Through Thick And Thin

She smiled and nodded.

“We will be the best aunt and uncle, won’t we?” she asked.

“Best is an understatement.” He took a long sip of his own latte. “I have half a mind to set up a fund for the sole purpose of spoiling that kid.”

Amanda laughed.

“Yeah, be careful not to steal all of Chad’s daddy moments,” she said.

“Relax. I am not about to go ahead and teach him or her how to ride a bike or anything,” Mark said. Amanda laughed and then took another bite of her cronut. She looked at him and then sipped on her coffee.

“You better not be,” she said before her smile faded. He looked into her eyes and interlaced his fingers with hers.

“What is it, now?” he asked in a soft voice.

“This whole baby thing,” she started.

“I thought we already talked about it and solved that sh*t, babe,” he said in a soft voice.

“Oh we did, we have,” she said in a soft voice. “But do you think this will ever happen? Do you think we will ever be parents?”

“We will be when it’s our time, of course,” Mark said. “I know that for a fact because someone told me that she helped a woman get a baby when she was in college.”

Amanda pulled her hand away from him and shook her head.

“I should never have told you that,” she whispered.

“Oh come on. You were in college and you needed cash,” Mark said in a low tone. “Most people did way worse.”

“I sold a part of me for twenty grand,” she said as she rolled her eyes. “I sold my eggs.”

“Yes and you only did it once. We’ve all done our fair share of stupid things,” he said in a soft voice. “I mean, I know people who did porn for cash.”

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow over the other.

“Did you?” she asked, her voice so low that he had to lean forward to hear her.

“No, I just did photos for some French photographer.”

“Nudies?” she asked in a soft voice. He was looking right at her as he shook his head.

“No, I was never okay with that stuff even though the guys who went through with it made crazy money,” he said.

“So, no nudies then?” There was relief in Amanda’s voice when he nodded.

“I was just…let’s say that my college photos are the kind of photos people use in their profiles to make themselves more…marketable,” he said and she smiled. Mark had always had a great athletic build. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

“So they took a photo of your torso? Just your torso?” she asked and he nodded. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“There are plenty of good looking models out there. But they don’t have very…what’s the right word to use…buff bodies.” Amanda took one last bite of her cronut and she nodded.

“Modest much?” she asked as he looked at his phone.

“I was trying to.” He picked up his coffee and stood up. “We better head back.”

“Yeah we really should,” she said as she stood up. “So, how come I have never seen those photos, huh? Where have you been hiding them?” she asked as he slipped an arm around her waist.

“That’s a story for another day,” Mark said.

*****

Chad was pacing up and down the waiting area as he waited for any kind of news on Amelia. He had been forced to step out of the OR when everything hit the roof. The doctor had said that the baby was in distress, probably because of the prolonged labor and to make things worse, her baby was in breech. When Amelia’s blood pressure began dropping, Chad panicked. He didn’t like what he was seeing on the monitor, not one bit.

“It’s going to get ugly, Chad,” one of the nurses said. “Just step out and we will get you when everything has calmed down.”

“But I have…” he started to say before the nurse pushed him out.

“Please. Just do as I say,” the nurse insisted.

It had only been ten minutes but it felt like a lifetime. He was still pacing up and down when he saw Mark and Amanda walking towards him. The look on Amanda’s face said it all; she was as worried as he was.

“What happened? Where’s Amelia?” she asked, trying as hard as she could not to cry.

“She’s fine. She is still in there,” Chad said. “There was a complication and they asked me to step out of the OR.”

“Wait, what kind of complication?” Amanda asked as she took Mark’s hand and clutched it tightly.

“They said something about the baby being in distress and in breech,” Chad said as he sat down and buried his face in his hands. “I am just…I don’t know what is going on.”

“It’s alright man,” Mark said as he squeezed Chad’s shoulder. “If it was something serious, I’m sure that Dr. Burke would have been here to say something.”

“I know but I still wish that I…” Chad was still talking when Dr. Burke came bursting through the doors. He took off his gloves and surgeon’s cap and smiled at them. “How is she? How is Amelia…and the baby…” Chad could barely hold himself up.

“Both girls are fine,” Dr. Burke said in a whisper as he smiled at them.

“Both…girls?” Chad asked.

“Yeah, girls,” the doctor affirmed. “You have a beautiful healthy daughter. A little heavy too. Six pounds and change.”

“Oh my God,” Chad breathed his relief as he ran his fingers through his hair.

“Congrats bro,” Mark said as he playfully slapped Chad’s shoulder.

“We all thought she was going to have a boy, I don’t know why, but we all did,” Amanda said as she brushed off her tears of excitement.

“Well, that was partly my fault,” Chad said laughing.

“Well, she is not yet in recovery so I can only have one of you in there right now,” Dr. Burke said as he looked at them.

“You go. Mark and I can wait,” Amanda said as she looked at Chad who was only too excited to walk away from them. His heart was pounding as he followed the doctor down the sterile hallways. Normally, the smell of hospitals made him gag but somehow this time he didn’t. He didn’t even feel like himself. It was almost as if he was having an out of body experience.

“There is your new family,” Dr. Burke said as they stood at the entrance of the room. Amelia was looking down at a swaddled baby.

“Hey,” Chad said as he began walking towards her. Amelia looked up and smiled.

“Hey,” she said in an exhausted voice. “She is a quiet one.”

Chad never said anything. He walked towards her and kissed her forehead softly before he looked down at his new daughter.

“She is precious,” he said in a whisper.

“She is,” Amelia echoed. “I’m sorry she is not a boy.”

Chad shook his head.

“Are you kidding me? She is everything I have ever wanted,” he said as he touched the baby’s small hand with his finger. “She is absolutely everything I have ever wanted.” He kissed her forehead again before kissing the baby’s small hand.

“So, you have a name already?” she asked and he forced out a laugh.

“Not really,” he said. “That is a decision I wanted us to make together.”

Amelia looked up at him and then down at the baby and smiled.

“I think I have the perfect name for her,” she said. “Leila,” she added in a soft voice.

“I couldn’t think of a better name,” Chad said in a whisper just as Amanda and Mark poked their heads through the doorway.

“Hey, we snuck our way through here to sneak a peek at my new niece,” Amanda said as she tiptoed to the bed with Mark following close behind.

“It’s okay,” Amelia said as Chad took the baby from her.

“Amanda, Mark, I’d like you to meet our daughter, Leila,” Chad announced. Amanda blinked back a tear.

“That’s a perfect name,” she said as she stretched her arms out to hold the baby. “And she is as perfect as the name itself,” she added as she looked at the baby in her arms, slowly rocking her in her arms.

The end.