“Oh, God,” I whispered as I dropped the spoon and grabbed onto the counter.
“Kilyn?” Phoebe asked as she bent down and looked at me.
I was breathing slowly.
My eyes darted over to her as I mouthed, contraction. I knew she would most likely be the only one in the room to stay calm and go get Thano.
“What?” she screamed out. “It’s time! It’s time!”
Closing my eyes, I shook my head. “So, I was wrong on that one.”
Lifting my head, I tried to smile as Katerina yelled out, “Dimitris! Athanasios!”
“No! It’s okay, we don’t have to—”
It was too late. Thano ran into the kitchen like something was on fire.
“What! What’s wrong?”
“She’s in labor!” someone shouted out.
Thano’s expression turned to one of pure fear.
“Ohmygawd! What?”
I tried to laugh and make light of it. Of all the places to go into labor, why was it at the Drivas’ house with seven other family members there?
I swear, Thano leapt over the table to get to me. When he swept me off my feet, Phoebe yelled out, “Opa!”
Glaring at her, I shook my head. “No!”
“Yes! You’re having a baby! We need to celebrate!”
“I’ll finish making the food! You go to the hospital,” Aunt Maria said to Katerina.
I started hitting Thano on the shoulder. “Thano!”
He quickly made his way through the kitchen and living room. “Dad! Kilyn’s in labor. Her bag is at our place, can you go get it?”
“No! No! Claire can get it!” I cried out.
“I don’t mind getting it. I’ll pick up Thaddeus and Nicholaus on the way.”
Oh. Lord.
Hitting Thano again, I said louder, “Thano. Remember what we talked about . . . for when the baby was born?”
He gave me the goofiest smile. “Yes, the bag. I’m on the bag, baby.”
Closing my eyes, I calmly said, “No. Not the bag.”
“Dimitris, you drive separate and get the boys; Maria, Sophia, Phoebe, and I will take my car.”
My head fell forward as I moaned.
“Are you okay, Kilyn?” Thano asked as he quickly walked to the front door. I had to admit, I was somewhat turned on he was carrying me like I weighed nothing. Of course, lately all he had to do was breathe on me and I was turned on.
Good Lord, look at the man. Handsome as sin. I’d love to feel his scruff on my thighs right now making me—
“Mama, can you call Gus for me?” Thano called out as he stopped at our new Honda Pilot. Gently setting me down, he opened the passenger door. “Shit, I hope your water doesn’t break in the new car.”
I was halfway in when I turned and shot him a dirty look.
Seeing I was not happy with him, Thano smiled. “Right, who cares if it does!”
He shut the door and ran around to the driver’s side and jumped in. Reaching for his phone, he hit a number and handed the phone to me while he pulled out to the street.
“Who are you calling?” I asked.
“The doctor! We have to let him know you’re in labor.”
When the doctor’s office answered I let them know my name and that I was having contractions. By the time I ended the call, Thano had about ten voice messages.
“How does news travel so fast in your family?”
He chuckled but kept his eyes focused on the road.
Clearing my throat, I squeezed my eyes shut and worked through what felt like another contraction. It wasn’t as bad as the one before so it was easy to hide it from Mario Andretti.
“Thano, you need to slow down or you’ll get a ticket, baby.”
“Nah, I’m not speeding.”
Rolling my eyes, I rubbed my hand over my stomach. “Hey, just curious if you happen to remember the conversation we had a few weeks back about when the baby was due? You know . . . the one where we both agreed it would just be us at the hospital?”
He took his foot off the gas and mumbled, “Oh, fuck.”
“So, when I asked you to talk to your mom and dad about it, I’m going to safely assume by everyone’s reactions, you never had that talk.”
Thano put on his signal and pulled over into a gas station parking lot.
With a huge smile on his face, he looked at me and proclaimed, “I’ve got this!”
Shaking my head, I looked straight out the window. He didn’t have it.
It was time to put plan B in motion.
MY HEART DROPPED when Kilyn looked away from me. The only thing she asked me to do was tell my parents we didn’t want the family there for the birth. And I failed.
“I swear, baby, I’ll fix this.”
She shook her head and wiped a tear away. “Thano, I love your family, you know that. But I want this to be our time. Just you and me. There is no way you can stop them from coming to the hospital now.”
Letting out a frustrated moan, I dropped my head. “I fucked up. I’ll call them now and tell them not to come.”
“No. That will just hurt their feelings. It’s time for plan B.”
I pulled my head back in shock. “Plan B? You had a plan B you didn’t tell me about?”
Hitting Claire’s number, she simply said, “Yep.”
“Claire, hey . . . oh, dear God. Yes, I’m in labor—who told you?”
Kilyn slowly turned her head and glared at me. “Aunt Maria, huh?”
“Oh, man,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, you guessed it. Plan B is in full swing. Right, you’ve got my bag? Perfect. Yep, I already called them. Right. Sounds good. See ya soon.”
I shook my head in confusion. “Wait. Claire knew about plan B?”
She chuckled. “Please, Claire came up with plan B. We need to head to Memorial Hospital instead.”
“What?”
She hit another number, “Yes, hello, this is Kilyn Drivas calling again. We need to invoke plan B of the birthing plan. Oh, good, he hasn’t left yet. Perfect.”
My mouth dropped open. “Wait. Who all was in on this plan B?”
Kilyn turned and looked at me. “Me, Claire, and Dr. Hopkins’ office.”
“Yet you didn’t feel like you could tell me?”
She continued to stare at me and then a look of sheer pain swept over her face.
“Shit! Another one. Drive, Thano! Drive!”
I had purposely left my phone in the car. I knew my parents would be calling me and wondering where in the hell we were. It wouldn’t take long before one of them tracked us down here at Memorial, especially with Kilyn still only five centimeters dilated.
Knowing what I needed to do, I told Kilyn I was running down to get coffee. She’d been given the epidural thirty minutes ago, and I could already see how much more relaxed she was.
With a deep breath, I reached in the car and looked at my phone.
One hundred twenty-six missed calls.
Shit.
My father was the safer bet. “Athanasios! It’s Athanasios, be quiet! Where in the world are you?”
Clearing my throat, I replied, “We didn’t go to General. There was a change of plans.”
“They’re not at—”
“Dad! Wait!”
He stopped talking. “Dad, I fucked up.”
“What did you do? Is Kilyn okay? The baby?”
“Oh, yeah, yeah, they’re both fine. A few weeks ago, Kilyn and I talked about when the baby was due, how we wanted to handle things. The only thing she wanted was for it to be the two of us, only. I was supposed to talk to you and Mama about it and I forgot.”
“I see.”
“Dad, it’s not like Kilyn doesn’t want the family to see the baby, it’s just . . . the family can be a bit overwhelming. Ya know?”
He chuckled. “I know, son. Believe me, I know.”
Running my hand through my hair, I sighed. “Dad, she had a plan B. She knew I was going to mess up and she made arrangements t
o go to another hospital if we needed to. I feel like a total asshole for her having to use it. Hell, for her having to have it in the first place.”
“It’s okay, Athanasios. The only thing that matters now is you’re about to be a father.”
I smiled as I walked back into the hospital. “Yeah, I am.”
“I’ll handle the family, don’t you worry. You spend time with your wife and baby and call when you’re ready for us to come visit.”
Hearing my mother in the background, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Handle the family? What do you mean you’ll handle the family?”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Don’t you worry. Kiss Kilyn and tell her we all love her.”
Hitting the elevator button, I replied, “I will. Thanks again, Dad.”
Getting off of the elevator, I started toward Kilyn’s room. One of the nurses was walking up to me. My heart began to beat faster. If something happened I’d never forgive myself for leaving.
“There you are. It looks like your baby decided to make an appearance right now.”
“What? Right now? As in now, now?”
She chuckled. “Yes, Dr. Hopkins is in the room now and Kilyn is ready to push.”
I quickly picked up my pace to almost a run. When I walked into the room, the other nurse smiled. “There he is!”
Kilyn turned and looked at me. I could see the fear in her eyes as I made my way over to her side. Leaning over, I kissed her lips. “This is it.”
She wearily nodded her head. “I’m scared.”
Shaking my head, I took her hand in mine. “No. Don’t be scared. You’re the strongest woman I know. You’ve got this.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Right. I’ve got this,” she whispered.
Kilyn spent almost an hour pushing. Sweat was covering her face and I could see how tired she was.
The doctor looked up and smiled. “One more good push and your baby will be here, Kilyn.”
She thrashed her head back and forth. “I’m so tired. Tell him to wait another day.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Slipping my arm around her, I said, “Come on, baby. One more time and that’s it. You’ll be holding our baby in your arms soon. One more push.”
She looked at me with a serious look. “What will you do for me if I push once more?”
My mouth snapped shut as I looked around the room. Everyone now had their eyes on me.
“Um . . . I’ll, um . . . well, what do you want me to do?”
Oh, shit. Please don’t ask for anything sexual. Please.
“I want a hot fudge sundae, desperately. If I push this baby out, will you go get me one?”
I physically breathed a sigh of relief. “You dodged the bullet on that one,” one of the nurses said.
“Yes! Baby, I’ll get you ten if you want!”
She turned to Dr. Hopkins and said, “Let’s do this!”
Less than two minutes later and our baby girl was crying.
Tears streamed down my face as I watched them wrap our daughter in a pink blanket and hand her to Kilyn, who wore the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. Her face glowed with happiness as she took our daughter into her arms.
When her eyes met mine, I couldn’t grin hard enough. “Our daughter. We have a baby girl, Thano.”
Moving my eyes to the most precious, and beautiful, creature I’d ever seen, I stared at her. Her little eyes stared up at me as I slowly shook my head.
“Hey, baby girl.”
Kilyn held up our daughter’s hands and counted each finger and repeated the process with her toes. Gazing down at her, Kilyn whispered, “She’s perfect.”
My finger moved lightly over her soft cheek. “She’s beautiful, just like her mother.”
Lifting her eyes to meet mine, Kilyn’s chin trembled. “Thank you,” she said as I pinched my eyes together in confusion.
“Why are you thanking me? You did all the work.”
Pressing her lips together, she smiled and shook her head. “Thank you for coming into my life and giving me yet another amazing gift.”
I leaned over and kissed her. Pulling back slightly, I whispered against her lips, “Thank you. And don’t think I didn’t notice you put your hair up in pigtails after I left.”
Her face flushed as I kissed the tip of her nose.
One of the nurses walked up to me and smiled. “Okay, Dad. The baby’s name was being left up to you if it was a girl. Do you have one picked out?”
Kilyn lifted the baby up for me to take. Scooping her up in my arms, I looked into my daughter’s eyes. It was as if she was trying to tell me something. Probably not to name her Maria.
With a huge smile, I nodded my head. “I have.”
“Well? What is it?” Kilyn asked with an inquisitive look.
Sitting next to her on the bed, I held our daughter so we were both looking at her. “She looks like you, Kilyn. Look at how light her blue eyes are.”
Kilyn ran her finger through the small amount of dark hair. “My mother had the most beautiful blue eyes. She has my mother’s eyes,” Kilyn softly said.
“She also has your mother’s name. And your father’s.”
Her eyes snapped up to mine as she pressed her lips together. Tears filled her beautiful green eyes. I knew what the name was going to be the moment Kilyn and I decided if it were a girl, I would pick the name. I couldn’t imagine how she felt not having her parents here to share in this joy with us. This was my small gift to her.
I slowly spoke the name of our daughter while I watched my wife cry tears of happiness.
“Kira Kelly Drivas.”
Kilyn buried her face in her hands as she cried. Quickly getting herself calmed down, she wiped her tears away and kissed our daughter on the cheek.
“It’s beautiful. So amazingly perfect.”
Placing Kira back into Kilyn’s arms, I took a memory snapshot of this moment.
My garden was full. I would tend to it every single day for the rest of my life. Sheltering them from the storms and showering them with love.
My two beautiful girls.
My ladybugs.
FIVE YEARS LATER
I WATCHED AS Kira and Robert ran around the backyard trying to catch a butterfly.
“Get it, Robert! Catch it for me!” Kira shouted.
“Good Lord. That child is so bossy, and I swear my son seems to drop and roll when she says to.”
With a chuckle, I nodded my head. “It’s the mix of Irish and Greek, I think. She’s bossy.”
Kira screamed in delight as Claire and I looked back out at them. They were four months apart with Kira being the older of the two.
“Stay still, Kira. It’s going to be on the top of your head. That’s good luck, you know,” Robert said as he placed the butterfly on top of Kira’s head.
Her smile was wide and bright. “Is it there?”
Robert frowned. “Of course it’s there.”
Turning to look at Claire, we both laughed.
“So, this is the calm before the storm, huh?” Claire asked.
With a nod, I glanced around at all the birthday party decorations. “Yep. I told Katerina only immediate family, but you know everyone will show up.”
“With food.”
I rolled my eyes as I looked at all the party trays I had ordered. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking. I told myself it was for all the parents of Kira’s classmates. Even though I knew they would all devour the Greek food the moment they saw it.
“You remember preschool when you tried to put out the cheese and fruit trays?”
With a nod, I frowned. “I remember.”
“No one ate them. They went for the baklava and kourambiedes!”
“Don’t remind me. Katerina ended up putting the trays in the bathrooms!”
Claire laughed.
The back door opened and my handsome husband came walking out carrying a cake. I jumped up and clapped my hands. “Kira! Your cake is here!”
Running
over to Thano, she started jumping. “Daddy, let me see!”
He set it on the table and picked Kira up. Her dark curly hair was blowing in the wind. Reaching up, I pushed it behind her ears. Those baby-blue eyes lit up when she looked at her daddy.
Her mouth fell open as she gasped, “It’s the most beautiful cake I’ve ever seen!”
I couldn’t help but smile bigger. Kira was obsessed with butterflies and the cake was covered in them. It was a two-tier cake done in pink and purple with little handmade butterflies sticking out on sticks.
“Phoebe did a beautiful job!” I exclaimed.
Claire took a picture of the cake. “I still can’t believe she opened up her own cake decorating business.”
“I still can’t believe Thad broke down and married her!” Thano said with a laugh.
Hitting him on the chest, I shook my head. “Now to get Nicholaus married off.”
Thano rolled his eyes. “You sound like my mother.”
My mouth snapped shut and I glared at him. “Bite your tongue.”
Laughing, he pulled me into his arms. The black shirt he had on made his green eyes pop even more as he gazed at me with a seductive look.
Placing his hand on my face, he rubbed his finger over my lips. “Have I told you how beautiful you look today?”
My teeth sunk into my lip as I shook my head.
“Really? That’s a mistake on my part. I’m going to have to make it up to you.”
“How?” I asked in a whispered voice.
With a crooked smile, his eyes turned dark. “I’m thinking pigtails, and rope.”
I fought to hold the moan in. “I’m thinking that sounds perfect.”
“Pappou! Yiayia!” Kira screamed out as she ran past us.
Thano and I both looked to the back door as family member after family member walked through it.
“Opa!” was called out as I buried my face into Thano’s chest. His laughter rolled through my body causing a warmth to spread quickly through it.
Placing his finger on my chin, he lifted my eyes to his. “Se agapó, Kilyn.”
Smiling, I felt my heart grow so big I was sure it would burst from my chest. “I love you too, Thano.”
The End
Darrin and Lauren—Thank you for your continued support. I love you both!