Love Like This

What's In a Name

"What about Darius?" Dillon suggested, still wanting his nephew to be named after him.

They had turned that one down.

"How about Billy?" One guess who suggested that one.

They vetoed that one too.

"You could name him Darnell. That's a great name."

That one was turned down instantly.

Spencer and Olivia should have known that having a son meant people wanting him to be named after them. Spencer had been clear that he didn't want their son to be a junior, and Olivia couldn't help but agree. Naming your first son after his father could be an unfair amount of pressure and that wasn't what they wanted for their child.

They went through the entire alphabet and couldn't find anything that stood out until they had a conversation with Grace.

"My mother loved the name Samuel. She thought it was the perfect name for a little boy." Grace explained to her son and daughter-in-law. "She always wanted a son and instead had three little girls. She would always tell us that she would've named our brother Samuel so when my sisters and I started having kids, we agreed to let Samuel be a name that we wouldn't use so that it would always belong to Mama."

That conversation was all that Olivia and Spencer needed to hear. His name was going to be Samuel. Samuel James. That only solved half the problem, he needed a middle name too.

"Coop wants us to consider Cooper as a middle name." Spencer said as he laughed at her text.

"Tell her it's not happening." Liv immediately responded. "Chris and Frausto both offered up their names and that's not happening either."

"We've got to think of a name Liv. He's going to be here in ten weeks. We're running out of time." Spencer said as he rubbed her shoulders.

"I know but we can't just pick a random name! This is the most important decision we're going to make for our sons' life. Whatever we name him is going to be with him for the rest of his life. We decided on Samuel, so he's already Samuel James but his name isn't complete. I want him to have a strong name, a name he'll be proud of." Liv exclaimed as she pouted, mildly stressed about what to call her son.

"Well maybe we should entertain naming him after someone we know. We can go down the list of strong, honorable men and decide which one we want our son to share a name with." Spencer suggested.

They sat up for hours, going back and forth over which name would be the best when it hit Olivia like a ton of bricks.

"I know what his name is." Liv whispered out, placing one hand on her stomach.

Spencer stopped mid-sentence, waiting for her to tell him what she came up with.

"You're just gonna leave me hanging like that?" Spencer teased, scooting closer to her on the couch.

Liv laughed, leaning into him as she looked into his eyes.

"Samuel Jordan James." Liv said. "And I know that everyone is going to have a fit that I want to name this baby after Jordan but there's a good reason, I swear."

Spencer made no moves to interrupt his wife, he maintained eye contact as he gently rubbed his hand on her belly.

"When I first overdosed," Liv began, tensing up slightly as she recalled the period of time before she'd known her husband. "Jordan was the one that found me. I changed his life forever that day. There's a small piece of my brother that died that day and every time he sees me accomplish something big, a small piece of him is revived. If Jordan wouldn't have found me that day, who knows what would have happened to me. When I relapsed, it was Jordan who convinced my parents not to send me away. He fought to keep me where I felt safe, he protected me. I want our son to be the kind of man that Jordan is. I want him to work hard and love harder. I want him to love his grandparents more than he'll ever be able to describe. I want him to find someone who pushes him to be the best version of himself. I will never be able to take away the pain or trauma that I caused Jordan that morning he found me unconscious on our floor, I've accepted that. But if we're blessed enough to have a child that will still see the good in people after literally seeing them at their lowest, we've won as parents."