Page 61 of A Little Bit More

“Stop talking to me,” she snapped. “This is all your fault.”

“Uh,” Mairi said. “I do believe you were the one who jumped him, you hussy.”

“Not helping,” Agnes growled.

“Another big push.” The doctor coaxed.

The rest was a blur. All Callum could see was the pain on Isobel’s face as the chanting in the theater grew louder. Then, with one almighty scream, she sagged back onto the floor, and a new cry broke out.

Their baby’s cry.

The theater erupted in cheers.

“It’s a girl,” Mairi shouted to the crowd.

“Is she okay?” Isobel sounded anxious.

“She’s perfect.” Michelle beamed at them.

“The baby’s fine,” Mairi told the theater. “I’m an aunt again!”

The doctor cut the cord and wrapped their daughter in a sterile blanket she’d found in the oversized medical kit.

“Would you like to hold your baby while Mum and I finish up here?” Michelle asked Callum.

And just like that, there was no one else in the room except Callum, Isobel, and their new daughter. He reached for her, marveling at how tiny she was in his hold. How fragile. And perfect. He’d never seen anything so perfect in his life.

“She has all her fingers and toes,” he said with awe.

“And my hair!” Mairi pointed to the bright orange fluff on his daughter’s head.

“Definitely your nose, Izzy,” Donna said.

“She’s beautiful,” Agnes declared. “Just like her mother.”

“And huge,” Mairi added. “Just like her father.”

“She isn’t huge, she’s tiny.” Callum was afraid he was holding her too tight.

“Try squeezing her out of your vagina, and then say that.” Isobel reached out to stroke her finger gently down their daughter’s creamy cheek.

“This one is for our newest audience member,” a voice called over the sound system as ‘Mamma Mia’ began to play again, and it sounded as though the whole theater joined in.

“Callum?” Isobel reached up to brush her fingertips under his eye. “You’re crying.”

His throat squeezed tight, and there was no getting any words past it. All he could do was look at the woman who’d saved his soul. Who’d given him a life that was far better than anything he could have ever hoped for. Without Isobel and their kids, he had nothing. Nothing at all.

“I love you too,” she whispered, staring into his eyes, reading the heart of him.

Even those words didn’t seem enough. Instead of answering, he placed his daughter on her mother’s chest, sharing a private moment as chaos whirled around them, unable to penetrate their perfect bubble.

“You should call her Mia, fromMamma Mia,” Mairi said, shattering the moment. “Or name her after the theater.”

“Idiot.” Agnes rolled her eyes. “This is the Piccadilly Theatre.”

“Oh,” Mairi said, “I’d go with Mia then.”

As the sisters argued, and the doctor dealt with the paramedics, and the theater rocked with another chorus of ‘Mamma Mia,’ Callum wrapped his arms around his wife and child.

He was home.