Feel That Fire

Four sets of feet walked quickly down the corridors of the hospital in Huntington Beach, California on a beautiful September day. After receiving a frantic phone call from a dear friend, the four of them had loaded up in the car and made the fifteen minute drive to the hospital.

“Which room did he say?” Emmalyn asked as Brian pulled her along the hallway.

“412,” was the reply she received from her very pregnant sister-in-law who was walking much slower than the rest of them.

“I see it!” Brian exclaimed as they stopped in front of the door. Pushing it open, they saw Dani lying on the hospital bed with a blue bundle in her arms. Jimmy was sitting on the bed beside her with tears in his eyes.

“Oh, Jimmy!” Jasmine and Emmalyn said at the same time as they both walked around to hug him.

“He’s so beautiful!” Emmalyn said after she left Jimmy’s arms. Sitting next to Dani, she placed a kiss on Dani’s forehead. “How are you feeling, Mom?”

“I’m tired and sore, but I’m doing great! Do you want to hold him?” she asked seeing the look on Emmalyn’s face.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course we are, princess! Besides, you’re his godmother. You should be one of the first people to hold him,” Jimmy said. Emmalyn turned around with a shocked look on her face.

“Godmother?”

“Yep, we want you to be the godmother and we’ve asked Zacky to be the godfather. Matt told us that they had already asked you and Brian to be little Hadley’s godparents. So, we both knew that we wanted you to be the godmother because we trust you inexplicably and know that you would raise Evan just like your own child,” Jimmy explained as he watched tears form in Emmalyn’s eyes. Gently, he took his son from Dani and placed him in Emmalyn’s arms. As she held her new godson, Emmalyn was unaware of the tears in her fiancé’s eyes.

A month later

“Emmalyn!” Matt’s panicked voice shouted over the phone.

“What?” she returned as she pulled back from Brian’s lips and climbed off of his lap.

“Jasmine’s water just broke! I’m taking her to the hospital,” he said frantically.

“Ok, we’ll be there soon!”

“What’s going on, baby?” Brian asked as he pulled her in for another kiss.

“I’m about to become an aunt!” Emmalyn squealed. Brian smiled at the look of joy and excitement on her face. Over the last month, he’d seen her with Evan a hundred times and it always managed to sucker punch him when he saw her with the baby. Now, seeing her happy face he felt the same feeling. This is love, he thought.

“We’ve got to go!” she yelled as she began to get dressed. Brian joined her in the bathroom as they both combed their hair and brushed their teeth. Within minutes, they were in the car.

Ten hours later

“You are never touching me again, Matthew Sanders!” Jasmine growled through clenched teeth as she pushed for the twelfth time in the last hour.

“I know. I’m sorry, baby, but it’s almost over,” Matt tried to soothe. He cast a pleading look at Emmalyn, who was on Jasmine’s other side.

“Jas, sweetie. You’re doing fantastic. Just keep breathing like we’ve practiced.”

Three pushes later and Hadley Grace Sanders made her rather loud entrance into the world. Jasmine, Matt, and Emmalyn were all in tears as the doctor placed the squirming infant on her mother’s chest. Matt’s hand immediately reached for his daughter’s back to try to sooth her cries. He leaned down to place a kiss on his wife’s lips.

“I love you,” he breathed to her. Emmalyn watched the family moment quietly and started to back away towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Matt asked.

“To tell everyone else that Miss Hadley is here,” she grinned at her brother.

A few hours later

Everyone had been in to see the new addition to the Sanders family. Balloons, stuffed animals, and flowers lined the walls in the room. Jasmine was sleeping peacefully in the bed while Matt dozed in the chair next to her. Emmalyn and Brian sat on the couch in the corner of the room with Hadley in Brian’s arms.

“She’s so tiny. I think she’s smaller than Evan,” he whispered as the baby’s eyelids fluttered softly.

“She is smaller than him, but I think because she’s a girl she looks more fragile,” Emmalyn whispered back rubbing her index finger along the baby’s cheek.

“I never thought it would feel this wonderful to hold a baby in my arms,” Brian said as he looked at Emmalyn.

“She’s not even yours, Bri. I wonder what you’re going to be like when we have a baby,” she smiled at him.

“Wow, I can’t even begin to imagine how awesome that is going to feel. Just thinking about it makes me smile,” he said looking back at his soon-to-be niece.

“Me too,” Emmalyn replied leaning her head against his shoulder. “Me too.”