With a long yawn, our baby girl’s eyes fought the heavy pull of sleep but eventually dropped to a close, her breath evening out, and she fell asleep, the sound of her rhythmic breathing soothing me.
Water hazed my vision and two thumbs rubbed at my cheeks, wiping away the tears. As I glanced up, Romeo had sat next to us both, his arm protectively over my outstretched body, careful not to touch my C-section incision.
“She’s beautiful,” I said quietly, and Rome stroked a finger over her tiny forehead. My heart skipped a beat as I watched him show so much affection to our little girl, causing me to add, “Just like you.”
“Baby… yeah,” he said in return, his eyes briefly flitting to mine.
At his choked reaction, I looked up at him and gripped his hand. “Are you okay?”
Huffing out a controlled breath, he smiled wryly and rubbed at his eyes. “Yeah, I’m just so overwhelmed by everything. The idea of being a parent and the reality of it… I… I can’t wrap my head around it.” His bright-brown stare fixed on our sleeping daughter on my chest, clearly expressing utter shock and disbelief.
“You did good, baby, looking after her while I was unable to. She’s so perfect,” I gushed, and fresh tears fell from Rome’s eyes, but there were no sobs, just free-falling happy droplets.
Rubbing a shaky hand over his face, he confided, “I thought I’d lost you both for a while there. I found you unconscious in bed. You were so still and pale and there was blood. I felt like everything was just falling apart again.” He took a long breath. “Then when our princess—”
“Princess?”
Romeo smiled shyly. “We had no name decided, did we? You wanted to see her first, see what name felt right, and I refused to name her without you, and princess was the first thing I thought of. ‘Baby Prince’ just didn’t seem right.” Pressing a kiss to our daughter’s head, he added, “She is my princess, and I’ll forever treat her as one. You’re both my everything.”
Lifting his hand to my lips, I brushed a kiss to his palm and whispered, “Thank you.”
He returned the kiss, and stroking back my messy hair, he continued. “When our princess was born and healthy, the nurses put her in my arms. It was all so surreal. I looked down at you in amazement, just wanting to share the moment with you, but you were out cold, tape over your eyes, a tube in your throat, and I couldn’t see you from the waist down, some boxy contraption in the way. The OR got crazy with getting you fixed up. Machines were blaring, people were rushing around, you were just lying there still, but the two of us—me and our little girl—were just stood there watching it all happen. Helpless. For a moment, I panicked at the thought that it could just be me and her forever if something went wrong, no more you. I just couldn’t help thinking of the worst. You know I can’t live without you, baby. Not now… not ever.”
“Hey now, I’m not going anywhere.” I squeezed his hand again, catching his long, relieved exhale, and I inched in to cuddle in to my daughter. I couldn’t help but smile as I inhaled.
“Crazy, ain’t it?” My attention snapped to Rome, who seemed to be marginally happier from seconds before.
“What’s crazy?”
“How good she smells. Like all newborn, different. Nice. You know?” He shook his head and blushed. “It’s crazy. I’ve been tucking my nose into her neck the whole time you were in here. Her scent calmed me. Stopped me from losing it. The only other person who can do that for me… is you.”
I sighed as he tried to put the impossible into words and held out our daughter for him to take. Rome took her willingly and brought her in for another kiss, his face completely bewildered and full of awe as he watched her every tiny move.
I never thought it was possible to love Romeo Prince more than I did, but seeing him with our child just brought things to a whole other level. The way he looked at her with complete adoration proved me right from all those years ago.
Rome had always worried he’d be a bad daddy like his father was, due to genetics. But seeing him now, how gently and protective he was with our daughter, showed me in an instant how good of a father he would be… Already is.
“I love you,” I said quietly, completely in love with my soul mate and the living embodiment of that love sleeping softly in his arms. Something fundamental had changed within me.
Turning to smile down at me, Rome said, “I love you too, so much. You’re amazing to me.” The biggest smile set on his face and he edged in and kissed me softly, pulling back to say, “We’re finally parents, baby. We’ve wanted this for so long.”
Weeping in happiness, I tucked my head in the crook between Romeo’s shoulder and neck as he joined me on the bed, our tiny gift from God soundly content in his arms.