Chapter 31 - Six Months Later
Joan and Beth were going over never-ending wedding plans at Helen's house. The late July heat was unbearable for Beth, who felt that every inch of her was swollen beyond recognition. She had finally broken down and moved to DC with Kevin about a month earlier, but the apartment he had finally found had intermittent air conditioning, at best. She had basically moved in with Helen, Will, and Joan to survive the summer swelter. The house in Connecticut was on the market, and since they hadn't really had time to look for a place of their own, they weren't in a huge hurry for it to sell. They still needed a place to store most of their stuff. Kevin enjoyed his job thoroughly, and Beth was spending her days helping Joan and keeping her feet up. The baby was due any day, but Beth wasn't sure that it would ever come out of her.
"So, do you think there is any way we can cut down this guest list? I don't think we need to invite everyone we've ever known. Will people really come this far for my wedding? Adam has family in Eastern Europe somewhere, too. Mom's list is over 300! That's crazy. I just want family and some close friends. I know that's what Adam wants, too. Maybe we should just run away!"
They both collapsed on the bed laughing when Beth gasped. "Oh!"
Joan sat up quickly and helped Beth into a seated position. "Are you okay?"
Beth grabbed her side. She'd been feeling pretty irritable all day, but this was pain, not just passing discomfort. "I don't know. That didn't feel good at all, but it's gone now." They turned back to the guest lists, but a few minutes later Beth doubled over again. "Joan, these are contractions, and they're really strong and close together all of a sudden." Joan asked if Beth wanted her to call Kevin. She said yes, so Joan went to find the phone. However, before she even got down the stairs she heard Beth cry out again. Joan ran back to the room to see what had happened. Beth was still sitting on the bed with a terrible look on her face.
"Joan, I'm so sorry. My water just broke on your bed."
Joan helped Beth off of the bed and grabbed her bag from Kevin's bedroom as they headed down the steps. In the kitchen, Helen was cleaning up breakfast when she saw the two girls coming into the room.
"Is it time? Did you call Kevin? He's probably already at work by now."
Beth nodded and said they would call Kevin on the way. They climbed into Joan's car and drove toward Arcadia General. Luckily, Beth's OBGYN group had privileges and offices at several area hospitals. She had planned to give birth at a hospital closer to Kevin's apartment, but that was almost an hour away from the Girardi house. Beth wanted to try to make it, but Helen insisted that she at least be checked by the doctors in Arcadia. Kevin was about half an hour away from either hospital. Beth experienced another contraction and Joan pressed down harder on the accelerator. They arrived at the hospital a few minutes later. They tried the doctor's office first, and found that the doctor could see them right away. He checked Beth and declared that she didn't have time to go anywhere. Joan rushed outside to call Kevin and tell him to get to Arcadia General right away. Beth was admitted, and the family waited for Kevin to arrive. He made it in plenty of time, and seven hours later Beth and Kevin left for the delivery room while the rest of the family waited in the lobby.
Beth was barley holding her curses in when the doctor yelled for her to push one more time. Kevin was holding her hand and encouraging her, but she felt like hitting him. Sweat was dripping from her face, and a nurse rushed around wiping her with a cool cloth, but it wasn't really helping. She swore that if Kevin ever tricked her into having another baby, she was having it in December. Certainly it couldn't be this hot then!
The doctor's voice broke into her thoughts. "Okay, Beth, the baby is almost here. One more time, absolutely last one if you make it big. Ready? Go!" He counted backwards from ten, but she wasn't sure that she could go all the way. She bared down, willing herself to get the baby out.
Suddenly, the doctor spoke again and she could hear the smile under his surgical mask. "Stop, Beth. You don't have to push anymore. Your baby is finally here." Then he turned toward Kevin, "Dad, you wanna come down here and take a look at your son?"
Kevin reached over and kissed her as he smoothed her damp hair out of her face. She motioned for him to go see the baby. Kevin moved to the other end of the table where he was given an instrument to cut the umbilical cord. He only got a glimpse of the baby before they moved him to a warmer to clean him off and place the name tag on him. Kevin surveyed the situation for a moment as the nurse read off the measurements.
"Okay, Mom and Dad, we've got a big boy here. Eight pounds ten ounces, twenty-four inches long. Ten fingers, ten toes, good color, a beautiful baby." She handed him to Kevin. "Do we have a name yet?"
Beth looked at Kevin. They had been arguing forever about this, and since the prenatal tests hadn't been able to reveal the baby's gender, they'd had to fight over two sets of names rather than just one. In the end they had narrowed the decision down to two boys' names and two girls' names. They had both conceded that they would know which name fit the baby when he or she came.
Kevin smiled at the nurse and over at Beth. "His name is William Lane Girardi."
The nurse took the baby from Kevin and finally handed him to Beth. She looked at his little pink face and mound of thick black hair. He was so funny looking, but she loved him instantly. She nodded her head in agreement with Kevin.
"Yes, that's his name. Kev, go tell your family. We'll call mine in a minute."
He kissed her one more time before leaving the room. He was pulling the little blue surgical hat off of his head when Luke spotted him and the family swarmed around. He had them all sit down and pay attention so that he didn't have to repeat everything more than once. He explained that he was tired and he wanted to spend some time with his wife and his son. The family erupted in cheers at the announcement of the baby's sex. He revealed how big the baby had been and that he and Beth were both doing fine, just both sleepy. Joan asked about the name. Kevin told them the name they had chosen and added that William was too much of a name for a little baby, and since Will was already in use, they had decided to call him Liam for short. Kevin said that was all he could tell them for the moment and that he was going to see his wife. He informed them that the baby would be in the nursery soon, and they could see him there. His mom kissed the top of his head while Luke and his dad were shaking his hand. Joan and Grace each gave him a congratulatory kiss on the cheek before he left them.
Helen was so excited that she could barely contain herself on the walk to the nursery window. She loved being a grandmother, and she was so glad to see how excited Kevin had been at the announcement of the baby boy. She knew that the thought of raising a boy had made him nervous, but she was sure that he and Beth would do a wonderful job. Will slipped his arm around her waist as they stood with the rest of the family in front of the window. The nurse picked up baby Liam and held him in front of the window so that everyone could see him. The Girardis oohed and aahed the newest member of their family.
Kevin made his way back to where Beth had been, only to find that she had been moved to her room for the night. He wheeled down the corridor and into the room where Beth was pleading with the nurse for a shower. The nurse was reluctant to agree, saying she would have to ask the doctor if it would be ok. Beth said that would be fine. She would wait to hear the doctor's answer. The nurse turned to find Kevin blocking the doorway with a big grin on his face.
"Don't worry, miss. She doesn't take no as an answer from me, either."
The nurse smiled slightly and excused herself to find the doctor on duty. Kevin went into the bathroom. Beth was in her nightgown sitting on the shower bench. Dark circles were ringing her eyes and her hair was limp with now dried sweat. He knew that she would feel better if she had the chance to clean up. Still, he tried to persuade her to come back to the bed and rest. She refused, stating that she was waiting to hear from the doctor. About that time, the nurse came in with the ok for Beth to shower. Kevin thanked her and grabbed Beth's bag from on the dresser by the bed. His own things were there, too, and he asked the nurse when they would be bringing the baby in. She said there would be at least an hour of observation in the nursery before they would bring him to the room. He thanked her and flipped the latch on the bathroom door. Beth was already undressing.
She felt totally refreshed when she finished in the shower, and so did Kevin. There was a sign posted beside the bed that prohibited anyone other than the patient from lying in the bed. They ignored it as Kevin got in first and Beth settled beside him. The nurse brought baby Liam into the room and handed him to his mother. It was almost 8 pm, but she wanted Beth to try nursing before she fell asleep. Liam began sucking fairly quickly, while Beth was completely creeped out by the entire experience. When the nurse thought sufficient time had passed, she took Liam back to the nursery and instructed Beth to get a good night's sleep. It would be that last she would have for a while.
In the morning the baby arrived again, and Beth fed him while Kevin was in the bathroom. Suddenly a thought crossed his mind and he burst out of the bedroom to ask Beth a question.
"Did you call your parents last night?" he asked.
A look of absolute mortification appeared on her face. "I absolutely forgot about it. Oh God, how could I have forgotten to tell my mother that I had a baby?"
Kevin couldn't believe it either, but he wasn't about to let her know that. "They will understand. I'll call them right now. You can blame it on me, tell them I was supposed to call but I forgot, not you, okay?"
Beth was starting to agree when Helen knocked on the open door. Beth invited her in and Kevin cleared off the seat beside the bed. Helen took it. She asked Beth how she was feeling, and the younger woman said she was doing fine. Kevin wanted to know where his father was. Helen said he would be at the house later when they all came home. Beth handed the baby to her mother-in-law. Helen burped him before she cradled him in her arms and began talking to him. Kevin was about to excuse himself for the phone when Helen addressed him, too.
"Oh, last night when we left, Joan called Beth's sister and parents to let them know about the baby. We knew that you both were pretty tired, but I hope we didn't overstep our bounds there."
Kevin laughed. "We were just freaking out because we forgot to call them. What did they say?"
"The Rineharts will be in town next weekend for a visit, and Annie will be here whenever you need her. Apparently Clark is going away on an extended business trip next month, and she's sure that she's going to be bored to death. Besides, you'll eventually need some help moving."
Beth put her head back on the pillow. "Oh, I completely forgot about that! We can't stay in Kevin's old room forever."
"Beth, sweetie, that's not at all what I mean. You are more than welcome to stay with us as long as you need to, but I think Kevin will miss you. You two need a place of your own where you can really start your family."
Kevin nodded his head. "We really should go ahead an accept an offer on the house in Connecticut and actively start looking for something here. I'm sure we'll be able to find a suitable place. We may need to make some adjustments, but we can keep the apartment as long as we need it. The air has been working this week, and I don't want my wife and child living in my old bedroom nearly an hour away from me. We'll find something close to the city that still isn't too far from the family."
Beth was still worried about the living situation. They didn't even have a crib put together yet. She was about to send Kevin back to his apartment to get everything ready when Will and Luke arrived. Luke said that Grace and Joan were at the Girardi house preparing Kevin's room for the addition of the new baby and that he and his dad had finished fixing up the second bedroom in Kevin's apartment. He assured Beth and Kevin that everything would be ready by the time they got home. Beth thanked him profusely for everything they had accomplished. She realized that she was exhausted, even though she had slept pretty well the night before. Liam was sleeping in Helen's arms. Helen placed him back in the bassinet, kissed Beth on the forehead and shooed all the others out of the room to give Beth some time to sleep.
Kevin lingered behind in the hall, and Will hung back with him. Kevin noticed that he had a brown paper bag in his hands and looked up questioningly at his dad. From the bag Will produced a beautiful baseball glove. Kevin's eyes widened as his dad began to speak.
"Kevin, I've had this for a long time. I got it for you when you signed with Arizona, but after everything that happened, I couldn't give it to you. I didn't want to upset you, but I couldn't take it back to the store. It would mean that I had given up. I had almost forgotten that it was still in the closet until your mom found it a while back. By that time, Beth was expecting, and I decided to give it to your son, assuming it was a boy. Anyway, I thought you might want to start breaking it in for him so that it's ready when he's old enough for you to teach him the game."
Kevin was speechless. He carefully examined the glove and his emotions before he looked up again. He tried to thank his dad, but the words choked in his throat. A single tear escaped his eye, but he quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand before extending it to his father. Will shook, but Kevin pulled him into an embrace.
"Thanks, dad. This means so much. I can't even explain."
Will wiped his own eyes as he released his son. The two of them hurried to catch up with Luke and Helen. They piled into the car and drove back to the Girardi house. Kevin was almost asleep when they arrived. Luke nudged him awake in the back seat and told Kevin to head up to his old room to check out the work Joan and Grace had done. He smiled as he entered. The basinet was beside Beth's side of the bed, but the changing table was low enough that he would be able to do plenty of diaper duty. Several other changes had been made to make the room more baby-friendly. Kevin wanted to explore everything, but he was simply too tired. He moved onto the bed and feel asleep as soon as his head rested on the pillow.
When he woke, he called Beth from the phone beside the bed. She assured him that she and the baby were find. Joan, Grace, and Hadassah were visiting, and they were all having a wonderful time. He told her that he would be over as soon as he could. She told him not to hurry, she'd be fine. He mentioned that he would like to see his son. This made Beth laugh as she agreed that it would probably be a good idea for the two of them to spend some time together. Kevin promised that he would be there soon. Beth asked him to please bring her a milkshake. He laughed as he hung up the phone.
A little while later he arrived with Beth's milkshake. She was so excited to see him and had been growing increasingly hungry. She handed him the baby. Kevin held him so gently. He guessed that earlier he had been to tired and excited to take in the fact that this baby was actually theirs and that he and Beth were responsible for taking care of him. He glanced up at Beth, who was watching him carefully amid the laughter and conversation of the family members. She smiled. Helen moved around and snapped about the millionth photo she had taken since the baby had been born.
The entire family had gathered in Beth's hospital room, and they were quite loud and boisterous, but nobody minded. Beth continued to watch Kevin with the baby the entire time. Kevin was staring at him so carefully and every now and then spoke softly to his son. Liam poked his tiny hands through a break in the blanket bundle. Kevin ran his finger across Liam's tiny ones, and Liam grabbed it. Kevin looked up again and saw Beth smiling back at him. No one else was watching them, as they were making sure that Hadassah didn't fall on the hard floor now that she had discovered the concept of running. Kevin smiled back at his wife and surveyed the rest of the people in the room. He and Beth were ultimately responsible for the welfare of this little boy, but they had quite a village to help them along the way.