Chapter 22 - OUR DAUGHTER ARRIVES ON TIME
Our daughter was born at thirty-nine weeks.
Not premature.
No delayed injury from the fountain.
No placental complication.
Healthy pregnancy after the incident except my back hurting longer than expected and my blood pressure rising mildly near the end without preeclampsia.
We named her Sofia Elise Hale.
Yes.
Hale.
I had not divorced Owen.
Not yet.
I did not use our daughter’s surname as punishment or reconciliation.
It was the name we had chosen before the wedding.
Labor lasted thirteen hours.
I allowed Owen in.
Dad waited outside.
The fact that this arrangement seemed controversial to anyone irritated me.
My body.
My labor.
My choice.
Owen stayed near my shoulder.
No coaching unless asked.
At one point I said:
“Stop breathing like that.”
He stopped.
When Sofia was born, she cried immediately.
The nurse placed her on my chest.
Wet hair.
Pink cheeks.
Fists.
Owen cried.
I looked at him.
For one second, I saw the man I had married without the last year attached.
Then the year returned.
That was reality.
Love can survive beside mistrust.
It does not have to win.
Dad came in forty minutes later.
“Can I hold her?”
He asked.
Progress.
“Yes.”
Marcello D’Avino took his granddaughter.
She yawned.
He whispered:
“Disrespectful.”
May you like
I laughed.
That was the first uncomplicated laugh we had shared in months.
