Why don't we leave it at that?

 

Caitlin didn't mean to be so out of it. But one thing was on her mind when she went into labor. It was the day she had to go into work and make sure all the paperwork was signed for her maternity leave. She hadn't been in ages. But on that day, there in the glassed-in office across the way, she saw him. She knew for certain it was Wade. Only he was blonde now and with someone new. What could possibly be going on now?

Of course, everything went downhill from there. Her water broke and an ambulance came and that set of the night of turbulence she'd never been through before. Her mom and dad were both there. Later, Mario and Bren came as if to relieve them.

"But why?" She cringed grasping onto Deano who had been there from the get-go although she didn't really talk to him. She made faces now and again and tried to talk to him about Wade, but he wouldn't listen.

"Look, you're having a baby!" He shouted back. "FOCUS!" And he was probably right.

There were moments she had to listen to her mom talk about the history of her own birth.

"I was in the shower when my water broke." She said she was alone. I didn't know exactly what was happening.

"Oh, Mom." Caitlin didn't need to hear this. Of course, she was actually pulling Deano's hair as she was suffering another lower back pain. Weren't they supposed to be giving her something?

"Your dad came when I told him how weird I felt. He took me to the hospital," she said.

Caitlin felt a little numb listing to this story that her dad mentioned to her every birthday. Yes, her parents had been together for a short while. But she asked about Mario. Where was he when she was born?

"With his mother of course," his mom said. "She was my friend, you know."

"Huh," she'd never heard that before, but an avalanche of pain struck her again. She was hungry. Yet kind of sad to know this.

When her mother left for dinner, she had to tell Mario this. "Did you know your mom was friends with my mom?" It was a crazy revelation, but she was glad she knew. She guessed.

Mario only smiled and let Deano take over. He was practically in bed with her anyway. It wasn't long after that, or maybe it was a lot longer than Caitlin realized.  It was sometime around two in the morning that she gave birth to an eight-pound baby girl. Her mother said the infant already looked a month old.

Caitlin said her name was Hannah.

"Hannah?" Deano didn't think that was a name on their list.

"Oh, it's after an old friend. We were best friends once," Caitlin smiled. Yes, they had to remember Dylan was once Hannah. But she didn't mention it. She didn't think about Wade anymore either. It was best to look to the future. After all, it felt as if the weather of her life might be stable now. And she was ready to eat a steak too. But they only let her have scrambled eggs with spinach and toast.

"What? No bacon?" She winced.

"Well, your blood sugar is still a little high," the nurse said. "You need to eat more healthy. Especially, if you intend to breastfeed."

"Oh." Caitlin hadn't really thought of that, yet little Hannah knew exactly what to do.