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Approximately eighteen years ago

Simultaneously, two couples hurried into a hospital in Chicago, Illinois. One couple consisted of Cole and Tabitha Rhodes, and the other consisted of Joe and Emily Warren.
Tabitha was having a son and Emily was having a daughter. But this isn’t about the mothers. It isn’t even about the fathers. This is about the children and the decisions they made as they grew up. They grew up side by side, but there were still some things that they forgot. Occasionally, they forgot to remember.

Tabitha, Cole and Seth Rhodes

Seth was too big to be born naturally, the doctors told them as they wheeled Tabitha away from her mournful husband. She would have to have a caesarean and get the baby cut out of her.
Tabitha gazed sadly up at the ceiling as she was put deep under with anaesthetic. She couldn’t see anything anymore; she couldn’t feel anything anymore; she couldn’t do anything anymore.
How strange this was. She couldn’t feel her baby!...

Cole waited out in the waiting room, his head buried in his hands as he closed his eyes and prayed for his wife and his unborn boy. God, please don’t take them. Take me instead.
His worry was senseless, but still...what if something went wrong and one or both of them died?
He shook his head and squeezed his eyes tight shut, wishing away the blinding fluorescent lights.

What seemed like a long time later, Tabitha woke up. She couldn’t feel her baby at all now...where was her son? Her eyes flew open and she thrashed on the hospital bed, messing up her white gown.
“Mrs. Rhodes! Ma’am, calm down, please! You’ll tear the stitches!”
Tabitha stopped quickly and blinked innocently up at the female nurse who stood above her, looking down with a stern expression on her tired face.
“Your husband has your baby boy, Mrs. Rhodes. He’s just fine; you both are. So would you please remain still?” the nurse asked in a clipped tone.
She turned her back and Tabitha stuck out her tongue, reminiscent of the cheeky youthful girl she used to be. Now she was sore and tired, twenty three years old and feeling as old as the heavens and the stars above in the great black sky.
“Can I see him, please?” she asked quietly.
The nurse nodded, her back still to her, and left the room. Tabitha waited with bated breath for her family to enter. Cole was there first, carrying a blue blanketed bundle in his arms. He smiled, and the two of them both ignored the crotchety old nurse.
Cole gingerly sat on the edge of his wife’s hospital bed and righted the bundle in his arms so that she could see their son’s small sleeping face.
An awed breath escaped Tabitha as she looked upon him for the very first time, not counting all those black, grey and white ultrasound images. The sleeping baby boy had her nose, but the rest of him was his father to a tee.
“What’s his name?” she whispered, so afraid of waking him.
Cole clamped down on his lower lip as he stared back at her, settling the baby back into the crook of his arm.
“Seth Joshua Rhodes?” he said, phrasing it as a question.
Tabitha smiled at his creased forehead and reached out a hand to lightly press it against his face.
“That’s lovely, Cole. I like it” she told him, still smiling at him.
He released a stilted breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding onto and smiled back at her, before glancing down and gazing at their son again. For the absolute umpteenth time. He was proud of them both.

Joe, Emily and Miah Warren

Miah was not too big to be born naturally, she was smaller than average. Emily’s breathing was heavy and panting as she bore down, Joe’s left hand in her crushing grip. To his credit, he said not a single word about the pain.
“You’re doing well, Em, just keep doing what you’re doing and push” Joe told her, dropping a kiss on her sweaty forehead.
She glared up at him, face red and brown eyes tormented.
“You try then” she gritted out, squeezing his hand yet again.
Joe winced, but she felt it and looked at him again. He quickly wiped the expression from his face and left behind a clean, blank expressionless slate.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought” Emily muttered, bearing down once more.

Seven hours later, Miah Annika Warren arrived with a sudden rush. Joe caught her and swiftly cut the umbilical cord, holding the tiny slippery form securely against his already damp t-shirt. The doctor carefully cleaned the baby girl’s mouth and nose, and she instantly started crying. Joe felt himself tearing up, and willed the tears away. They fell anyway, but he had the presence of mind to turn his head and not let them fall on his brand new daughter.
“Let me hold her” Emily ordered wearily, holding out her arms to him.
He walked up to the bed head and passed the perfect new person into her mother’s embrace.
“Thank you, God, for my Miah” she murmured, leaning down to kiss the baby’s soft crown of downy hair.
Joe smiled at the beautiful, precious picture they made and vowed to never let anything bad befall either of his girls, his wife and his child. He was only twenty five years old, but he knew what love was like, and he knew there was nothing stronger than what he had in his life now. The troublesome gangs and jail time were far behind him now, but he knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to step in and protect his little family, no matter what the consequences for him looked like in the end.
Emily watched him as thoughts appeared and vanished in his eyes, wondering what he was thinking just now. She couldn’t think of anything except for Miah. Her unfocused eyes were open, and Emily could see the sky blue colour of a newborn’s irises. She wondered what colour they would become when she was weeks on in her life.

Half an hour later, a woman was wheeled into the room beside Emily’s. She glimpsed a pale, weary face as she went by. The husband walked in after her, a blue bundle safe in his arms. He stopped briefly and looked in at them, a faint smile on his face.
“Congratulations” he said to them, quietly, nodding to Emily and tiny Miah.
Emily grinned and nodded back.
“And to you” she replied, lifting a hand in a slight wave.
The man nodded and smiled once more before he disappeared into the room next door.
“When do I get to go home, Joseph?” Emily inquired suddenly.
He laughed at her outburst, then hushed quickly after the glare she gave him. Miah stirred and tried to open her eyes. She gave up and fell asleep again.
“I don’t know, Em. Why don’t you try being patient for a change?” he replied, raising one eyebrow.
Emily frowned at him and settled back into her bank of pillows, keeping her eyes on her daughter.
“All right, fine then. I’ll stay” she grumbled. “But I won’t be patient.”
Joe chuckled again and smiled fondly down at her.
“I daresay you won’t be” he murmured quietly.
Emily looked up and met his eyes again, holding his gaze.
“Thank you, Joe” she whispered, her eyes beginning to close.
He crept forward and eased Miah out of his wife’s arms, allowing her to sleep in peace. Feeding could wait.

Four years after the births

Four year old Seth let his Miah hold hands with him as they stood just inside the kindergarten gates, their mothers standing patiently behind them.
“We don’t want to start a new one!” he whined, speaking for the both of them.
He was always her voice. As long as she didn’t have to speak.
Emily sighed and Tabitha rolled her eyes at her little boy.
“Come on, Seth. You and Miah will both be totally fine in there. You’ll make lots of friends really fast, we promise” she said sincerely.
Seth scrunched up his nose and gazed solemnly at their mothers, Miah’s hand tight and hot in his.
“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep” he told his mother, glancing back and forth between them.
Emily hid a smile behind her hand and gently nudged her little girl forwards with her free hand.
“Go on, Miah. Mommy will be here to pick you both up at one o’clock. You can wait that long, can’t you?” she asked calmly.
Miah pursed her lips and looked sideways at Seth. He shook his head; in turn, she shook hers at her mother’s question. Emily sighed a second time and picked her up, freeing her hand from her best friend’s. Miah began to scream and Seth’s teeth sank into his bottom lip as he shuddered against the screaming. He kissed his mother briefly goodbye and ran after Emily, after Miah.
“I’m coming, Miah, I’m coming!” he yelled, hoping she could hear him above the loud melee of children arriving and parents departing.
Miah saw him running to her and shut her mouth, reaching her hands toward him.
Inside the kindergarten centre, Emily set Miah back on her feet and kissed her cheek before straightening again and marching right back out the door.
Miah scowled and stuck her hand back into Seth’s, squeezing slightly. He turned his head to kiss her where Emily had kissed her and then they both stared around them at all the people and bright colours.
“It’s too bright in here, Seth” she murmured softly.
He nodded his response and led her into the middle of the room, never once removing his hand from hers.

First day of high school

Miah couldn’t handle all the stunning girls walking around her. How would she ever fit in here? She was fifteen, she was curvy, she was short, she wasn’t perfectly flat, how would she?
Coming to her rescue, her knight in white high tops, Seth ran to her side and threaded his fingers tightly through hers.
“I like you more than them. They’re probably all dumber than tree trunks” he muttered into her ear.
He made her laugh and she leaned into him as they slowly navigated the convoluted hallways of high school.
She didn’t know how she could ever do anything without him.
Seth was with her wherever she went. She thanked the Lord every day for giving him to her for keeps.