, she was getting her hand crushed and listening to Griff’s ridiculous cheerleader yells from the other side of the room.
One look at Breckin’s face in pain and the mess that was happening where baby Stephens would be entering the world and Griffin passed out.Bam!On the floor, just like that.When he came to, the nurses let him back in the room but made him stay in the corner so as not to upset Breckin.CC and Annie got roped into being Breckin’s coaches, Griff yelling his words of encouragement from his timeout chair.
“Shit!Is this baby the size of a full-grown turkey?”Breckin panted.“Why.Won’t.She.Come.Out?”
“She’s stubborn just like her daddy,” Annie said.“Or maybe her great-grandma Kelda?”
If looks could kill, Annie would be dead on the floor.Thankfully, since they couldn’t, all Annie could do was avoid eye contact and try to placate their friend with some nice, meaningless words.
“Just a few more pushes, Breckin,” the doctor said.“I can see her head and her shoulders.You’re almost there.”
CC was glad she was standing by the top half of Breckin’s body.If she got a look-see of her friend’s va-jay-jay in all its laborious splendor, she’d probably be stuck in the timeout chair with Griffin, too.“You hear that, Breck?Almost there.Just a couple more pushes,” she said, trying not to wince as Breckin crushed her hand again.Who knew such a little person could gain the strength of the Hulk when in labor?
“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”Breckin screamed, sitting up in bed, giving it everything she had.All of a sudden, the room wasn’t filled with only Breckin’s yelling.Instead, it was filled with the screaming wail of a newborn baby girl.
“Can I get out of timeout?Can I?”Griff asked frantically.“I want to see my daughter.”
The doctor laughed.“I never said it was timeout, Mr.Stephens.I just said you were making Mom nervous and it would be best if you stayed in the corner.”
“It sure felt like timeout,” CC heard Griff mutter.His mutterings soon ceased, however, when the doctor told him he could cut the cord as long as he promised not to faint again.After he gave the cord a snip, a nurse took the baby and began cleaning her up.
“She’s so beautiful, Breck,” CC said.“She’s got a headful of black hair like her daddy’s if he didn’t shave it.And you did so good.I’m so proud of you.”
“Did I hurt your hand?”Breckin asked.“I know I was squeezing pretty hard.”
“Nah,” CC said.“I was fine.”
“She might have been fine butIwasn’t,” Annie said, pulling her hand out of Breckin’s grip and shaking it out.“Sheesh!Who knew labor would grant you with superhuman strength?”
Breckin laughed before wiping a tear from her eye.“She’s really pretty and not ugly like all those other newborn baby photos from the hospital?”
Annie grinned.“She’s perfect, Breck.And if anyone calls her ugly I’ll punch them in the face.”
“Look at her, Breck.Isn’t she perfect?”Griffin walked with his daughter, now swaddled in a pink blanket, to Breckin and sat down on the edge of the bed.The baby looked like a tiny doll in her dad’s big hands.
The tears started flowing freely down Breckin’s face.“She is.And she’s not ugly.”
Griffin started laughing and kissed Breckin on the forehead.“No, she’s not.She’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, except for her momma.”
Griff gently placed his daughter in Breckin’s arms.Tears brimmed in CC’s eyes as she watched her friend hold her daughter for the first time.Seeing the perfect family in front of her, CC couldn’t help the longing and sadness that welled up inside her.Two months had passed since Brant left.Two months of nothing but missing him…his voice, his laugh, his smile.She didn’t think she’d ever stop.
“Have you decided if she’s going to be a Bellamy or Gwendolyn yet?”Annie asked.“I think either one would fit perfectly.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Breckin said, looking at Griff.“I know we decided we wanted a B or a G name to match ours but what if I want something different?”
“As long as it isn’t awful I’m perfectly fine with it,” Griff said.“It just has to be playground safe.”
Breckin rolled her eyes.“I used to be a teacher.I know all about playground safe names.”
“So what are you thinking should be Little Miss’s name?”
“What about Emma Kate?Emma after my mom and Kate since it’s your mom and grandma’s middle name?That way she gets a piece of all the ladies who came before her.”