Butterfly Effect

35: Safe and Sound

Hailee's Pov

I had been waiting on that small and uncomfortable chair for almost five hours with Manon next to me during every single second of those endless hours. Her phone was exploding with texts from her mother asking her where she was and why she wasn't at home, but she was not answering.
"Manon... You should go home. Your parents must be worried sick right now. It's 10.30 p.m." I whispered as she mindlessly played with one of my curls.
"I'm not leaving you here alone, Lia" she responded softly "My mom can ground me if she wants, but I'm staying right here with you until you can see your moms and your brother".
After that, we remained sitting in silence with our hands intertwined and my head on her shoulder, as we waited together for any kind of news.
When I finally spotted Jo walking in our direction, I stood up immediately on shaky legs and Manon followed me, standing within arm's reach a couple of steps behind me.
"Jo!" I exclaimed "Where are they? How's my mom? And Rowan? Is he okay?".
My questions were fast and made up from a deep feeling of fear and anxiety that made my head spin like a carousel.
"They are both perfectly healthy and okay. Do you want to see them?" Jo proposed and I nodded immediately, following her through those hallways that looked all the same.
When she stopped in front of a door, telling me that they were waiting for me in there, I swallowed away my nervousness and I grabbed my girlfriend's hand for some sense of calm, entering the small hospital room.
"Mamma" I said in the moment my scared eyes met her tired and emotional ones "Are you okay? Where is mom? E il mio fratellino? (And my little brother?)".
"You are starting to use Italian more and more often..." she chuckled softly "And I'm good, Bambina. I'm just a bit tired and sore. Your mom is with your little brother right now. He had to do some tests".
With that last sentence, my anxiety came back in full force, washing all over me like a wave during a storm.
"Tests!? Sta bene? (Is he okay?) Is he... Is he sick or something?" I asked, mixing English and Italian because my brain was going too fast for me to differentiate between the two languages.
"Lia, listen to me. He is okay. Rowan is okay. They have to do some tests on every newborn, it's how it works..." she explained, offering her hand for me to hold it, something that I immediately did, knowing that she was the only one I trusted on this kind of stuff.
"I'm a... I'm a big sister?" I asked Carina, with happy tears streaming down my rosy cheeks and a slight shake in my voice.
Every single one of my emotions was a hundred times more powerful than usual...
"You are, Sunshine. And this little man is Rowan Andrea Deluca-Bishop" Maya's voice said from the door, and when I turned in her direction, my eyes looked at the baby sleeping comfortably in her arms.
"He is so tiny..." I whispered and Maya giggled.
"Did I... Did I say something wrong? Why are you laughing, mom?" I asked, a bit confused by her reaction to my statement.
"No Lia, you didn't say anything wrong... It's just... I'm laughing because I said the same thing and your mamma glared at me like I was crazy" Maya answered.
"You don't say those things to the person who just spent the last couple of hours giving birth to him. Trust me, he is not that tiny as he looks" Carina responded, making us giggle happily.
"Okay fine, you win. I shouldn't have said that and I'm sorry..." Maya admitted and Carina blew her a kiss with a big tired smile on her face.
In that moment, Rowan made that usual newborn sound, getting the complete attention from everyone in the room.
"Bambina, do you want to hold him?" Carina asked and I eagerly nodded, a bit insecure but excited at the same time.
I sat on Carina's bed, careful not to do something that would hurt her and Maya came next to me, putting Rowan in my arms and instructing me on the correct way to hold him.
He was beautiful, with tiny and thin blond hair, chubby cheeks and tiny little fingers that already wanted to grab the world and hold it in his small hands. When he opened his small eyes, I stared into those green orbs, mesmerized by the fact that he was staring back at me, holding onto one of my fingers in his strong grip.
"Hi little prince..." I started, touching his chubby cheek with my fingertips "I'm Lia, and I'm your big sister... You are so little, but I love you so, so much. I will be there for you when you need me, and I won't let anything bad happen to you. I swear that you'll always be able to count on me...".

Carina's Pov

Watching Lia with Rowan was a different kind of emotion. It was pain, regret and guilt, but also hope for change, love and joy. It was a mix of fears from my past and happiness caused by the look on my daughter's face while she looked at her brother.
I let silent tears fall from my eyes, and my wife looked at me with worried eyes, not understanding the reason why I was crying my eyes out. I didn't even know why I was crying... I just knew that suddenly I had the urge to cry and let out all of those complicated emotions that I couldn't understand.
"Mamma? Are you okay? Why are you crying?" Hailee asked, still holding her little brother in her arms.
"I don't even know... Hormones, I think..." I answered, taking a deep breath to calm myself down "I don't know how to describe what I'm feeling... I finally have my whole world with me and I-I-I don't have the words to even start and say what it means to me. So I'm crying...".
Maya took a step in my direction, holding tightly my hand in hers and kissing it on the back, right under the knuckles, letting me see that she had watery eyes as well.
It might seem like nothing to a lot of people, but for me that was exactly everything that I needed at that moment. It was the confirmation that she was feeling like her whole life was there too...
"He has green eyes..." Hailee said out of the blue, changing the topic of the conversation, bringing the focus on the little baby in her embrace.
"I was surprised too. I expected him to have his mom's beautiful eyes" I commented and Maya smiled bashfully at me.
"He's so beautiful..." Lia said and Maya smiled sadly at that comment.
"He is the carbon copy of Mason when he was born" my wife said "We didn't have a lot of pictures, because my dad thought that only winners deserved them, but I remember one where I was holding Mase in my arms after he was born. Rowan reminds me of him in that moment...".
I grabbed my phone and I quickly took a picture of my kids together, showing it to Maya.
"Do you think that this will be the last picture of them together?" I asked.
"No, it will... It will be the first of many more..." she answered, smiling at me with love.
"Everything will be okay with Mason. I know that you are scared to be like Lane, but you are nothing like him. You would never be like him..." I reassured her "And also, Lia and Rowan have you wrapped around their fingers".
In that instant, Rowan let out a cry and Lia looked at him with a terrified expression.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make him cry..." she blurted out in panic. I took my son out of her arms and I started to nurse him, calming him down in a couple of seconds.
"It's okay Lia. He was just hungry" Maya calmed her and Hailee started to breathe normally again, still looking a bit scared.
When he finished nursing, I passed him to Maya and she started to pat him on the back, moving around the room to burp him.
"So, he's okay... I didn't make him cry..." she whispered and I started to comfort her.
In that moment, Maya sat down on the edge of my hospital bed, near Hailee, to let her know and see that everything was okay now. Hailee looked down at her brother, calm in his mom's arms, and she put her head on Maya's shoulder.
What happened next made me cry all of my tears.
I've always known that my wife had a wonderful voice and that she was a good singer, but I've never thought that I would hear her sing with so much care and love...

Just close your eyes, the sun is going down
You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now
Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound...

A.N. Welcome to the world little Rowan Andrea Deluca-Bishop, we were waiting for you. I loved the tenderness of this chapter and I hope you liked it as well. I'll see you on friday with the next chapter.

P.s. Marti, the Taylor Swift's reference is for you💛.