“Wow. I mean… wow.” I don’t know what else to say but that. I massage the back of Hayley’s hand with my thumb for a long time, until her head leans into my shoulder and closes her eyes.
***
Hayley and I doze together. In my haze, I can hear Dylan on the phone with my mother, Jill Wallace, and finally Anna. Once she sits down, is when I finally open my eyes. “How long has it been?”
“About three hours. It seems like three days. You’d think someone would come and say something.”
Just then, the door across from us opens. Wes has pulled the scrub cap from his head. His hair is its usual post hat disaster. His eyes are as red as I’ve seen them in a while. He’s holding a bundle in the shape of a football carefully in his arms.
“Hayley. Hayley, wake up.”
Dylan is already standing before Wes gets within ten feet. Hayley startles then notices Wes. She doesn’t have time to get up before the tiny bundle is brought down to her as Wes kneels.
“Babe, it’s a boy. We’ve got a son.”
Hayley
I think I’m dreaming. I have to be dreaming. There is no way this is real. Wes is kneeling at my feet with the most perfect little body in his hands. “A boy? It’s a boy?”
“Yeah, Babe. Look at him. He’s got ten fingers and ten toes. He’s perfect and ours.” I have to peek under his little hat to see his hair. There isn’t much of it, but what is there is a coppery brown that is just like his father’s when the sun touches it. “Do you want to hold him?”
“Can I? Can I really? What about Hannah?”
“They’re doing some post-delivery things. She held him first. She wanted you to meet him too.”
Wes cradles the perfect little bundle over into my waiting arms. I hold this little body close to me. He has the perfect baby smell already. His little fingers are curled up in fists underneath his chin. His eyes barely open, but his little mouth makes all these different little shapes. “Oh. Wes. Like…I can’t.”
“What’s his name?” my brother asks. Dylan closes in as we become our four, adding a fifth.
“His name is Michael Elijah Carter Taylor, if that’s good with you, brother?”
I can see this tidal wave hit Eli and nearly knock him over. Dylan’s hand wraps at his wrist. Eli sinks to sit beside me. Eli has never been good at hiding his emotions where family and friends are concerned. I know that his name being Michael hits a different chord. But Elijah as his middle name. I know he really didn’t expect that.
Wes plops his closed fist on Eli’s knee. “We’ve been through hell and back, man. You’ve put up with a lot with and for me. Hannah and I discussed it and we decided that the people who were and are going to be most important to our son should be represented. Michael for my brother. Elijah for you. Carter for Hannah and her father, and Taylor for his dad and his bonus mom.”
“Me? Seriously? I shouldn’t.”
“Babe, you’re going to be a Taylor. Or at the very least a Sawyer-Taylor. We’re a family. As messed up as things get, we’re a family.”
Eli finally clears his throat after a kiss on the top of his head from Dylan. He lays his hand over Wes’s. “I’m honored. I’m beyond honored.”
My brother’s hand nearly eclipses little Michael’s as he strokes over the woven hat on his head. “Do you want to hold him, Eli? I think you should,” I offer.
Eli places his arms in perfect position as I slide him over. Once Wes sees that he’s settled, he loops his arms under mine and lifts me off the ground into a hug to rival all hugs. My feet dangle inches off the ground as I hold him tight. He presses his lips to my ears and whispers the sweetest things he’s ever said to me.
“You are without a doubt the bravest woman I know. What you did today was nothing short of amazing. You took absolute control in a situation you should have never been in. The complete respect you and Hannah gave each other locked away any doubts that we’ll be a great team of parents for Mikey. If we weren’t already getting married, I’d be asking you all over again. I couldn’t have gotten through today without you at my side, my fun-size slice of magic.”
Chapter 32
Dylan
Being at the hospital was equal parts exciting and overwhelming. When Wes’s parents and Jack and Lily showed up to meet Mikey and Hannah, that was the cue for Eli and me to leave. It was becoming too much for Wes and Hayley. I could see it in their faces.
Faces.
The one face I can’t erase from my mind is Elijah’s. We haven’t been around babies since we’ve been together. I wasn’t expecting to feel what I felt when I looked at him with Michael in his arms. It’s the same feeling I get when I hear a piece of music and need to move because if I don’t, it will tear me apart. That was the overwhelming part for me. I couldn’t move like I wanted to. Hell, I couldn’t even breathe. Parts of me inside were on fire. Some of the reasons why are obvious. Some of them are not.
The cab we’re in is stuck in some weird late-night traffic. I’m resting with my head against Eli, looking past his body and out the window. I’m not looking at anything specific, just staring. After about ten minutes of silence from me, Eli can hear the wheels spinning inside my head.
“All right, Viper. What gives?”
“Mmm?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re lost right now. Where are you so I can come pick you up?”
“I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”
“Try. Please?”
I reach in between us and lace both of our hands together. He softly strokes the back of my hand in a whimsical circular pattern. He’s going there without me having to ask. “I have a lot going on up here. First of all, I challenged Wes weeks ago to basically shit or get off the pot. Do better is what I was telling him, without being so eloquent.”
Eli chuckles. “That’s my girl.”
“He was a new person today. I don’t know. It’s like he grew up overnight or something. I’ve seen grown-ass humans be the biggest children. I thought he might be like that forever. This is one time I don’t mind being wrong. He stepped up so huge. I know he was freaked out in the moment. I’m not going to lie. I would be too.”
“I don’t know, Dylan. You might surprise yourself.”
“You don’t know how right that statement is.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can show you better than I can tell you, I think.” I lean forward to speak to the driver. “Can you make a right here? I’d like to have you drop us off at the auditorium on NYU campus.”
He nods in agreement as Eli pulls me off his shoulder to force me to look at him. “What are you doing?”
“Working through something.”
We get let off on campus. Eli hands my crutches to me. After the cab pulls away, I ask him to follow and trust. I hope that the security team is still on the same schedule. Sammy was on night watch the entire time I was on campus all four years. When I needed extra rehearsal time, he’d sneak me into the big stage after hours, no questions asked. I need that to be the case tonight too.