Page 88 of My Kind of Trouble
‘Just one more second. I have a little speech of my own before you go back to your conversations, if that’s okay?’
The room fell silent again, and Noa pulled an envelope out of her back pocket, handing it to Alex.
‘What’s this?’
‘Guess you’ll have to open it and find out.’
Tearing open the envelope, Alex pulled out what looked like a boarding pass. The confusion on his face made her chuckle involuntarily. The whole room waited on tenterhooks to find out what was going on, so Noa decided to give him a clue.
‘Looks like you’ll need a penny to scratch that,’ she said, pointing to the window where a scratch card was visible at the corner of the ticket that read, ‘The destination is irrelevant, but the journey is where the adventure begins.’
Pulling a two pence coin from his wallet, Alex scratched at the card to see what it revealed underneath. Then, he looked up at her with such joy and adoration in his eyes, she felt like her chest might explode.
She nodded at him excitedly before choking out, ‘Now, I don’t actually know what that says, so you are going to have to clear it up for the both of us.’
Alex’s words were raspy, thick with emotion as he whispered into the microphone, not taking his eyes off her for a second, ‘It’s a girl.’
Noa fell into his embrace with a sob as the whole room erupted with cheers of celebration. Alex held her and brushed her hair as she let all her emotions wash over her.
‘A mini you,’ he whispered in her ear, ‘God, I don’t stand a chance do I?’
Noa looked up through waterlogged lashes.
‘Oh, she’s going to have you wrapped around her little finger.’
‘I can hardly wait.’
Epilogue
Noa
Noa had been lost in deep pools of blue for the last hour as she gazed into the most perfect eyes she had ever seen. Any love she thought she knew seemed so incomparable right now as she held her daughter in her arms, including her love for Alex. It wasn’t less than, just different. Like seeing your heart physically living outside of your chest.
The intensity of this love she now knew threatened to tear her apart but, luckily, she had the man of her dreams holding her together. Both physically and emotionally.
Noa inhaled Leyla’s perfect baby smell, wanting to remember every minute detail of thismoment forever.
A rainy beach scene still played across the ceiling of their bedroom, the relaxing sound of waves, mixed with Tinks’ purrs, acting as background noise, just like it had throughout labour. Alex had been the best birthing partner, guiding her through her breathing with each contraction, rubbing her back and whispering positive affirmations, just like they’d practiced at their home birth evening.
Now, he held her in his warm embrace as she cradled their tiny human, one who was a perfect mix of the both of them, in her arms.
‘I was praying she’d have your eyes,’ he cooed at her.
The way he’d fussed over her since the second she made her entrance into this world just over an hour ago was almost too much for her heart to take.
‘You do know lots of babies have blue eyes, right? I’m still praying for your amber ones,’ Noa said, turning her head to look up at him.
Alex’s face was cast in the flickering light of the projector, highlighting every familiar feature, his amber eyes glowing warmer. Her love for him had grown and reshaped itself again and again over the last nine months, until it became as much a part of her as the lungs that gave her breath. And since holding their baby girl in their arms, her heart ached with the depth that love had taken.
‘Well, she is perfect no matter what, and I will spend my every breath making sure that she knows it.’
‘I have no doubt,’ Noa whispered.
The look of pride and devotion she saw swimming in his eyes as he stared at her caught her off guard. She still struggled to believe that the thing she had been missing from her life for all those years had been there all along.
‘What?’
‘I am so proud of you. You absolutely kicked labour’s ass, and you are a natural with her,’ he responded, stroking his hands reverently through her hair.
