Misprinted Lies (Alice in Chains/Bruno Mars)

Guiding Light

I held Lily's hand. I thought she was going to break all my fingers off. Layna was taking her sweet time.

"Holy shit," she panted. "I can't believe she's not out yet."

I smiled at her and pushed a few stands of hair out of her face and brushing some sweat from her forehead. "You still look really damn good."

I had so many nieces and nephews at this point but never saw them just after they were born, at the point when they couldn't open their eyes yet. Lily and I didn't speak for a little bit; we were so mesmerized by our little girl. Layna looked a lot like me, her hair, her skin, but when she opened her eyes, I saw Lily. They were so bright that even the doctors made a comment about them.

Layna immediately started giggling as Lily played with her little fingers. "Welcome to the world, Layna."

I brushed my fingers against her little cheeks, and she just smiled like Lily.

"You look like your mommy, don't cha," I whispered and turned to her. "Lil, she's so beautiful."

Lily leaned up and kissed me. No woman in the world could possibly look at gorgeous as Lily at that moment, especially holding our baby girl. There was a knock on the door and a lot of talking outside.

"Are you ready for the stampede?" I asked her. "I don't think they can wait any more."

She nodded. "Yeah, let 'em in."

___________________________________________________

Bruno opened the door as all of his sisters, Eric, and finally, his dad walked through the door.

"Awww," all the girls echoed.

They all started arguing over who would babysit and when they would schedule Skype dates with us.

"Hey, hey," I said, silencing everyone, looking at Bruno's dad.

"I think someone wants to hold his new granddaughter," I smiled.

Peter smiled. "You betcha."

I handed Layna over to Peter. Knowing that his youngest son was having his first child gave him more life to push on; I'm sure of it.

Jerry, Mike, and Sean came in a little while later. I was so tired before but I got such a great burst energy holding Layna. Every time I said her name, I couldn't help but grin ear to ear.

They all kissed my forehead.

"She's so beautiful, Lily," Sean said.

I just smiled.

"What's her name?" Jerry asked. 

We wanted to wait until she was born to tell them, since they would especially appreciate it. I looked up at Bruno, so excited I couldn't speak.

"You can tell 'em," he said, winking.

"Layna."

Their smiles were so wide as each of them looked at each other.

"Do you guys wanna hold her?" I asked.

"Of course," Jerry said, getting closer to the bed.

I gently handed Layna to Jerry.

"Hi Layna," Jerry said before turning to the two of us. "You're so lucky. Your Mommy and Daddy are... the best."

Layna made it through the first night at home, peacefully. I woke up to her cries early the next morning; it was still dark out. It was going to be hard getting used to not sleeping as much. As I was about to get up, Bruno stopped me.