Chapter 119
Zach's Thoughts
For the last week, all I've thought about were names. River Gwen Abels-Rutherford. Gweneth Paige Abels-Rutherford. Or Rutherford-Abels, nothing's been decided. Pippa Delilah was one. Or Delilah June or something like that.
I guess you can say I've been stuck on girls. The thought of having a beautiful little girl running around seems utterly blissful! A cute, curly-haired princess just wobbling around, waves bouncing as she hobbled to me or her mother or one of us. In the midst of all of my thoughts, I still conjure up random names. Sunshine, or Horizon. That'd be a cool-ass name. Horizon Rutherford. Hmmm.......
Koda wants a boy though. She says she wants to name him Lestat or Valo; two awesome names if you ask me. Valo Lestat Rutherford-Abels was one she thought of. Or Vaughn Valo Lestat Abels-Rutherford. I asked her why she was so keen on the names Valo and Lestat the other evening while we laid together under the stars a few nights passed. She said 'Lestat' was the name of a vampire in Anne Rice's 'The Vampire Chronicles', which she said are amazing books. Valo is the last name of a Finnish front man of a band called HIM; Ville Valo was the singer's name. She thought they were incredibly unique and had this old-world charm to them.
Five more months to make up our minds though. We go back in a few days to see what the gender is.
"Are you excited?" She asked me after a moment out in the sand by the lake.
"More than I've ever been."
"Do you want a boy or a girl?"
Naturally. "A girl. But a boy would be nice too."
She nodded as we sat there, cross-legged under the stars. Her hair blew in the breeze. "I haven't even talked to Jesse about what he wanted as a name."
"I think he mentioned something like Iris or something."
"I still need to talk to him." She drew lines in the sand with her fingers. "I want your last name on the birth certificate too."
"I'm sure he'll agree." I said.
"I hope so."
That was a few days ago.
∆
We vowed not to open the papers until we got home.
Koda and I were buzzing out of our seats on the way to the grocery store to pick up dinner for that night. We left the doctor's office about an hour ago and had finally gotten the results of what gender the baby was. We called the boys at home to tell them we got the news, but weren't going to open the papers until we were all together. Mikey and Bryan bet each other twenty bucks; Bryan said it was a boy, Mikey said it was a girl. Out of us all, four out of the six of us were hoping for a girl, but would happy either way. Mikester, Jer, and Bry all were very supportive since we first heard of the surprise pregnancy. It was a family affair.
Jesse couldn't go with us because he had some label issues to cover, but we told him our plan to save the results for later. He also told me-and said not to tell Koda- that he was gonna look at beds and baby furniture for the baby's room. He also said he was thinking of renovating a new room upstairs even if we had a smaller room next to Bryan's in the hallway between the stairs. He was still thinking though.
"I seriously can't wait!" She chimed in my ear while we scoped the produce. "I'm so excited!"
I pulled her close and kissed her right in front of the bell peppers. "Me too."
"Zachary Abels, Zachary Abels," I turned to see a teenage girl with long dark-brown wavy hair staring at me with a violet bandana tied like a hipster in her hair and a piece of paper and a Sharpie in her hand. "I don't mean to bother you, but can you sign this for me...." She kind of skidded off when she saw Koda standing behind me. The girl stared so amazed-like at her it seemed she forgot I was here.
"You're Koda aren't you?" The teen asked.
"Yes I am."
Silence and awe filled the air again. Then, without hesitation,she pushed past me and hugged Koda tightly around her shoulders. Koda being a hugger, held her just as tightly back.
"I'm so sorry," the girl began to apologize. "I know you don't know me, I'm Annette by the way, but..."
She shook her head in disbelief. "I've read so many Tumblr pages about you, some good some bad. A lot of them talk smack about you because they all love Zach, but there are a few that just prove people adore you. You're amazing."
Koda smiled and you could see the love in her eyes as Annette spoke. I imagined that same look of admiration being given to her own child once it's here. So amazing.
"I don't mean to keep you both waiting, you came to shop, not be hounded by nuts like me," Annette gave us the paper and the silver Sharpie. "Thank you for signing it."
"Anytime."
Before Annette left, Koda took some pictures with her.
"You post these to those Tumblr sites so everyone can be jealous because you met not only me, but Zachary."
She nodded. "Exactly exactly."
"I'll be checking too. I know how to work my way around Tumblr."
There was laughter and then she was gone.
"You've got your own fan club now." I said to her while we muddled through the cereal isle.
"I guess I do."
We got all our groceries and some snack foods and were preparing to leave when we noticed how dark it was outside. As we were leaving, Koda turned to tell me that it was gonna be hard trying to find the Denali because it really was DARK out there. She was just about to take another step when out of nowhere, a buggy came and plowed right into her. She was in mid-step so it knocked her off balance, and to the side she landed.
Right on her stomach.
She started crying and freaking out, saying something was wrong, something felt wrong,this couldn't be happening.
"Hold on baby, let's get you up."
I started to scoop her up when a pair of hands came down to help me.
"I'm so sorry, I-"
I looked at his face. Into his piercing eyes and slightly crooked nose. He had a light scar on his left eye socket from getting punched so many times.
"Hello Andrew."
