Tai was right. That was the last time we were ever together like that again. The next few years he was constantly traveling, taking college courses in many different counties. Oh, he still wrote me letters and sent me e-mails, and even sent both Matt and me birthday and Christmas presents, but I was lucky if I actually saw him more than twice a year. By the time he'd gotten through all the college he needed to be a successful diplomat, Matt and I had been happily married for almost two years, and a little one was on the way.
I was in my eighth month, and the due date was approaching rapidly when Matt, who was in the Air Force, was called into astronaut training. He was going to be gone the whole month before I was due, but there was nothing for it. I knew he had always dreamed of becoming an astronaut, and I wasn't going to let something that only might happen get in the way of his dream.
The last day of that week, I ran into Tai. I was working in my mom's flower shop when I turned around, and there he was, looking into the refrigerated display case at the roses. "Hello, Tai," I said. "This is a pleasant surprise."
Startled, he looked up, then grinned. "Sora! How are you?" He noticed my swollen stomach and his grin widened. "Looks like you've been busy while I was gone. Are you robbing fruit stands now? You know, if you really wanted a watermelon that much, you could have just asked Kari. She loves the stuff. Always has one at her apartment . . ." He trailed off, watching my face closely.
I had felt a strange twinge in my stomach, but it quickly passed.
"Sora?" Tai's voice was full of concern.
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm—" I stopped as I felt another pain, this one a little harder and a little longer.
"Sora, it's time, isn't it? Here, sit down while I get my car." He sat me down in the chair behind the counter, then ran out the door and down the sidewalk, weaving through the crowd. As soon as he was out of sight, I stood again and began to close up the shop. I was locking the front door when Tai's car pulled up. "Good thinking," he said as I settled myself into the front seat. "Which hospital do you want?"
Another contraction nearly bent me double. "Whichever one's closest!"
"Right!" he agreed, and stepped on it.
Once at the hospital, he stayed by the gurney while the nurses wheeled me to a room.
"Where can I reach Matt?" Tai asked, pulling out his cell phone.
"You can't."
Tai looked at me aghast. "What?!"
"You can't reach him. He's at a month-long training camp and won't be back till late Saturday night."
"He left when he knew you were this close to being due?" Tai demanded angrily.
"It wasn't his fault, Tai," I said calmly. I had to wait for another contraction to pass before continuing. "I told him to go. I didn't think that it would happen this soon—"
"Well, I can at least leave him a message! What's the number?"
"Tai—""What's the number?"
I was not in the mood to argue, so I gave up and told him. He reached someone just as we arrived at my room.
One of the nurses, a very pretty blonde with big blue eyes, approached Tai. "I'm sorry, sir," she said in a sweet voice. "You'll have to turn off your cell phone. They aren't permitted here—"
"Sorry, lady, but this is important." Turning his back to her, he put the phone back to his ear. "Hello? Yes—I need to speak to Mr. Yamato Ishida right away. What? Not available? Well, why don't you make him available? Find him! Now!" He listened intently for a moment, then snarled, "I don't care if he's busy! His wife's in labor right now! Write this down: we're at the Odaiba General Hospital, room number 55-10. You tell him he'd better get his rocket-boosted butt over here fast! Yes, I—hey!" The beautiful nurse suddenly snatched the phone from his hands and hit the power button.
"No phones in the building," she said, slapping it against her palm for emphasis. "You can pick it up at the front desk on your way out. Thank you, sir." She gave Tai a winsome smile and left the room, phone in hand.
"Hey, thanks a lot!" Tai called after her. He turned and gave me a lopsided smile. "Well, you can't blame me for trying," he shrugged.
I smiled back at him, but the smile quickly turned into a grimace as the worst contraction yet wracked my body. Tai took one look at my face and headed for the door. "Hey, a little help, people?" he yelled out into the hallway. Satisfied that the doctor was coming, he came back to sit in the chair by the head of the bed. He stayed close as the nurse inserted the IV, and he urged me to squeeze his hand as hard as I could whenever I had a bad contraction. And they were getting steadily worse. Soon the doctor arrived, and they tell me that the delivery went smoothly after that, but it still hurt really bad. Tai never complained once, though I'm sure there were a couple times that I almost broke his hand.
Anyway, I was relaxing after the fact, utterly exhausted, when the nurse came in with the baby. I recognized her as the same nurse who had taken away Tai's cell phone. She beamed at us as she handed me the little pink-wrapped bundle. "It's a girl!" she exclaimed. "And she's adorable." The nurse was right. Most babies are not cute right after they're born, but my baby—my baby was gorgeous. (I think all mothers think that, even if their babies really aren't cute.)
I looked up from her tiny little face. "Do you want to hold her, Tai?"
He hesitated. "Sure," he said, taking and holding her gently. "What name did you pick?"
"Hana."
I knew what he was thinking as he stared down into Hana's little face: She looks so much like her mother. She's beautiful. She's amazing. She's perfect. And she's not mine.
"Congratulations!" the nurse beamed, oblivious to Tai's slight discomfort. "Is this your first one?"
Tai, still holding Hana, went red to the ears, and I chuckled.
"Well, uh, you see, we're not married," Tai stammered. The nurse's big blue eyes suddenly grew even larger.
"Oh," she murmured, and blushed slightly.
"Well, actually, she's married, but I'm not. I mean—"
"What he's trying to say," I broke in before the nurse's cheeks could turn an even deeper shade of pink, "is that my husband is away right now and couldn't be here, so Tai brought me instead. We've been friends since we were little kids, and he didn't want to leave me alone. That's why he's here."
"Oh." The nurse seemed relieved.
"I was trying to reach her husband, my best friend, when my cell phone was taken away from me," Tai said pointedly as he gave Hana back to me.
The nurse giggled.
"Sorry," she said. "But a rule's a rule, and this one can't be broken, or people might get hurt." She looked over at me. "By the way, my name's Kirei Tomiki, and I'll be here all night if you need anything." She looked over at Tai. "I can bring in a chair or something if you don't want to leave her here alone overnight."
"Thanks, that'd be great. But first," he winked at the nurse, "I need to go down to the lobby to make some phone calls, since I can't use my cell phone!"
True to his word, Tai stayed there with me all night, sleeping in the chair beside my bed. Both of us were awakened in the early hours of the morning by Matt's unexpected arrival.
"Sora!" he gasped breathlessly as he rushed into the room. "I'm so sorry! Are you all right? I knew I shouldn't have gone to that training camp! This is all my fault!"
"Wha--?" Tai groaned, opening one eye drowsily. "Hmm. Oh, hey, Matt. MATT!" Suddenly jerked awake, he leapt to his feet. "It's about time you got here. You missed all the action." Tai reached out and pumped Matt's hand. "Congratulations—you're a dad!"
"Yeah, so I hear." He turned warm eyes to me. "Are you doing all right?" he asked earnestly, taking my hand and sitting in the chair Tai had recently vacated.
"Yes, I'm fine, thanks to Tai. If it hadn't been for him, I don't think I'd have made it to the hospital!"
Matt raised his eyes to meet Tai's, and he nodded his thanks.
"Have you seen her yet?" I asked him.
Matt looked back at me and shook his head. "No. What's she like?"
"She's beautiful."
"Yeah," Tai cut in, giving us both a grin and a wink. "In other words, she took after her mom!" He stretched, then headed for the door. "I'll go find that nurse so you can see your little bundle of joy."
I watched him go, then turned back to Matt. "I'm glad you're here," I said, smiling.
"Me, too."
Of course, Matt thought little Hana was wonderful, too; he looked so proud, I thought he'd burst. Hana and I were released from the hospital the next morning, and Matt drove us home, tired but happy. I was so glad to have him back home. The only bad thing was, he only had that one day off--he had to go back to finish his astronaut training. At first he told me that he wasn't going to go back, but once again, I insisted that he go: I didn't want him to lose this chance to live his dream. And besides, I knew nothing more was going to happen, really.
Not yet, anyway.