Rochdale | LGBTQ+

.Twenty Seven.

I didn't move an inch from his bed in the hospital. So many people came and went. Penny with the littles, Maddie, Isaac, even Mrs. Wu. Chester stopped by to see him, and told me that he was glad she was gone. So was I, but I wouldn't say that out loud. I think Lucas is a little shaken up over the fact that he actually killed somebody- not to mention his wife. Samantha's body was found in the house in the living room. Maddie came home to find the body and the newborn baby in her house and obviously freaked out. People heard her screaming and called the cops. 

You see, when people die there's this tremendous buildup of pressure. It causes dead bodies to fart, piss, shit, and all sorts of things. It can even make them sit up on their own. So when Samantha died, this pressure caused her to give birth way earlier than expected. Approximately two months too soon? Not that she really had a say in the matter.

The baby was in a different wing of the hospital being looked after. I would've gone to see it, but I wanted to be there when the anesthesia wore off. I wanted to be the first face Lucas saw when he woke up.

It was around noon when his eyes finally fluttered open. I had been clutching his hand all morning. Lucas groaned and pulled away, wiping his hand on his sheets. "We're in public..." he moaned. Then, "Your hand is sweaty as fuck."

Eventually he came to and remembered everything that had happened. He was extremely distraught when he remembered killing Samantha, but I told him that it was self defense, and that the court would see it that way. She pulled the gun on him first, and he had the gnarly scar to prove it. He sat up in bed, and I straightened, watching his every move like a hawk.

"Are you thirsty? Do you need anything?"

"The baby. The baby. The baby!" His voice progressively got more and more concerned as he realized what he must have done. "Oh my god..."

I grabbed his hand. "She's in the nursery. They're feeding her through a tube right now. They say it's a miracle she's survived this long, but I have a good feeling. Okay? She's gonna be okay..."

"Sh-She's alive? And it's a girl?" Lucas said, dumbfounded. 

I nodded. "Yep. And they're waiting for you to sign the birth certificate and give her a name."

Lucas collapsed with relief against the pillows. "My daughter..." He turned to me. "Our daughter."

I blinked. "Really?"

He nodded. "You raised Libby pretty damn well. I can't wait to see how this one turns out," he murmured, leaning forward to plant a kiss on my forehead. I gripped his hand in mine, lacing our fingers together. 

***

Harmony. Lucas named her Harmony. 

I loved my life with the littles, but soon it was time to start a life of my own. I was nineteen now, and so was Lucas. Harmony had just had her first real birthday. Lucas and I weren't ready to get hitched just yet, but we were happy right where we were. Penny was sobbing when we all said goodbye, and to my surprise, she had so many secrets of her own that she'd been keeping from us!

Tia was old news. They'd broken up ages ago. Penny had started dating another girl. A local girl. As in, my best friend. As in, fucking Maddie Sampson! Remember when we snuck into Lucas's room for that square in a sack? That was their anniversary present. I couldn't believe they'd kept this from me!

But I loved them and I still cried with them when I hugged them goodbye. I couldn't believe that Libby was almost eight years old and going into first grade, and Wynnie would be six before she knew it. Finny was eighteen months old  now, and way chubbier and livelier now than he had been when he first showed up on our doorstep with his awful father. 

We weren't going that far... just to Michigan. Lucas had inherited a house from his uncle, said it was the perfect farmhouse to raise a family in. Our family. We had Harmony, our precious little miracle baby, and it was just our luck that she looked nothing like Samantha. She had Lucas's dark brown hair and bright brown eyes, and she was the happiest baby I'd ever seen. As a going away present, Wynnie even gave us her favorite purple blankie for Harmony to sleep with.

Shit, was I going to miss all of them. And this trashy town. Rochdale had been my home for so long. I would miss the Bargain Mart, and even Mrs. Wu, who'd given me a whole tub of hand sewn baby clothes for Harmony at her birthday party. Lucas didn't like them, but I loved the cute stripes and little animals she'd embroidered on the onesies. 

And we were going where Lucas's dad couldn't touch us, since he'd been put on parole and couldn't leave his home! Maddie and Penny had both been saving  up, and we're planning on moving to a bigger house in the city to raise the three littles together as their own little family. I was sad to say goodbye to the old house, and even more sad to say goodbye to Greg, who we'd buried in the graveyard a few blocks away after he died of liver failure. 

I was even going to miss Chester.

But this was a new chapter of our lives. And I was so glad I had Lucas to help me turn the pages.