Epilogue
“Sophie, relax, baby. You’re almost there, but you have to relax.” I wiped her forehead and delivered a few kisses. She was exhausted and could barely keep her eyes open, but I needed her to push through. I was ready to meet my son.
She looked up at me, clutching her chest as she tried to control her breathing. She broke into a panic attack out of the blue, preventing her from pushing.
“Sophie, sweetheart. You’re almost there,” Dr. Soren said calmly as she smiled softly at Sophie.
She had already pulled me to the side and warmed me that if Sophie didn’t deliver soon, they would have to do a Caesarean. She had been in labor for almost twenty-eight hours and they were getting worried. She was fully dilated, but kept having panic attacks that prevented her from pushing.
Never in my life had I ever felt so helpless. When shit happened, I handled it. But with this, I couldn’t do anything but watch her suffer through it. That was breaking me down with every second that passed.
Moving my hand down my face, I leaned in and whispered against her ear.
“Sophie, you can do this. I know you’re exhausted, in pain, and just want this to be over, but you can do this, baby girl.” I kissed her temple and she nodded just as another contraction hit.
“Okay, Dad, help her up. And Sophie, I need you to push for me. Just breathe easy and push,” Dr. Soren said in a calm but firm voice.
Sophie nodded and pressed her palms flat on the bed beside her, gritting her teeth as she pushed as hard as she could.
“Good girl. You’re doing great, Sophie. You’re making progress now. Just hang in there with me.”
I rubbed her back and she leaned into me, too exhausted to even speak. The only sounds she made was grunting as she pushed and whimpering after.
“Mmmmmm, it hurts so bad,” she whined as another contraction hit.
“I know, baby, but you’re doing so good. I love you, Soph.”
“Push, Sophie, the harder you push, the sooner this will all be over,” Dr. Soren encouraged and Sophie complied. Again, she pressed her hands into the bed and I rubbed her back as she pushed through another contraction.
“Great job, Sophie. One more and you can meet your son. I have his head.”
“Yo, don’t drop that shit, Doc. Do I need to come down there?” I was serious as hell and she laughed.
“Mr. Carter, I assure you I will not drop any parts of your son. Now you stay there and help your wife through this last contraction. I have this covered down here.”
Even as exhausted as she was, Sophie shot me a look and I returned one. I didn’t give a fuck, I meant what I said. She’d better make sure she didn’t drop my damn son or I’d be fucking her up and suing this gotdamn hospital.
“Okay, here we go. Sophie, push sweetheart, just this last time then we’re done.”
That motivated Sophie because she put her all into it. And moments later, I watched Dr. Soren as she held my son up.
“He’s here and he’s perfect. Okay, Dad, you can come now.”
I swear on everything real, the moment I saw him tears filled my eyes. I didn’t really care how that shit looked. I kissed Sophie on the lips and pressed my forehead against hers.
“You did it, baby girl. Damn, I love you. I swear I fucking love you.” I kissed her a few more times then moved toward Dr. Soren.
One of her nurses handed me a pair of funny looking scissors and I cut the cord before she snatched my son away and walked across the room.
I was right behind her, trying to see what the hell she was up to.
Between watching what Dr. Soren was doing to Sophie, I watched the nurse cleaning our son. When she was done, she handed him over to me. He was little as fuck, but right then and there he had the world in his hands. I would make sure of that. I put that on my life.
“Baby, let me hold him,” Alana said as she stood over Sophie, watching her watching our son.
She had been home for a few days, and every second that Sophie was awake, she had TJ in her arms. I had to damn near threaten her just to hold my own son.
Sophie looked up at her mother and frowned.
“Just for a minute. We’re about to leave.”
She looked at me and her mother again, like it would kill her to hand him over. She finally did, but not before she kissed his face about twenty times though.
I chuckled at how obsessed she was with him.
“He’s so perfect,” Alana said as she walked around the room with our son in her arms.
“Hell yeah, he is. He’s a Carter, and named after me, so perfect is all he can be. He was born to be great,” I said proudly, meaning every word.
“Trooper!” Sophie said my name like that meant something.
“What, man? You already know what’s up.” I winked at her and she laughed.
“You’re worse than I am.”
“Both of you are terrible, but it’s okay, because he is absolutely the most adorable baby I have ever laid eyes on,” Alana said as Story leaned over her shoulder, looking at him with her.
“Uhh, hello?” Sophie pouted.
“Oh baby, I love you, but you were an ugly baby. I was worried about you for a while, but you turned out okay.”
“Mom!”
Alana laughed and shrugged. “It’s true, but I still loved you anyway. I just didn’t take you around a lot of people.”
“Yo, that’s messed up,” I said through a laugh and Sophie glared at me.
“Baby, you were beautiful then and you’re beautiful now,” Story said, trying to make her feel better.
Alana looked at Sophie and shook her head, making me chuckle.
“Give me my baby and leave, please.” Sophie extended her arms toward her mother, requesting our son, but her mother turned her back.
I looked around the room and smiled at what was now my life.
I had a wife and a son, which was something I never even gave a second thought to before Sophie entered my life.
And to think it all happened because the valet fucked up and gave me the wrong truck.
I wasn’t a big fan of fate, but meeting Sophie was something I truly believed was supposed to happen.
It just went to show that we got just what we needed, when we needed it, and Sophie was that for me. She had been what was missing in my life, and now that I had her, I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
“What are you over there smiling about?” Sophie’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
“You.”
“Me?” she questioned with a childlike grin.
“Yeah, you.” I walked over and positioned my body next to hers on the bed and pulled her into my side.
“You know I love you, right?”
“You better,” she said, letting her head rest against my shoulder.
My eyes moved across the room to Story and Alana in their own little world gushing over our son.
I kissed Sophie on her forehead. “Don’t push your luck.”
She laughed and tilted her head back to look at me.
“You made me promise you forever, so you better love me forever.”
“You can get that.”
I delivered a series of kisses before I closed her into my arms. If this was what forever would be like, I knew beyond a shadow of doubt I was right where I needed to be.
The End!!