the breath collapsing out of his chest, a load of prickling adrenaline coming to replace it. He picked up his head and looked around.
“Daisy,” Alibrandi said. “Sit up and reach down here. You too, Dad. Take her.”
“Come on.” His brain flying, Erik scooped up Daisy’s shoulder blades. His other hand slid along her forearm as she reached, gasping and crying, down between her trembling thighs to that screaming form still partly inside her.
“She’s all yours,” Alibrandi said.
Daisy took the baby under the arms. Erik’s hand slid under that tiny little butt and together they drew her out and up, the cord trailing behind. Up and onto Daisy’s chest they pulled, Erik shouting, Daisy laughing. Lee followed, wrapping baby and arms in a warmed blanket. “Well done,” she said. “Congratulations.”
Erik put his spinning head down, at eye level with his daughter, who continued to cry. A tunnel from mouth to lungs filled with the most beautiful sound.
“Oh,” Daisy said softly. “Oh it’s you.”
Kirsten Francine Fiskare cried louder.
I can hear you, Erik thought, laying a hand on top of the baby’s head. Slick and gooey and red-faced, she stared back at him and shrieked. Her midnight blue eyes were wide open. Her voice stretching and unfolding. Straight at him she stared, as if testing how much he could take.
Eyes locked, Erik set his wrist and its tattooed K gently on his daughter’s forehead. A forehead, he noticed, shaped just like his.
“Hey, little fish,” he said softly.
Lee ran a cold cloth over Daisy’s face and neck. “Relax as much as you can,” she said quietly. “Relax and breathe. You did great.”
“You’re so beautiful,” Erik said, leaning to press his mouth against Daisy’s cool, damp cheek. She smiled beneath his kiss, her eyes closed and her chest rising and falling in deep, measured breaths.
After a few minutes, Dr. Alibrandi called to him. “Got a job for you, Dad.”
The scissors seemed to move easily in his fingers this time. A strong, decisive snip through the cord, not severing hope but freeing his daughter to come home.
“Take a seat, Erik,” Lee said. “Have a breather.”
A wheeled stool was rolled over. He sat, his head nestled by Daisy’s shoulder, his finger in Kirsten’s loose fist. Her crying had diminished to small coos. Her little mouth opened and closed against Daisy’s skin.
“Your mom smells good, doesn’t she,” Erik said. A single chuckle in Daisy’s chest. Erik’s smile widened until it hurt. The triangle of his little family pulled tight, a bubble within the medical ballet still buzzing around them.
This, he thought. This and only this.
Thank you for this.
He let go of time and floated on the moment. Not quite leaning into it. Not yet.
“Oh God,” Daisy said. Her face was twisting and she bit down on her bottom lip. “Erik.”
He picked up his head, a stab of adrenaline in his chest. “What’s happening?” he said.
“So much for a breather,” she said, gasping.
A second nurse reached gloved hands in to take Kirsten. Lee spooned some ice water into Daisy’s mouth and then helped her sit up. “Let’s go, Mama.”
“All right, Daisy,” Alibrandi said. “I know you’re tired. You have to dig deep now.”
“You got this,” Erik said, standing up and getting a hand under Daisy’s bent knee. His other hand reached to touch her face. “Look at me.”
Her eyes met his. “You told me I was done.”
“I lied.”
Her chin gave a short nod. “I’ll get you for this, motherfucker.”
“It’s now officially what I do,” Erik said.
She let out a sharp cry and her eyes doubled in size. “Oh my God, he’s right there.”
“Let’s do this,” Alibrandi said. “Put him in my hands.”
“Show me a beautiful boy,” Lee said.
From somewhere across the crowded delivery room, Kirsten was crying again.
“It’s all right, honey,” Erik said under his breath, braced against Daisy’s strength. “He’s coming, I promise. Give your mother a minute…”
THE SCREENED-IN PORCH was finished. Down to the cushions on the wicker seating, the lights around the large window openings and the three ceiling fans. They made a low purr and the occasional squeak as they kept the breeze moving through.
Erik and Daisy lay together on the double-wide chaise lounge, a bit of extravagance they felt was vital to their existence. In good weather, it was always in use.
Today was good. The sun moved in and out of the clouds, glinting off Astrid’s diamond on Daisy’s hand and flinging tiny rainbows around the white woodwork. The May air was warm enough for short sleeves and bare feet. Cool enough for a