Ghosts (A Christian Yelich Story)

Chapter One Hundred Four: Perfect

Short. Sweet. Barf.

Anyway, HAPPY FRIDAY.

***

For a minute I didn't know where I was. When the hospital room came into focus, I felt a strong, achy pain in my lower stomach, and I remembered. "Eloise," I whispered.

"She's perfect," I heard Christian respond. I looked to my left, and Christian was sitting in a chair holding her against him. She was sound asleep in his long arms. "Are you ready to hold her?" he asked me softly.

My eyes were cloudy with tears. "Yes, so ready. How much did I miss? Everything?"

"About six hours of a lifetime, so nothing at all, really." He helped me settle her against my stomach, and I just started breaking down.

"What if she hates me because I wasn't here for her right away?"

Christian looked at me with an expression that read as both "I love you" and "you're absolutely ridiculous." "Look how content she is with momma," he said with a smile.

"Oh my God, I can't believe we made her," I said softly. "How much does she weigh? She is tinier than I ever imagined possible. How is this real?"

"Six pounds, one ounce. She's only eighteen inches long. She's a little shrimp like you."

"Look at her short little legs! She's absolutely fine? No health problems?"

"Nothing came up at all. She really is perfect," Christian repeated.

"Has she eaten anything?" I asked. "I feel like I starved her."

Christian chuckled. "I fed her twice. We had to use formula, though, obviously."

"Sorry I wasn't here, sweet girl. I didn't mean to pass out," I whispered. "I'll be a better mom now."

Christian smiled. "You're the best mom already. I'm going to let a nurse know you're awake, okay?"

"Okay," I whispered while holding Eloise's tiny mitten-covered hand. Christian quickly pressed the call button. "Did you learn how to change a diaper?" I asked him.

"I did! I can also feed her, change her clothes, burp her, and handle being barfed on now. Even her barfing is cute. It's really stupid."

"Thank you so much for taking care of everything," I whispered. He hovered over the bed and kissed me before giving Eloise a cuddle on the tummy.

"No one else has met her yet. I wanted to wait for you to wake up. The staff said you needed to sleep. You lost a lot of blood."

"I feel better now . . . Just really sore."

"I figured everyone could meet her in the morning, so I sent them home. I thought we'd just spend a little time together as a family tonight."

"Look at you being all thoughtful. And we really are a family now." I looked up and over at Christian who had a huge smile on his face.

"Yup! We did it. We made it this far," he confirmed. "We're gonna make it forever."

"Let's turn the theatrics off now and just focus on loving each other and not fucking up this tiny human. I want to make everything right for her."

"When I held her for the first time a few hours ago, everything felt so much different. So much better. This was meant to happen, Annie."

"Christian?"

"Yeah, baby?" he questioned softly while playing with my hand. His eyes locked with mine.

"Will you marry me?"