Page 89 of Almost True
After a moment, she cleared her throat. “He is.”
Annette hugged Nate, then Ariel, and they waved as they snuck out, off to relieve the sitter who’d taken up at our house and was watching their girls.
“Now, tell me how my perfect granddaughter is doing,” she said, taking a seat on the bed at Maddie’s side and running an affectionate hand over her face. It was a gesture I couldn’t have imagined when I’d first met her, but their relationship had grown in ways I didn’t think Maddie or Nate could’ve envisioned either.
Maddie’s departure from New York had shaken Annette in the oddest way. Instead of fury or judgment, it seemed to soften her. It was as though that shift in Maddie’s focus had done the same for Annette. And she’d grown on me over time, too. It didn’t hurt that she doted on Luca, and though she pestered me about sending him to language camps and getting him tutors, she was genuinely a lovely grandmother.
“She’s been hungry. I’m guessing she’ll be rooting around for another meal here soon,” I said, handing the bundled baby over to her grandmother.
“Good. She’s a tiny one, but that never stopped the Reynolds girls, did it?” Annette winked at Maddie.
Tears hit my wife’s eyes in an instant, and my heart ached with love. Annette held Jess for a while until she got restless and surrendered her to Maddie for a feeding. I’d forgotten, or maybe erased, the challenge of breastfeeding from my paternal memory, but like everything she did, Maddie was determined.
Once the baby had settled, belly sated and snoozing again, I snuggled into the space my wife had made for me in the bed. We’d be discharged any time now, but of course that meant sometime today and never anytime soon. So we rested together, knowing the days ahead would be wonderful and challenging.
Her head on my shoulder, she exhaled. The sound told me she was steadying herself, likely crying again.
“What is it, love?” I asked, keeping my voice low and smooth. The baby wasn’t hassled by hospital announcements or talking. You were supposed to make noise so they could sleep. And yet, every instinct in me said to protect this child’s sleep at all costs.
“I’m just so full. So full of love and happiness, I’m not sure I know how to handle it.” She knit our hands together, and I leaned to press a kiss to her head.
“You don’t have to do it alone, Maddie. Share it with me. And we’ll share it with Jess and Luca. Your mom and our children’s eighteen pairs of grandparents and all of our friends.”
Her eyes glistened with tears as she looked up at me. “Okay. I can do that.”
I shook my head, perfectly understanding the sentiment of feeling so full I might burst. “I love you. So much. I never dared dream of this.”
“I love you, too, Aidan. Let’s never wake up.”
* * *
