My Angel

Prompt: Describe a first

            I can’t help but hold my breath, afraid that even the tiny gust of air that is my exhalation will break her. She is beautiful, and she is mine. I brush the back of my fingers against her soft skin, reveling at the way she turns her tiny face to meet them. Her eyelashes brush her rosy red cheeks in a sort of half blink, though her eyes do not open fully. A tiny strand of raven black hair peeks out from the cap on her head, in sharp contrast with the white of the fabric. I brush it back up under the cap’s rim and smile softly. She is heavy in my arms, and though they are beginning to ache, I would not have her leave them for the world. She squirms slightly, snuggling closer to me as she settles in her sleep. Her face is peaceful, and for the first time in moths, I feel none of the regret that had previously haunted me when thinking of my darling girl.

            The hospital lights give off an unfriendly glare. When the nurse comes in, I ask her to shut them off, in favor of the natural light from the window, instead.  And how beautiful my baby girl looks with the sunlight streaming across her sleeping face, how angelic. I myself am small, young, yet I feel as if when faced with the decision between standing between her and Goliath, and giving her up for my own safety, I would take the former in a heartbeat.

She is my life, my heart, my everything. I love her. In the silence of the empty hospital room, I whisper,

“I will never let you go.”