Epilogue
Phoebe
“She’s beautiful,” Holly says as she looks down at my daughter.
Unfortunately for me, I did end up on hospital bedrest, which was a complete pain in my ass, especially since I had no end of ‘helpful’ folks, aka my coworkers, who ensured I didn’t do anything at all that I wasn’t supposed to.
Still, despite the months of HG that I suffered through, my actual labor was so easy it was almost ridiculous.
“Thank you,” I whisper, my thumb stroking across Colleen’s cheek. She looks so much like Cami did as a newborn that my heart squeezes. I mean, it makes sense since Rosa and I were cousins, and Eli is their father. “She looks just like Cami did,” I admit.
“Prophet’s out there with his chest all puffed up like he’s the one who gave birth,” Marnie adds, making me giggle.
“I mean, he really has been here every step of the way,” I remind them.
“He wasn’t the one losing his stomach lining, of course, but he did hold my hair back then clean up after me every single time.
Plus, he found recipes for food I could tolerate.
Lastly, he was the only one in the room when Colleen decided to show up. ”
“I’m not sure our guys could’ve done that,” Holly replies. “I mean, they can handle most things, but catching a baby as it flies out of their woman’s vajayjay? Yeah, I don’t see that happening, do you, Marnie?”
Marnie starts giggling just as the door bursts open and Ella comes running in. “Dammit, I knew I shouldn’t have stopped for a break,” she grumbles as she reaches the bedside and looks down at me and the baby.
“Uh, correct me if I’m wrong, but you’d already been driving almost nine hours nonstop.
And that was after you worked!” I retort.
“Besides, according to my doctor, I had one of the fastest labors she’s ever seen.
When she last checked me, I was only at a seven, but less than thirty minutes later, I was ready to push.
Couldn’t have stopped it if I wanted to, Ella, and quite honestly, with all the bullshit I’ve had to deal with this whole pregnancy, I’m kind of glad I didn’t labor for hours. ”
“Well, I brought presents,” Ella grumbles, making me giggle. “Of course, I know she’ll have clothes passed down from Cami, but every princess deserves new stuff, right?”
Holly starts laughing even harder, then she says, “Uh, well, we’ll let you do the new things, Ella, because we’ve already been passing the clothes from Mina, Ruby, and Becca down, even though Cami isn’t old enough for some of them yet.”
Ella shrugs. “Nothing wrong with hand-me-downs, as long as that’s not all they ever have.”
“Absolutely not,” Holly and Marnie state in unison. “All of the girls get new clothes around their birthdays and of course, at Christmas, but now that we’ve got five little princesses in the Steel Raiders, we have to adjust accordingly.”
“Because Rebel’s already talking about adding an ammo store, and I think Prophet wants in on it,” Holly confesses. “Bunch of Neanderthals, I swear!”
Ella looks at me and asks, “How long will you have to be here?”
“God, I hope not for too long. I want to go home, whether that’s our place or the clubhouse, and enjoy not hearing the constant beeping of monitors.”
“How are you feeling physically?” Holly questions.
“Surprisingly enough, I’m hungry,” I admit.
“But the doctor told me that once you give birth, most of the symptoms of HG disappear relatively quickly. Some women experience problems for a little bit longer, but I never had an issue actually eating, it was just retaining my food. I think my doctor has a GI doctor coming in to check me over to make sure I didn’t develop any gastro issues before she’ll discharge me.
So, even though I want to go home today, realistically, it’ll probably be at least two or three more days in here. ”
Sighing, I try to adjust myself to get more comfortable. I didn’t tear during the birth, thank heavens, but things are a bit… sore. “Let me help,” Ella states. “Oh! I brought you some padsicles, too!”
“What the hell are those?” Eli asks as he walks into the room just as she speaks.
“It’s a frozen, medicated sanitary pad,” I reply. “It’ll help alleviate any soreness from having the baby.”
“Guess I need to find out where to get them, so we have plenty on hand for when you come home,” he says.
“I brought a case of them,” Ella admits. “They’re in a chest freezer in my RV, except for this one.”
“Tell me how to do it and I’ll get her sorted out,” Eli demands.
I bite back my grin because he has yet to shy away from any of the hard things associated with being pregnant or giving birth. I listen as Ella tells him what to do, then hand over Colleen to Holly so she can put her back in her isolette while Eli helps me into the bathroom.
“I’ve got Miralax too,” Ella calls out, making me giggle.
Before he can ask, I say, “It’s to help make things easier on me once things start moving again.”
He grins but doesn’t say anything as I sit down on the toilet.
Instead, he gets the pad ready, then he helps me shower and before I know it, I’m in clean pajamas with my padsicle firmly in place and he’s walking me back to my bed.
Thankfully, one of the aides came in and changed my sheets, since I’ve been sweating.
I yawn and he grins. “I guess you’ve earned the right to take a nap, sweetheart.”
“You have too, Daddy, since you caught our daughter,” I tease, patting the bed. “Come on up and let’s get some rest. I know the rest of our family will be here before we know it.”
I wake up to Ella whisper yelling at someone. Prying my eyes open, I see she’s standing in front of Data, poking him in the chest while saying, “You don’t get to tell me what I can and cannot do, Eddie. You lost that right a long time ago.”
“Ella, baby,” he says.
“Don’t you dare ‘Ella, baby’ me, you… you asshole!” she screeches.
I feel Eli’s arm band around me, and he whispers in my ear, “We definitely need to know that story. The sooner the better.”
I nod since I don’t want them knowing we’re awake.
I fully agree with him; Ella is my best friend and Data’s a brother in Eli’s club, so they’re going to have to figure their shit out.
Preferably sooner rather than later. I make a mental note to talk to her when it’s just the two of us to see if I can get to the bottom of things.
Because things can’t keep going the way they have been and my best friend deserves to be as happy as I am.
The end… for now! Ella’s Data will release on 10/8/26.