Page 44 of Catch My Fall (Catch)

After we got back into the room and Macy confirmed to her mom that she was keeping the baby, things seemed to pick up speed. Mary left the room to tell Macy’s dad the happy news and she came back a few minutes later to tell us that he was thrilled. Less than half an hour later Macy was in what they said was a birthing tub, with her mom clutching one hand while I held the other. The midwife was in the water coaching her and I watched in absolute awe as Macy followed the instructions perfectly. I had expected her to be screaming in agony, but she held it all in, only letting out quiet grunts and groans.

“I… don’t… want… my baby… to hear… me screaming.”

She amazed me with her strength as the minutes stretched into an hour. Finally it was time for her to really push and the room was abuzz with activity as other assistants came in to help the midwife. Bearing down, Macy followed all of the midwife’s instructions and within ten minutes she was pushing for the final time.

When the midwife lifted the baby up and out of the water, my jaw dropped. I heard someone saying that it was a girl, but I couldn’t take my eyes off this beautiful and perfect child that was so clearly not Brady or Chad’s. They’re white as can be, but Macy’s ex-boyfriend Steve was African-American and there is no doubt that this caramel colored little girl came from him.

“Oh my God,” Macy sobbed. “Oh my God! I never thought… She’s Steve’s. We used condoms! I can’t believe… She’s a miracle.”

Macy cried in wonder as she held the beautiful little girl that she had brought into the world against her chest. “Even when I thought she was Brady’s or Chad’s I loved her. She had my heart no matter who fathered her…it wouldn’t have mattered.”

I know that it wouldn’t have mattered, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved for the baby that she wasn’t going to have to deal with the same feelings and emotions that Tristan and Trace have had to.

I fell head over heels in love with that little girl when Macy’s mom settled her into my arms, and I cried like a baby when Macy announced that she was naming the baby after the world’s best aunt and grandmother. In addition to being perfect and beautiful, Mia Mary Evans smelled heavenly and I inhaled her baby scent again and again with a smile on my face.

Just over nine months after Brady and Chad had altered the course of our lives forever, Macy and I were both smiling and happy to be alive. I cried tears of joy that I had my best friend back.

* * *

I fell asleep in a recliner in Macy’s room and didn’t wake up for a few hours. After spending some more time with baby Mia, I left to make the drive back to Tristan’s. I’d been texting with him since I had left his house last night and when I told him that I was going to be back soon, he assured me that a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin and an orange juice would be waiting for me.

I burst into tears when I read the note that he’d left next to the food on the table.

Beautiful girl

I’m so proud that you’re mine

You’re the definition of strength and beauty

You caught my fall and saved me from myself

Just by being you

You’re my gift

And I will treasure you

You’re all I wantto see

You’re all I want to taste

You’re all I want to feel

Only you

Just you

Just. You.

He hugged and kissed me deeply after I stopped crying about how beautiful what he had written was, and then we ate breakfast. Actually, he ate and I inhaled. After we ate he carried me to his bedroom where he got me undressed and put me into one of his t-shirts to sleep in. Laying me down gently on the bed, he curled up like a spoon behind me and held me as I filled him in on everything that had happened over the course of the night.

“Will she tell this Steve guy that he’s got a daughter?”

“She will but she doesn’t know how he’s going to take it and she isn’t sure that she even wants him involved, so she’s not going to list him on the birth certificate. Steve was a real asshole to her and I can’t help but blame him for what happened that night. His screwing with Macy’s head as badly as he did is what sent her over the edge and made her so desperate to blunt the pain. It’s not my decision though; it’s hers. Honestly, he’s kind of an asshole and I don’t know how he’s even going to feel when he finds out that he has a daughter. It could go either way, really. He may want to know her, or he may not. Either way, Macy says she’s fine with whatever comes. She’s got baby Mia now and she says that’s all she really cares about.”

“That’s good. The world could use more people like Macy. I can’t wait to meet her and the baby.”

My heart warmed and I swallowed past tears. “I love you.”

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