“No!” Belle shouted. “I need Ford, Mom. I need him to stay.”
Lola turned to face me, her gaze meeting mine. I could see the swirling in her eyes, and I knew she wanted to stay, but so did I. “Okay,” Lola whispered, almost to herself. “Okay.” She moved out of the car. “Keep her breathing through each contraction. I’ll be two minutes going to get someone.”
“On it,” I told her, and as soon as she ran away, I crouched down and pushed my head and shoulders into the back of the car. One of Belle’s legs was up against the back seat, and the other foot was now resting on the passenger seat headrest.
“Another one’s coming, Ford,” Belle gritted out. “I need to push.”
“Shit,” I murmured and glanced between her legs. I could see the head of hair, and for a second, I wasn’t sure what to do. But as soon as she screamed out, I jerked into gear and placed my hands near the head. It felt like it had been hours since Lola went to get someone, but there was nothing I could do. The baby was coming, and I needed to be there to catch it.
“It hurts!” Belle shouted, and I desperately wanted to look up at her face, but I had to keep my concentration on the baby. The head came out completely and then…stopped. Her body sagged, and it gave me time to look up at her. Her hair was a matted mess on her face, sweat beading on her forehead, and her face was bright red. But she looked beautiful. More beautiful than any other time I’d looked at her.
“You’re doing great, Baby Belle,” I encouraged, and a second later, she called out and started to push again. “That’s it, keep pushing.”
The shoulders seemed to slip right out, and then the rest of the body did. And I held the tiny baby in the palms of my hands, goo covering all of his body. “It’s a boy!” I shouted, and just as I did, footsteps pounded behind me.
“It is?” Belle asked, her body spent. I stared into her blue eyes and grinned. I’d never been happier in my entire life, and it was all because of her.
Lola gripped my shoulders, and I turned to see two nurses and Doctor Lee. One of the nurses stretched over me, clamped the umbilical cord and cut it. “Wrap the baby in this,” she told me, passing me several blankets. I did as she said and then cradled him to my chest as his cries rang out. “Come with me while the doctor gets Belle inside.”
I hesitated, not wanting to leave her, but as soon as her gaze met mine, she nodded. “Go make sure he’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
I turned around and followed the nurse inside and into the main part of the hospital. My hand ran over the baby’s back, covering it almost entirely, and before I knew it, we were in the maternity section, and the nurse was holding her hands out for the baby.
“I’m just going to check the baby over and weigh him. All the usual things.”
I swallowed and slowly placed him in her arms, but I followed her to a station which had a light above a small cutout section covered with towels, and I watched her every move. She rubbed his body with the towels, getting the goo off him, and then placed a hat on his tiny head, covering up the brown hair, and finally, she weighed him and placed a small hospital bracelet around his ankle and his wrist.
“Let’s get you to Mom,” she told him, smiling down and placing him in a small, see-through cube on wheels. She tilted her head for me to follow her, and I did so without a second thought. We walked down one hallway and turned left. Outside the first door was Belle’s name written on a small board.
She was sitting up in bed, her skin pale and hair now off her face completely, and as soon as she saw us, the small smile on her face turned into a full-blown grin.
The nurse wheeled the baby over to her and then handed him to Belle. “He needs some chest-to-chest time,” she told Belle, and Belle nodded as if she knew what she meant right away. She pulled down her T-shirt, and although I knew I should have looked away, I couldn’t. I was fascinated by the way she held our baby boy and cooed at him, and in turn, he settled right against her chest and moved his tiny fingers, content in her hold.
She lifted her head, her gaze meeting mine, and whispered, “I want to name him Leo.” Her eyes filled with tears, and I could feel the lump building in my throat. The name meant so much to her. “Leo Montgomery Ford.”
“I think it’s perfect,” I croaked out, moving to her side and taking her hand. “Perfect, just like him.”
I couldn’t resist leaning down and placing a kiss against her lips. I wasn’t sure what it meant, and I was sure she didn’t know what it meant either, but at that moment, it felt right. It had always felt right when it came to Belle.
“Leo Montgomery?” Lola asked from the other side of the bed. “Why Leo and Montgomery?”
“Leo after Leopold,” Belle murmured, grinning up at me. “And Montgomery after his dad.”
“What? I—” Lola gasped, her eyes widening as she stared at me. “Oh my god. Your name is Montgomery?”
I heaved out a breath and closed my eyes. “Yeah, Lola. That’s my name.”
“But I thought it was Ford… Wait, that’s your last name?”
She looked genuinely confused, and Belle’s tinkle of laughter rang out around the room. “That’s what I said when I found out.” She paused and gripped my hand in hers. “Thank you.”
“For what?” I asked.
“For being there. For always being there for me, even when I thought you weren’t.”
I pressed my forehead against hers, wishing I could promise her the world. “I’ll always be there, Baby Belle. Always.”
* * *