Chapter 103

Sabrina was walking back to the room with a large Styrofoam cup of ice chips. Emma wasn’t allowed to eat until the baby came. But she was allowed to munch on ice chips. As she walked towards the room, she bumped into Spencer, who looked like someone had kicked his puppy.
“Hey, hey, hey,” she stopped him. “Where are you going?”
“I, um… I’m going home.”
“Did you go in to see Emma? She’s going to ask for you.”
“No, I didn’t. Her and Will were having… a moment. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
Sabrina rolled her eyes and let out a loud sigh.
“Why does it feel like I’m the only functional adult among us?”
“It’s a huge burden, but someone has to carry it,” Spencer laughed, but the sound was sad. “Sabrina, do you think they’ll get back together?”
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know. Emma says she doesn’t want a relationship with anyone. Will is that child’s father, so he’s going to be around. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to be in her life in any other way. You could still have a chance if you want it. You’re not going to get anything by running away. Act sooner rather than later.”
“You think so?”
“I know you love her. That’s not going to be enough now. Do you want to be with her?”
“I want her to be happy.”
“What does that mean?” Sabrina urged him. “Happy with you? Happy with Will?”
“Just… happy. Regardless of who is there with her.”
“Wow,” Sabrina breathed. “You’ve got it bad.”
“Yeah, Spencer chuckled. “It’s pretty bad.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Nothing tonight. I’m going to go pick up her father and bring him tomorrow. Keep me updated, will you?”
“I will.”
Spencer left. Sabrina watched him go and shook her head. What a mess. This was soap opera shit. She wondered if anyone would come out of this with a happy ending.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was Alex.
“Hey, baby,” she greeted.
“Hey. How is it going over there?”
“Emma is in labor. Will is in there with her.”
“How is that going?”
“About as well as you’d expect.”
“When are you coming home? Damian and I miss you.”
“I miss you both too. I’ll go home after she has the baby. I want to be here for her.”
“Okay. Tell Will I say hi. I’ve called him and he hasn’t answered. I imagine he’s preoccupied.”
“Yeah, he is. I’ll tell him. Kiss our baby good night for me.”
Sabrina hated being away from her son, but she had to be there for her friend. She could only hope her child had a friend like that someday. Someone to watch over him no matter what.
The three of them slept in the hospital room. Will slept on a pullout sofa, and Sabrina shared the bed with Emma. The night was peaceful, quiet. Each of them slept, their dreams taking them in very different directions.
Suddenly, Sabrina felt something squeezing her hand.
“Emma?” Sabrina rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “What’s happening?”
Emma’s eyes were screwed shut, and her hold on Sabrina’s hand tightened.
“My water broke. Everything hurts. I think… I think that baby is coming.”
“Holy shit!” Sabrina jumped up. “Wake up!” she tossed a pillow at Will.
“What?” he jumped up. “What is it?”
“The baby coming!” she yelled as she pushed on the call button. “Get up!”
Will scrambled off the sofa and to Emma’s bedside. A nurse ran in and checked Emma.
“Yup!” she declared. “This baby is ready. Let me call the doctor.”
The next few minutes were a blur of activity. Nurses ran in, following quickly by the doctor. The doctor shouted orders, mobilizing the staff. It was a well orchestrated symphony of people who were confident and had done this before.
Will grabbed Emma’s hand in an effort to soothe her. Her fingers clenched his.
“No!” she shouted. “You need to go!”
He wanted to argue with her, but he figured this was going to be stressful enough. He went to move away, but she held a vice grip on his hand.
“Get out!” she roared.
Will tried again to move, but she wouldn’t let him go.
“Let me go, Emma.”
“I said, get out!”
Will looked at her. Her words said one thing, but her eyes told him a different story. They held stone cold fear. Stay. Stay beside me. I’m scared. Don’t leave me. Don’t listen to me.
Will and Sabrina stood on either side of Emma. Normally, the doctor wouldn’t have allowed them both to stay. The baby was coming fast and there was no time to waste.
“Get ready to push!”
“I can’t do this,” Emma screamed.
“Yes, you can!” Will reassured her. “You can do this!”
“We’re right here, Em,” Sabrina added. “We’re right here. You got this, okay?”
“Push!” the doctor called.
Emma screamed with each push. Words of encouragement fell from Will and Sabrina’s lips. They did their best to reassure her, to provide as much support.
“One more!” The doctor said. “I see the baby’s head. One more, Emma. You can do this!”
With one last great push, Emma’s screams were drowned out by a baby’s cries.
“It’s a girl!” the doctor announced. “A beautiful baby girl.”
Things died down after an hour. Emma was asleep after holding her baby. Her and Sabrina cried after Emma officially asked her to be the baby’s godmother. She left to make phone calls, leaving Will and Emma alone.
She was magic. Barely an hour old and had stolen the hearts of everyone who met her. Will was enamored by her. His eyes never left her.
“She looks like me,” he said thinking that no one was listening. His daughter’s skin was sun kissed, like his and was born with thick dark hair. Behind her closed eyelids, he was sure honey-colored irises were waiting to look at him.
“She does,” Emma’s voice was thick with sleep. “I’m sure she has your eyes.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” he continued to stare at her. She was a wiggly bundle, not capable of anything and completely dependent on everyone and everything around her to stay alive. And he loved her. He already loved her more than life itself.
Emma watched as Will stared at his daughter. And in that instant, she saw how wrong she was to think she needed to keep him away from her. The love in his eyes burned with an intensity she didn’t know anyone could possess.
“What’s her name?” he asked.
“Elizabeth. Elizabeth Skye… Stewart.”
Will’s head snapped around to look at her. His eyes were wide.
“Don’t play with me.”
“I’m not. She’s our baby, Will. She’s our daughter.”
***
Spencer got the news from Sabrina. He went to The Ivy Towers to pick up Emmett.
“Want to go meet your granddaughter?”
“A baby girl?” Emmett gushed. “A granddaughter!” He stared to cry. “I never thought I would live to see this.”
While driving, Emmett looked at Spencer and could tell how torn the young man was. He knew how much Spencer loved his daughter.
“I need something from you.”
“Anything.”
“I want you to look after my family. My daughter and granddaughter are all I have and all I ever will have. My time on this earth is limited. While I am improving, I’m not going to live forever. Please take care of them.
“I will,” Spencer said, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. “No matter what happens, I will.”
Later that day, Sabrina was coming back from picking up food for everyone. She wanted to pop by the nursery to take a peek at Lizzie, as they’d been calling the baby. Will was there as well. There was a faraway look in his eye as he stared at the name tag on the baby’s bassinet.
Elizabeth Skye Stewart.
“I didn’t expect her to do that,” she commented.
“Do what?”
“Give the baby your last name.”
“I wasn’t expecting it either.”
Sabrina narrowed her eyes at him. Something was wrong. His tone was… off. She couldn’t quite place it, but something didn’t seem right.
“Tell me something,” he said.
“Did Alex feel like this? Like the center of his universe suddenly shifted? Like he was willing to walk through hellfire, if it meant keeping this little person he’d just met safe?”
“It’s remarkable, isn’t it? How quickly they take over us?” Sabrina was starry eyed. “When Damian was born, Alex was someone else. Every priority just changed. Nothing else mattered.”
“I’d do anything for her. Be anything for her. I never knew I could love someone so much… so completely. I’d… destroy anyone that even thought about hurting her.”