February 16, 2023 (continued)
Mercedes lay flat on her back with half of her body numbed and shielded by a thin, blue curtain. She took a deep, anxious breath and let it out while staring up at the ceiling. Beside her, Sam was sitting down, covered from head-to-toe in hospital scrubs. His right hand was clasped to her left as her doctor and his small team of nurses began the cesarean procedure. She listened to the low buzzing and beeping of the monitors while Dr. Bourdon voiced his actions. Two emotions were building strong inside her mind—fear and joy. More than anything through the majority of this pregnancy, she had been anxious to know what hers and Sam's children were going to look like. What were their eyes going to look like? Would Dante inherit Sam's adorable crooked smile? Was Ariesa going to have her button nose? Now, in a matter of minutes, she was finally going to get her answers.
Sam pulled her out of her thoughts when he gave her hand a firm squeeze. From behind his mask he asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Really nervous…Excited…And happy. But mostly excited." She smiled, "Did I mention excited?"
He chuckled softly; even with half his face covered, she had his smile committed to memory and the crinkle around his eyes told her that that was exactly what he was doing.
"Keep talking to me, Sam," she requested in a low voice. "I'm gonna work myself up if all I do is try and count the dots on the ceiling."
Another muffled chuckle left him, "What do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know. Anything. Do one of your impressions for me."
She watched him stare at the ceiling, thinking over a response to what she said. After a moment, he shut his eyes, channeled James Earl Jones and opened his eyes to tell quietly her, "My wife's about to become a MILF."
Anesthetics or not, Mercedes' eyes popped open. "Sam!"
"What! It's true!" he shamelessly replied.
Her cheeks burned as she asked him, "Were you talking to Puck recently?"
Before he could answer, Dr. Bourdon spoke up, "Alright Mercedes, Sam, we're getting ready to deliver the first one. Mercedes, just so you know, you might feel a little pressure."
"Okay," Mercedes responded with a nod that the doctor couldn't see. She bit down on her lip and glanced at Sam as he rose from his chair—keeping his hand in hers—to have a look. She kept her eyes on his, watching them narrow a fraction into a fixed gaze. As his eyes started to widen however, she felt the pressure her doctor warned her about. It was as if someone was pressing a hand to push her stomach away from her chest. It wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable enough to cause her lips to soundlessly part.
She brought her eyes back to Sam at the same moment a shrill cry overtook all other sounds. Mercedes' lips immediately formed a smile; she kept her eyes fixated on Sam's glistening pair as her only means of seeing her firstborn for the time being. He hadn't shifted his gaze once, even after Dr. Bourdon told them, "Alright we have the boy out. Time to get his sister."
"Oh my God…" Mercedes softly breathed blissfully as her eyes started to mist. She started to ask Sam what their son, Dante, looked like, but Dr. Bourdon held him up for a brief moment, supporting him under his chin and under his rear, before lowering him back out of Mercedes' view. It was only a short moment, but she pressed her mind to never forget his scrunched up eyes or his tiny, walnut-shaped mouth as he cried out.
"Do you wanna cut the cord, Daddy?" one of the nurses asked, looking to Sam.
Sam's hand squeezed Mercedes' and she returned it before he let go to cut the first umbilical cord. Dante was still crying out when Sam approached. His skin was entirely dark pink and all of his miniature fingers were curled into tiny fists as he cringed and fussed. Sam gazed in awe and adoration at his firstborn—from his dark honey-brown wisps of hair, right down to his little golf ball toes.
As the nurse handed him the scissors after she clamped the cord, she instructed him where to cut. Sam's hands trembled but he forced himself to steady them enough to make the cut. Immediately after, he looked to the nurse for approval and she smiled back at him. "Good job. Congratulations—you've got one more coming."
She slipped a pale blue cap on Dante's head and started to swaddle him up while Sam turned to look back at the surgical scene. Seconds later, Dr. Bourdon lifted Ariesa over the curtain for Mercedes to see. Ariesa wailed almost as much as her brother, which made Sam smile to himself.
"Sam?" Mercedes called. The blond hurried back to her side. "Is everything okay?"
He took her hand again, lowered the mask from his face and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. "They're perfect, Benz. You hear them?"
"Of course," she said with an light laugh.
While Sam was called back over to cut Ariesa's cord, one of the nurses carried a swaddled Dante over for Mercedes to see. Her lips fell into a wonder-filled pout as she crooned, "My baby." He was the tiniest baby she had ever seen but she had heard him cry; she knew he was going to be strong and strong-willed like his parents. She reached her hand up to stroke the back of her index against his bright red cheek as he started to calm down.
"All ten fingers and all ten toes," the nurse happily told her.
"Can I kiss him?" Mercedes asked, never taking her eyes off of her son.
The nurse started to bring Dante closer to her face as she said, "Of course!"
Luckily for Mercedes, her lips were free of gloss or lipstick as she tipped her chin up and pressed her pair to her son's smooth, plump cheek. "Momma loves you so much, son!" she whispered while her eyes pooled with tears. For this, there were no words. Her mind filled with the image of her flawless, innocent little boy, even after the nurse walked away with him. She reached up to wipe the fresh trail of tears from her eyes and quietly sniffled with anxious anticipation for her daughter.
"…so pale," she heard Sam comment to one of the nurses. Mercedes was pulled out of her reverie again from his words. Her brows came together in panic but the concern was quickly and thankfully snuffed by a nurse.
"They're newborns. Most newborns start to gain their pigment over the hours following their birth."
He soon reappeared at Mercedes' side, and as soon as he was close enough, she dully swatted his arm.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"For scaring the crap out of me. You had me thinking something was wrong with Ariesa."
Sam held his hands up in surrender, "I did think that! That's why I said something—I didn't know! It's not like we've been through this before, baby."
She shook her head at him and soon allowed herself to smile—even before swatting him she knew she wasn't about to build up more than a hair of anger at him. There were too many wonderful things on her mind for her to do that. "How is she?" she asked again.
Sam pulled the mask down again to reveal his smile, "She's beautiful, just like her Momma. I think she's got your nose—Dante too."
"Does she really?" Mercedes giggled. Her fingers tangled with his for a brief moment but once they were free, she gently pushed on his chest, "Go be with them."
He brushed a few fingers across her forehead as he bent down to press kiss full on her lips. Mercedes returned the kiss and snuck in a quick peck before he lifted his head away.
"I love you," she told him.
"I love you more," Sam replied with a wink. He strode back to an area Mercedes could not see, but moments later he started to near her again, and from what the singer could hear he had one of their children with him.
"Hi, Baby Girl." His tone dropped significantly as he came closer to Mercedes. She watched in joyful wordlessness as Sam came into view with a pink-capped infant. Ariesa Annette Evans did inherit Mercedes' button nose. And like her brother, she had pudgy, rosy cheeks and a fine set of lungs. But she calmed to trembling coos as Sam spoke to her some more.
"I'm your Daddy. And you're my little princess…You and your brother scared the crap out of your momma and I for getting here so early. No more scaring us like that, okay? Deal?...But…"
Sam's eyes were moist and red-rimmed now, "…We're so glad you two are here…" He freed one of his hands to pinch his thumb and index over the bridge of his nose while his eyes squeezed shut. Despite his efforts, a lone tear leaked down the corner of his right eye. When he moved his hand away to resume securing both hands around his daughter he strained to keep the faint sob out of his voice. "I love you, Princess. And…I know your Momma's been waiting to see you."
Mercedes wiped more tears from her eyes so that she could see her daughter properly. Sam carefully lowered their daughter so that she was face-to-face with the diva. She was only slightly smaller than Dante but both children were heartbreakingly beautiful. Mercedes pressed a tender kiss to Ariesa's cheek as well; the gesture triggered a twitch at the corner of the newborn's lips that resembled a crooked, open-mouthed smile.
Sam and Mercedes both caught it and laughed softly.
"Someone loves her Momma's kisses," said Mercedes with an untamable grin.
"I don't blame her," Sam chuckled, bringing the little girl close to his chest again. "We're sure about the names, right?"
"Are you for real?" she asked with an incredulous smile. "You don't wanna change them, do you?"
"No," he answered quickly. "No, I just wanted to make sure we were still set on them."
"I am. I love how we came up with them and the names are meaningful to us—as they should be."
Sam's lips pulled up in a crooked smile—not unlike the one they recently witnessed from Ariesa—and after a moment of gazing at his daughter again, he nodded once. "Well…Ariesa Annette, let's get you back with your brother while your Momma gets stitched up. Plus, I gotta call your grandparents and tell 'em you guys made it here okay."
One of the nurses approached, "We also would like you to review the birth certificates before you and your wife sign them, Dad."
"Okay," Sam replied.
Still basking in bliss, Mercedes waved her fingers as Sam slowly turned away, "I love you Ariesa."
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