Quite some time later
Friday
The apartment is so full that we can barely move. All of Paul’s brothers are here and their wives and girlfriends. Cody and Garrett are here, too, along with their baby girl, Tuesday. Hayley and Joey are fighting over who gets to play with her first. But Matt says, “There are enough babies to go around.” He points to his own. One is little Matty, his son, and the other is Hope, his daughter. They call her Hoppy most of the time because she’s much more active than Matty is. Matty and Hoppy are almost eighteen months old, so they’re into everything.
We’re all together to watch an episode of “Reeds,” the new reality show based on life in the tattoo parlor. We’ve seen a few episodes, and this is the one when Tuesday was born. She’s exactly one year old today, so this was filmed a while ago.
I already know that this is going to bring up a shit ton of memories for me, so I have a box of tissues ready. And I have Paul. I always have Paul, no matter what.
A knock sounds on the door, and the members from Fallen from Zero, Emily’s band, walk in. They’re in this episode, too, since I just happened to be watching them all record when I went into labor.
Fallen from Zero is an odd group of women. The only thing they have in common is that they all grew up in the same foster home. Emilio and Marta Vasquez took the kids from group homes who no one else wanted. They took the ones who had the most damage and the most to work through, and they tried to help them. They couldn’t help everyone, but they did help a lot of people.
Sam opens the door and steps back to let them in. I watch as his eyes fall on the drummer’s ass. He bites his lower lip and makes a noise, and Logan punches his shoulder. Cut it out, Logan signs.
Sam signs back to him. Damn, Logan. That one’s got a swing on her back porch that I could swing on all day long, he signs.
Dude, shut up, Logan says, his hands flying wildly.
I know, I know, Sam signs. It’s rude to sign in front of people who don’t know what we’re saying, but did you see her thighs? I want her to wrap them around me. He draws an hourglass figure in the air with his hands. Introduce me, he says. She’s got enough ass to hold on to. I bet she’d like a cupcake. He shoves Logan’s shoulder again. I want to meet her. He points like he wants Logan to get her attention. Please. He puts his hands together like he’s pleading.
I watch all this from the couch, and it’s like watching a train wreck. Sam hasn’t met these girls yet, not any of them, but the rest of us know them pretty well. We know that Peck, the girl who has gotten his attention, is not someone he should f*ck with.
Logan taps Peck on the shoulder. Then he signs to her. Peck, I’d like for you to meet my stupid brother, the dumbest man on the planet. He waves at Sam, and Sam’s mouth falls open.
“Oh, f*ck,” Sam says. “She’s deaf.”
Not deaf, she signs back. I can hear.
And you can sign.
Apparently. She grins at him.
I’m Sam. I’m an idiot. And I like your ass. And your thighs. He jerks a thumb behind him. Do you want a cupcake?
His face is red, and the whole room bursts out in laughter.
She pulls her drumsticks out of her pocket and taps them lightly on the counter. Then she opens her mouth and says hello. It’s a Peck thing. Sam watches her sticks while she speaks to Reagan and Emily. When she’s done talking, her sticks stop moving.
Sam has been gone. He started playing pro football right after graduating from college. So while we have spent time with Wren, Finch, Lark, Star, and Peck, he hasn’t.
You should tell her how you play pro ball and make a shit ton of money. That’s the only thing that would save you now, Logan tells him. He laughs.
Sam flips him the bird. F*ck you.
Sam flops down on the floor beside the couch. Paul is sitting at my feet with my leg over his shoulder. He rubs my instep, and I f*cking love that he still likes to do this.
“The episode is starting,” I cry. I turn the TV up loud, because no one can hear over all the children.
The tears don’t start until halfway through the episode, and they’re mainly from Garrett and Cody. We watch as Tuesday comes into the world. We let the cameras into the room, but they had to stay up by my head. So, when they pick her up and lay her on my belly on the TV, I can almost feel the weight of her on me now. I close my eyes and I’m right back there, right back to the day that Tuesday was born. I held her for a moment while Cody and Garrett cried on each other, and then I handed her over. She wasn’t mine.
They now had their family, and they were happy. So was I.
We all laugh at some of the outtakes in the shop that the cameras caught. We never know what the final cuts will look like, but so far, they have been a lot more about the customers than about us.
Our business has gotten so busy that we bought the shop right next door to ours, added eight more booths, and hired a slew of new artists. People wait months for appointments with us.
The episode is over, and everyone hangs out. No one is in a hurry to go home. They never are. The apartment is always full, and there are so many babies here that it never seems to quiet down. But we love it this way. We don’t want to change it. Ever.
People start to mill around, and Sam keeps trying to get close to Peck. I watch him from across the room. She sidesteps him and shoots him funny glances. She’s in her element here because everyone signs, so she doesn’t have to talk unless she wants to, which is almost never.
Suddenly, Sam is beside me. “So, what’s up with the tapping?” he asks.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I say crisply.
He rolls his eyes. “Yes, you do.”
Suddenly, Peck is right behind him, and she taps him on the shoulder. She doesn’t stop her finger from pecking as she speaks. “You could just ask me,” she says quietly.
He stands up. “I keep f*cking up,” he says.
She nods.
“I was being really rude. It’s none of my business.”
She nods.
“What does Peck stand for?” he asks instead.
She taps the table and makes a sign for the word bird.
“Woodpecker?” he asks. “Peck is short for woodpecker?”
She nods and smiles. With her brown hair and brown eyes, she’s stunning. Absolutely stunning. And when she smiles, she lights up a room.
He looks to her band mates. “So you all have bird names.”
She nods. “We got them when we fell out of the nest—Fallen from Zero,” she says. She taps the whole time she’s talking. When she stops talking, the tapping stops. “You want to know what the tapping is about, right?” she asks. She rolls her eyes and blows out a frustrated breath.
Sam smiles. “I don’t particularly care what the tapping is about if you’ll keep talking to me.”
Tap. Tap. Her eyes narrow. “Does it bother you?”
“I f*cking love it,” he says.
She blushes.
That’s the beauty of the Reeds. They look beyond the surface. They always have.
Sam and Peck go off to a quiet corner to talk. I see her refuse cupcakes a few times, even though he keeps trying to feed her. It makes me laugh.
“What’s funny?” Matt asks as he drops down beside me.
“Your stupid brother might have just met his match.” I point toward Sam.
He raises his brow. “That one might be a challenge.”
I grin. “It’ll be fun to watch.”
Suddenly, pain shoots from across my belly. I clutch for it, and Matt sits up. “Oh shit,” he says. “Paul!”
Paul is standing across the room, and he runs over. He takes Matt’s spot beside me and puts his hands on my huge belly. I’m a week overdue and have been having pains all day. I thought it was just Braxton-Hicks, but I think I was wrong.
“Is it time?” Paul asks.
“I think so.” I’ve done this twice already, so I have a pretty good idea of what’s happening. “We should probably hurry.”
When Tuesday was born, I was in labor for an hour and a half. That’s it. Just an hour and a half. I’d really like some drugs this time, though, so we should probably go.
Logan tosses Paul his keys and goes to scoop up his daughter. Emily gets my bag, and we all file into the hallway as one big unit. Even the Zero girls come, because they’re nosy, they say. But they’re quickly becoming family, too.
Paul takes my bag, and we go to Logan’s car. “I feel bad taking Logan’s car,” I protest. Another pain hits me, and I feel like I need to double over.
“He’ll find his way there,” Paul says as he buckles Hayley in. She’s been waiting for this baby. She loves her cousins, but I have a feeling she’s not going to let any of them be the first to hold her new baby brother or sister. We still don’t know what we’re having. We didn’t want to find out.
We get to the hospital quickly, and Pete and Logan pull up right behind us. Logan takes his keys back and goes to park the car. Emily gets Kit from her seat, and we all walk in together. Emily kisses my cheek. “Go get settled. We’ll see you in a little while.” She takes Hayley with her, even though Hayley protests.
The nurse scowls at the number of people we’ve brought with us. Even Garrett and Cody came with Tuesday, and the room is absolutely packed. This is my ragtag family, though, and this is what we do.
I change into a gown, and Paul sits down beside me. He was with me during Tuesday’s delivery and held my hand through it, but this one is different. This one is ours.
Suddenly, a little brown-haired boy pokes his head into the room. “Hi,” Jacob says. Jill walks in behind him and comes to kiss me on the cheek. “We came to see the baby.” He touches my tummy. “I grew in there, too,” he tells my stomach, his lips really close to my hospital gown. He looks up at me and grins. He lost another tooth last week, and he lost it when he was at our house. So, I’m getting to experience some of his milestones. Jill and I are really good friends.
“Yes, you did,” I say. “I think this one is ready to come out.”
He steps back. “Right now?”
I nod.
“Ewww,” he says. “Where’s Hayley?” He scampers off to find Hayley. Jill waves to me from the doorway as she goes after him. I didn’t know they were coming, but I should have known.
“Did you call them?” I ask Paul.
He shrugs. “Maybe.”
I lean over and kiss him. “I love you so much.”
I’m barely hooked to the monitors when I feel the need to push. “I think it’s time,” I say.
Paul jumps up and calls for a nurse. The room is suddenly filled with doctors and nurses and the real work starts. Paul talks me all the way through it, never leaving my side. He’s my rock. And I think I’m his.
This one is going even faster than Tuesday’s birth. Holy f*ck, it hurts.
“You’re almost there,” Paul says.
“I wish you would shut the f*ck up,” I say.
“F*ck you,” he tosses back as he wipes my brow with a damp cloth.
“F*ck you,” I say to him.
The nurses look at one another with concern, but this who we are. This is who we have always been.
“There’s the head, Dad!” the doctor says.
Paul doesn’t let go of my hand but looks down to watch his baby come into the world. His eyes shimmer with tears, and I push. I feel like I’m going to push forever, when finally, the pain and the pressure ease. I open my eyes, and they lay a bloody, purple mess on my belly.
“It’s a boy,” the doctor says.
Paul leans into me and presses his face into the side of mine. “Our boy,” he says. “He’s ours.”
I nod. I know he is. Paul cuts the cord, and I lay my hand on our son and he looks up at me. Then he starts to scream. They reach to take him from me. “Just a minute,” I say. I look down into his eyes, and I know this one gets to stay. The weight of him on my belly is so different from the weight of him inside me. He blinks up at me, and his skin turns even more purple as he screams. I count his fingers and toes, just because I can. “Okay,” I say.
They take him from me and clean us both up.
“He’s perfect,” I say.
“So are you.” Paul drags his nose down the side of mine, and I feel the hot splash of one of his tears as they hit my chin. He wipes them away.