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“Alex, what are you doing?” Jo asked.
“Driving?” he looked at her from the corner of his eye with his brows furrowed in confusion.
“Where are you going? This is not the way home” Jo pointed out.
“It can be” he shrugged.
“It will take us thirty extra minutes to get home. Why didn’t you just take the freeway?” she chuckled, realizing what was going on.
“Are you kidding me? People are crazy on the freeway, and I have a daughter now” he smiled proudly.
“I know. You daughter just so happened to make her way out of my body two days ago, remember?” she smiled back at him.
“Yeah. This is why I’m taking the back roads. Not going to put our baby girl in danger. Or you, for that matter” he said, sounding way more serious this time.
“You’re cute” she smiled once again before they both started to hear noises coming from the baby who had been sound asleep since they left the hospital.
“Guess it’s time to pull over” he said, getting nervous about not being able to look at the baby.
“What? No! She is sleeping, Alex. She’s fine” Jo said.
“I told you to get in the back with her” he sighed.
“Alex, don’t worry. Babies make noises when they’re sleeping, you know that. She is fine” Jo ran her hand up and down his arm, trying to calm him down, but also turning around to make sure that she wasn’t lying to him and their baby was, in fact, in need of something.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” he smiled at her after he noticed her dreamy expression when she turned back around to face forward again.
“She really is” Jo said.
“You did so good, babe” Alex grabbed her hand and pulled it closer so he could kiss it after intertwining their fingers.
“Well, I didn’t make her all by myself, so we did good” she chuckled. “She is perfect”
*********
“Alex, I need you to pull over” Jo said.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, but she is going to start crying” she explained, clearly getting nervous about it.
“What? She’s sleeping. She’s not even making sounds anymore” Alex said.
“Yeah. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just know that she will cry” Jo said, and, almost immediately after, the baby started crying just like her mother said she would.
Alex smiled. Jo had been so apprehensive about motherhood her entire pregnancy, scared of not being good enough, not connecting with her baby and not being able to meet her needs. “What a foolish thing to think” Alex though. He knew that some mothers don’t connect with their babies immediately. Suddenly finding themselves missing their bellies and holding a tiny stranger, some mothers feel overwhelmed by their lack of instant connection to their little ones, and that is perfectly fine, but he just had a feeling that he would really want to be there when his wife first met their daughter. He just knew that he would be able to watch her heart grow so much so fast when their baby was placed in her arms, and that was exactly what happened. The most beautiful thing he had ever seen. And over the last two days, that was all he did: watch their baby turn his wife into a mother and love on them both.
“Okay. Pulling over right now” he said, maneuvering the car into a gas station and parking it next to the convenience store.
Jo got out of the car and opened the door to pick the baby up, while Alex watched her with the most dumbfounded smile on his face.
“It’s okay, Robin. Mama’s got you” Jo bounced the baby gently, trying to get her to calm down, but not being able to. “Do you think she is hungry?” she asked Alex.
“I don’t think so. She ate like half an hour ago” he said, trying to hold back a smile while he had his hands in his pockets.
“Why won’t she stop crying, then?” Jo asked.
Her confidence as a mother had grown since Robin came into the world, after her initial fear of not being able to connect with the baby was brushed to the side the minute she was put in her arms, stopped crying and latched to her breast almost immediately, but she knew she still had a lot to learn when it came to her daughter. Not knowing exactly what the baby needed was daunting, but she knew there was a learning curve, and Alex never stopped telling her that they were in this together, with the same goal in mind: raising a happy and very loved baby.
“Here, let me have her. Let’s see” he put his arms out and picked the girl up, pulling her into his chest and placing his freshly shaved cheek on her head. “Hi, Robin. You’re okay. It’s okay” he whispered.
The baby’s cries subsided as soon as she heard her father’s voice, making her parents smile. Her mother wasn’t the only one that already had a special connection with her. Her relationship with her father had been in the making since way before she was conceived and was already pretty darn special. He was her daddy, and she was his little girl who he wouldn’t let go of at night, only leaving his arms when it was time for Jo to nurse her. She was already a daddy’s girl just like Alex had always dreamed of, and if that wasn’t already obvious before, it became obvious at that gas station.
“She is such a daddy’s girl” Jo chuckled, smiling at her husband and rubbing the baby’s back.
“You just wanted to be held by daddy, didn’t you, tiny?” Alex smiled, feeling proud to be clearly wanted by his daughter.
“I think I’ll go inside to get some water and a hotdog. Do you want anything?” Jo said, pointing to the convenience store.
“Guess I’ll have a hotdog too” he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
“Okay. Be right back” she pecked his cheek and the baby’s little hand before walking into the store.
********
“What’s happening?” Jo chuckled when she found Alex and Robin sitting inside the trunk of the car, Robin whimpering a bit.
“Guess someone decided she didn’t wanna feel left out and now wants something to eat as well” he laughed. “And I thought why not have our first meal as a family of three right here and now?” he shrugged after giving the baby to Jo, who had put the hotdogs in front of her after sitting by his side.
“This is the best idea” Jo grabbed his face and kissed his lips. By then, the baby’s whimpers had turned to cries. “Wow, girl. Calm down” she said to the baby while she gave her the boob.
Jo was still getting used to the whole nursing thing. It still hurt, and her milk had yet to come in, but she was willing to go through hell and back to do it, so, without complaining, she smiled at her daughter as she silently winced at the sharp feeling that was still so new to her. “She is such a good eater” she said, taking a bite of the hotdog Alex held in front of her mouth.
“It will get better. If this is what you want, I’m sure it will get better” he rubbed her back gently.
“It’s okay. I’ll get used to it, and it will be worth it. Just like labor was” she smiled. She could see the love in his eyes when he looked at her with their baby. The love that was already so easy to spot before they had a baby became even more obvious after Robin came into their lives.
“Jo, I’m sorry I didn’t take the freeway. We could have been home by now” he put the strand of hair that was on her face behind her ear.
“Are you kidding me? This is the coolest thing” she tilted her head.
“Really?” Alex raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Yeah. Besides, as long as I have my two favorite people in the world by my side, I will always be happy and feeling at home”.