22. Micaiah
ONE WEEK LATER
“Eris, there are no limits that I won’t go and nothing on this Earth that I won’t do for you. You deserve the universe, baby, and I’ll die trying to give it to you.” –Love No Limit, MJ Stone
“Nurse Mills will show you where you are to go. We hope that if there is anything else we can do for you, you will let us know,” Jeremy Mathis, the medical director, stated.
“Thank you, man. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all you’ve done for us already,” I replied.
I knew that it was a combination of the donation I had given and Myraj’s mom being the CHRO of the hospital that had opened the doors for us that wouldn’t be open to normal patients. I thanked God every day for His grace and favor that rested on us.
Myraj had pulled through after the C-section and became conscious again. She hadn’t suffered any damage, but they kept her for monitoring and to keep her blood pressure down. Our daughter was a preemie, but she didn’t suffer any long-term effects that we should be concerned about.
Our baby was a week old, and for the past week, Myraj had been staying in a VIP suite with high-end amenities. She had a private chef and dedicated support staff around the clock.
Today, she was being released, and I knew that she struggled with that.
She had told me that she didn’t want to leave the hospital and leave our baby behind.
I felt her on that shit, because that was exactly how I felt about Malachi when it was time for Karen to be released, and again now, but we didn’t have another choice.
Not only had my name and wealth grew exponentially over the last three years, but the woman I hoped to call mother-in-law soon also had a powerful position and connections within the hospital.
I walked down the hall and hopped on the elevator with Nurse Mills.
“She’s going to be so shocked and surprised when she learns what you’ve done,” she stated.
“I know. I just couldn’t bear watching her go through that.”
“It’s always hard when the parents have to leave their little ones behind.”
“Yeah, it’s had us torn up. I knew this was a possibility the minute they said they were doing a C-section this soon, but what do you do?”
“You made the best decision for your family,” Nurse Mills reassured me as we stepped off the elevator.
The words “your family” filled me with so much pride and a sense of warmth that I knew all my steps I had planned were the right ones.
“Hey there, mama. Are you all packed up to leave?” Nurse Mills asked, pushing the chair into Myraj’s room.
Myraj sat on the edge of the bed looking sad with her bag beside her. I couldn’t wait to tell her the news so that frown could disappear.
“Yeah,” she answered softly.
“These are all for you.” I handed her the balloons and the bouquet of hibiscus, her favorite flowers.
She took them in her arms and sniffed the flowers before she handed me the balloons back. “Can you carry these while we leave?” she asked.
“Yeah, baby. Whatever you need.”
I grabbed her bag and the discharge papers that had been drawn up as Nurse Mills helped Myraj into the wheelchair.
Myraj fingered the push gift that I had gifted her, a platinum necklace with two diamonds surrounding our daughter’s birthstone, a sapphire.
I had ordered it before she had gone in labor, and it was ready two days after she gave birth.
Joshua had brought it up to me on his off day, and I had presented it to Myraj.
She was happy, but it hadn’t removed the sadness from her eyes.
Anytime she thought of our daughter, she fingered the necklace.
“May I see her one last time before we leave?” she asked Nurse Mills.
“Absolutely. I was going to suggest that myself.”
She wheeled her out of the room, and I followed them down the hall toward the NICU.
Nurse Mills settled her wheelchair beside our daughter’s incubator and helped her get up and scrub up so that she could hold her. Once she was settled back in her wheelchair, I scrubbed up, too, and joined them.
“She’s so beautiful and perfect, Micaiah. Isn’t she?”
“She is. She’s got your nose and cheekbones, and the shape of your eyes.”
“And she’s got your amazing eye color against that gorgeous dark brown skin,” Myraj replied.
She kissed our baby’s forehead and looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. “How can I leave her, Micaiah? That wasn’t part of the plan.”
I gripped her fingers in mine and kissed them before I kissed her forehead, nose, and lips. “It may not have been part of our plan, baby, but it was a part of His, and we have to trust that He knows best.”
She nodded. “Can we pray?”
“Sure.”
We bowed our heads and held hands. I placed my free one on my daughter’s body, and I prayed.
“Lord, this journey hasn’t been an easy one, but you have made it a fulfilling and rewarding one by blessing us with the gift of life in our daughter.
She is the source of so much joy, and we ask that You continue to make her that and help us to grow in our love with her and for her.
Teach us how to take care of her and help this journey to her coming home with us to go by speedily.
In the meantime, supply us with all of our needs and help us to spend as much time as possible with our daughter.
We love You and thank You for her, in Jesus’s name. Amen.”
“Amen. I don’t want her to be baby Nicholson anymore,” Myraj whispered softly.
“She doesn’t have to be. I had a name that I was thinking of.” We hadn’t been able to find a name that we were happy with during the pregnancy, and we thought we had more time to find one, but she arrived early. I had thought of a name, but I wanted to wait until Myraj was ready to discuss it.
“So did I. I was thinking about Malaika, which is Swahili for ‘angel.’ I believe that she is the angel who guided our path back to each other. What were you thinking?” she asked.
I laughed and my heart constricted because God was affirming all my plans. “I was thinking about Kioni, because it’s Swahili for ‘the one who sees,’” I answered.
“You think Malachi will be upset about us not naming her Aleena?”
“That boy will be okay.” I chuckled.
“That is so beautiful. Kioni Malaika, or Malaika Kioni?” she asked.
“I like the second one best, Malaika Kioni. Hi, beautiful,” I greeted as she switched our baby to my arms. I cradled her close to my chest and kissed her face. “I thought that God saw us in our loneliness and heartache, about to give up on love, and brought us to one another.”
“I love that, Micaiah, and I love you,” she declared, caressing my face.
“Not half as much as I love you, girl.” I kissed her as Nurse Mills walked up.
“Did I hear that you two have settled on a name?”
“Yes. Malaika Kioni,” Myraj stated confidently.
“That is such a beautiful name for a beautiful baby,” Nurse Mills stated.
“Thank you,” we replied.
“Micaiah, thank you for giving me the perfect and precious gift of our baby and for making my dreams come true.”
“You just made life that much better for me, and I didn’t think it could get any better than it was for Malachi and me, but you and my daughter are the gifts that complete my family.”
“Speaking of gifts, it’s time to move on,” Nurse Mills declared.
Another nurse came and took Malaika Kioni from my arms and placed her back in the incubator after Myraj gave her another kiss.
Sadness settled on my woman again as I stood and moved behind her wheelchair as she said her final goodbyes to our daughter.
Nurse Mills walked ahead of us, and after we left out of the NICU, we took a left turn, and Nurse Mills opened a set of doors.
“What’s going on? What’s this?”
We stepped into a larger suite, complete with marble floors, flat screen TVs, a desktop computer, a dedicated chef, a room, a bathroom, and a living suite for our family.
“This is your new suite that will allow you to stay in close contact with Malaika Kioni. You will have a three to one nurse ratio, iPad monitoring systems, and dining station,” Nurse Mills explained.
“We’ll be staying here for the foreseeable future, and Malachi will be coming up to visit us in a couple of days.”
“Are you serious, Micaiah?” she asked with joy in her eyes and voice.
“Yes, baby.”
“But how?” She looked between Nurse Mills and me.
“Thanks to Micaiah’s donation and your mother’s position here at the hospital, it’s been arranged for you to remain here for as long as your daughter is here,” Nurse Mills answered.
I smiled as Myraj lowered her face to her hands and sobbed joyfully. I kneeled before the wheelchair and pulled her hands back. “Hey, you’re ruining my reputation and making me break all my promises to my daughter, and she’s just a week old.”
Myraj laughed and cried. “You shouldn’t be so sweet, and you wouldn’t have to worry about catching my teardrops before they fall. If you weren’t so sweet, I wouldn’t be crying all the time at your amazing generosity.”
“If I wasn’t so sweet, you’d be crying over a broken heart, and I’m not that guy.”
“You’re right. Thank you so much, baby, for everything that you do for me.”
“You’re worth everything that I do and much more. I’d do anything for you, Myraj. I told you that. You’re my queen.”
“I’ll leave the two of you alone to become acclimated with your suite.
Micaiah has already had a tour, Myraj, so he should be able to answer any questions.
If not, you all can buzz us using that buzzer right there on the wall or picking up any phone in the suite and dialing zero,” Nurse Mills explained.
She walked out, and I lifted Myraj in my arms.
“I love you, girl, and your past may have been bitter, but your future is about to be sweet.”