Page 110 of Castings & Curses

I bolted into a sitting position, fuck that, pretending I was asleep. “What’s wrong with the baby?” Panic flooded my system.

“Nothing, she’s precious. I just, I’m sorry I doubted Eric when he said he was the father. I mean, there was no possible way. But look at her. She looks exactly like he did when he was born. That thick hair. She has the same tufts on her ears.” She started to unwrap the bundled up blanket until she found a tiny fist. “And the same pointy fingernails. She is definitely a Dupree baby.”

I stared at Eric, hard. How?

“Don’t worry about those ears. They are as cute as they can be. Eric grew out of his within a few months.”

She walked over to me and handed me the baby. “I owe you an apology, clearly. I should go home and let you rest.”

Eric walked his mother to the door and closed it behind her.

I stared at him as he strode back to us. Looking at my daughter's tiny ears, I didn’t know if I would have called the extra fuzz at the tips tufts, but there was noticeably longer hair there. And her nails were like translucent rice paper, with perfect pointy tips.

“How?” I asked. “How did you do this?”

“Maybe I made a wish? Maybe I did a little bit more?” He sat on the bed and wrapped an arm over my shoulder. I leaned into him.

“You did do something all those times you would wrap around my belly and whisper things to her, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”

He shrugged. “Are you mad at me? All I did was tell her she was my child. I guess it worked.”

“Mad? No, this is wonderful. This is amazing. I love you.”

He kissed me on the temple and held us close.

“What are we going to name her?”

We had been wondering what her name would be as soon as we found out she was a girl. Knowing for three months before she was born did not make the decision any easier. There were so many amazing names out here, but we hadn’t been able to settle on one. The girls were mad that we wouldn’t name her Elsa.

I stared into her perfect little face. She did kind of look like Eric. It was truly astounding.

“Mara,” I said. “Let’s name her Mara.”

“That’s a good name. How did you pick it?”

“It’s a variation on Amara, it means love. I mean, our other kids are named for life and laughter, why not just embrace the ridiculousness of it and wrap it up with love?”

Eric’s brow twisted up as I wasn’t making sense to him.

“Live, laugh, love. Let’s just accept the inevitable and name her for love.”

“Mara Dupree, sounds nice. But I refuse to admit our girls are named live, laugh, love. I don’t care if it is a coincidence.”

“I won’t tell anyone if you won’t. Pinky promise.”

He hooked his pinky finger with mine, and then kissed me.

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