My mother smiled down at her before she pressed a kiss to Hailey’s forehead.
“I am so sorry for the person I have turned into. I admit I have a lot of things I need to sort through. Michael was a big help in finding me someone to talk to, so I can sort through all of these pesky emotions.”
Everyone in the room chuckled as we watched the spectacle unfold before us.
“Hailey, I know you want your parents here. And I don’t know what your relationship is with them, but I want you to have one with us. I want to be a support to you and Bryan, not a hindrance. If you can truly forgive me, I’d like to move forward with you,” my mother said.
A tear leaked out from Hailey’s eye as I tried to choke back my own.
“I would love nothing more,” Hailey said.
“I hate to bust the moment, man. But I really wanna know what you guys are gonna name this kid,” Drew said.
Hailey and I looked at one another as a smile crossed our faces.
“This child, our son, is a culmination of a series of events set off by one person. This little one brings a full-circle mentality to the roller coaster ride we’ve all been on for the past five or so years. There is a light in this child’s eyes that doesn’t belong to either Hailey or me, a light that is reminiscent of a man who, if he were here today, would be the first one in line to teach our son how to draw. Despite who his mother is.”
I felt tears crest my eyes as my mother gasped.
“You guys, I’d like to introduce you to Johnathan Reid McBride,” Hailey said.
Everyone in the room was wracked with emotion. My mother was crying, my father was shaking, and Drew was comforting Anna. I looked down at my little boy who somehow had the eyes of my brother and smiled as he nuzzled against Hailey’s chest. Through all the pain and all the heartache and all the tears I’d cried during all the lonely nights, it had brought me to this moment where I cradled one hand around the woman I loved and one hand around the head of my son. My family, this family I had created, had repaired the cracks in my soul. I no longer felt like I was struggling to get by or surviving on what I could. I felt hope blossoming within me. I
felt a light encompassing my heart as I gazed down at my family.
Hailey had saved my life, and I would spend the rest of my life thanking her for it.
Chapter 28
Hailey
DURING OUR HOSPITAL stay, everyone was so helpful. Drew kept checking on the art gallery for me to see how his patchwork was going. When Bryan told Drew about what went down in the art gallery, Drew offered his patchwork services to fix up the place. There were several bullet holes that needed to be fixed and a couple of pictures had gotten damaged that needed to be replaced. He was taking care of the fixes while Kelly was going through my stored paintings, trying to figure out which ones to hang.
I was lucky to have them both since I wasn’t going to be in the gallery for a little while.
Bryan’s parents kept taking the night shift with Little Johnny so Bryan and I could sleep. There wasn’t a moment where I was alone, and I enjoyed it that way. Even though most of the baby books told me alone time with my newborn was important, I didn’t have the stomach to be alone yet. I was still reeling from the events at the art gallery, and I wanted someone around. It felt like I had been alone during my anesthesia, I felt like I had been alone during my surgery, and it felt like I had been alone during my encounter with Ben.
I was done with being alone.
But now, we were all being discharged. I was healing well from my surgery, my appetite was back, and Little Johnny was doing fabulously. He had a healthy appetite, he had all his newborn vaccinations, and all his vital signs checked out despite the fact that he had come early. I cradled him close as the doctor scheduled our first visits back to be checked on in a week, and then we were off.
Bryan, however, insisted that I be blindfolded.
“Blindfolded? Are you crazy?” I asked.
“Look, there’s something I want to show you, something I’ve been working on. But it’s a surprise, okay?”
“I’m not being blindfolded. I’m sitting in the back with Johnny,” I said.
“I promise you, the mirrors are calibrated. I can see him from my rearview mirror,” he said.
“But I want to see him, Bryan.”
“Please? It’s only a fifteen-minute ride. If you want Anna to come and sit in the back with him, then that’s fine,” he said.
“No, don’t ask her to do that,” I said, sighing. “But you owe me. I want alone time with my son in his nursery.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything less once we got home,” he said.