NANNY FOR MENDES.

Hundred-thirty-six

A few months later—April

"Ugh!" I pull my mouth away from Shawn's. A phone call interrupts our intense make-out session. We're in bed, me straddling him. We're both shirtless and were about to take it a little further than just kissing.

Shawn picks up his phone and answers.

"Hey, Noah... What?! We're coming right now!"

I get off of him rapidly. "What?!"

"Aaliyah's in labor. Get dressed now. I'll go wake Bear up!"

Wow. Damnnnnnnn. My future-sister-in-law is having a baby! My best friend's about to be a dad! I'm having a niece-in-law! I'm going to be an aunt-in-law! And a step-aunt-in-law as well!

I get dressed in less than a minute. Shawn then walks in.

"Bear is awake and all dressed. I'm going to wear something real quick."

We should be in a Guinness World Record book for the time we took to get dressed.

We're then in Shawn's car in a minute, and drive to the hospital.

"Did he call Karen and Manny?"

"Of course he did."

I nod.

***********************************************
We meet Noah outside Aaliyah's operating room.

"Anything?" I ask him.

"No. And I'm worried sick."

"They'll be fine, Noah. It's okay."

I just referred to Aaliyah and her baby as 'they.' Damn. This feels so real!

Suddenly... we hear a baby cry. The sound is coming from the OR. Holy fuck... Shawn is an uncle. I'm an aunt. Bear is a cousin. Noah is a dad. Aaliyah is a mom. My dad is a step-granddad. Karen and Manny are grandparents.

I look at Shawn, then at Noah. Holy shit...

A little while later, a nurse comes out the OR, with a baby in her arms...

Noah is the first to take the baby from the nurse. A girl.

The nurse goes back inside the OR.
We gather around him. Oh, my God. I gasp from her beauty. She's so so pretty. We can't see her features yet, but I can see that she's so beautiful.

"She's so beautiful." I say.

"Holy shit." Noah whispers, staring at his daughter with a look I've never seen in his eyes before. It's intense. It's like he's promising her he'd protect her from this world. The way he's holding her only reinforces it; he's holding her like he wants to keep her away from everyone and everything.

I laugh. Only Noah can manage to say this at such a moment and make it good.

"I wanna see her!" Raul announces. Shawn picks him up.

"Oh, my God! This is my baby cousin!" Raul exclaims.

"She's so adorable." Shawn says, running his index finger over her cheek.

Noah is still staring at her.

And a tear falls on his daughter's cheek.

Wow.

Damn.

Shit.

I've never seen Noah cry. Ever.

Another tear, another, another and another.

"Welcome to the world, Hannah Sophia. Welcome to the world, baby."