Mind of War (On Hold)

The Night Her Eyes Opened

It was a late night, when I felt a gentle hand touch my arm. I was tired and rolled over in the bed when I heard her voice.

"Laric, get up - please," she said.

I jumped up and saw her sweating, her long black hair was sticking to her brown skin. Worry was in her chocolate brown eyes. "What's wrong? Is it time?"

"I-I think so," she replied. She shut her eyes tight and gasped. It probably was time. She put her hand on her extended belly.

"Okay, take it easy, remember what the doctors said, you need to-,"

"I know... focus... on my breathing." She finished between breaths.

I jumped out of the bed and went over to her side and put her slippers on her feet. I called the ambulance as customary. An ambulance takes the expecting mother to the hospital, in case the baby is born during the trip, experienced professionals will be able to tend to the mother and newborn. After I called them and received the confirmation that they were on their way, I helped her down the stairs.

"I can do it myself!" She insisted, but then she clutched her stomach and gasped. I just rolled my eyes.

"Are you ready for my help now?"

She sighed, "Yes."

I let her walk, but then the trip down the stairs became too much so I picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. My job as a security officer was definitely coming in handy in this particular instance. It didn't take long for me to bring her down stairs. I laid her on the couch. I could tell that she was trying focus on her breathing and not the pain she was in.

I almost forgot one of the most important things! "Cadence, I'll be right back!"

I ran upstairs and into the baby's room. We had the walls painted light yellow and had picked a cherry wood crib and rocking chair that we placed by the bay window. In the crib on the little giraffe sheet laid a little black box that I could not forget. I grabbed it and hurried downstairs. The moment I reached the last step, the doorbell rung.

An ambulance team rushed in as I opened the door. They helped Cadence into the ambulance bed and into their car. Together we were on the way to the hospital. I knew that she was in a lot of pain, but she had her tough act on. As always. I wanted to make conversation, but decided that it would be best if I let the ambulance team do their job and instruct Cadence through the contractions. Every now and then a gasp of pain escaped her lips and as they became more frequent, I knew the baby would be born soon. I was excited and worried at the same time. Excited to be a father and meet our new baby and at the same time worried about Cadence's health.

It did not take long for us to reach the hospital. Cadence's room was on the first floor and she was already being instructed to push as she was wheeled in the room. I stood by her side. "Here hold my hand, I'm here for you." She reached out for my hand as she pushed and nearly broke my bones.

"I said you could hold my hand not crush it," I groaned, I didn't expect for her to squeeze my hand so hard I thought the blood vessels would burst.

"I'm doing the real work over here," she growled back.

"I never said that you weren't," I replied smiling.

She screamed in pain, and it was scaring the hell out of me. I used my free hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, from there I placed the wild strands of hair behind her ear and reassured her that everything was going to be fine.

Between doctors calling the shots and alternating between pushing and waiting and pushing again, I forgot I had two hands because my wife had squeezed the right one until it was nearly blue... and I was perfectly fine with that. I'd say half an hour had passed, before I started hearing words like head, shoulders, and finally feet.

The next moments happened so quickly that I forgot the order. The baby was born and it's cries filled the room. The doctor smiled and said, "Mr. and Mrs. Valor congratulations on your baby girl!"

I was so happy, I was hoping it was a girl. I looked at Cadence and smiled. She was so tired, she laid her head back and her eyes bagen blinking slowly. I placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and whispered, "I love you."

"I know," she replied.

When I turned around a small baby was being offered to me, wrapped in a blanket. She was squealing and I looked hesitantly at Cadence.

"Go ahead, hold her." She assured me.

I took the baby in my arms and smiled. She was crying and whining. I gently touched her soft cheeks and ran my fingers over her silky black waves of hair. "Hello beautiful," I whispered to her. She stopped crying immediately and started making little squealing noises.

"You're trying to talk already," I smiled at her.

Cadence's eyes went wide, "Laric, I forgot her amulet at home."

I smiled at her as I place the baby in her arms, "I know and that's why I have your back." I grabbed the black box from my pocket.

She sighed in relief, "Blessings, I'm glad you remembered. Let's put it on her." She held the baby as still as possible, but the tiny child kept squirming in Cadence's arm and began to cry...nonstop. She tried to console her, but to avail, the child just cried and cried.

"Laric," Cadence called me. I put the black box on the bed and held the baby girl. Once in my arms, she began to settle.

"You know, I'm jealous, right," Cadence joked.

"Don't be, she'll be crying in a minute, once she realizes that I can't feed her," I laughed. Cadence smiled as she put the gold chain and amulet around her tiny neck. We picked the gold herringbone chain with the cube amulet design. The stone in the amulet was clear, for the moment. Within minutes, the clear stone began changing colors. It started with lime green, then flashed gold, red, and lavender. It seemed like it was going to settle on yellow before turning orange and staying orange.

"Well, orange it is," Cadence smiled. "It's perfect, as yours is golden and mine is red."

"Yes, perfect... now what are we going to name her?" I asked.

"What do you mean, I thought we agreed that if the baby was a girl, we would name her Harmony." Cadence raised her eyebrow.

"I know, but I don't know if it fits her, it's hard to explain." I replied as our baby began to squirm in my arms.

"Well, what's on your mind?" My wife asked.

"Only one name comes to mind when I look at her and I don't know why. Song. Song Valor. It's so short and pretty.

"I love it. Song Valor."

When Cadence said her name, Song's eyes flickered open. I gasped.

"What is it? She asked me. I bought the Song close to her so she could her eyes.

Cadence took Song in her arms. "Hello sweetheart, you like your name, Song? Laric her eyes are so beautiful."

"I know, it caught me off guard."

"Laric, you picked the perfect name," Cadence was so happy. She nursed Song and our baby was at peace with an innocent expression as she slept.

The night her amber eyes opened was the most memorable night of my life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes fluttered open and I saw that I was in a hospital bed. The wound on my right arm from the crazy woman was wrapped, as well as my right shoulder. I did not feel a lot of pain, actually I felt normal. I looked across the room to Song, Creed, and Kai. Song had her head rested on Creed's shoulder and he had his head rested on top of her. Kai was slouched in his chair and had his legs across Creed and his feet on Song's lap. The trio slept peacefully. Completely at peace, once again, I fell asleep.