The Soldier Next Door

It has been two days now since our little baby boy was born, and I can still not get enough of staring at him while he sleeps so peacefully. Never have I seen something so precious and yet so fragile.

These past two days have been very challenging, not only for our boy but for Ana and me, as we go through the ups and downs of him being born so early.

If I say that the things that the Doctor mention does not scare the living shit out of me, then I would be lying. Talking about survival rates and complications is near enough to drive any man beyond the fear that only nightmares should be made of.

As things stand at the very present, we are patiently waiting for his blood pressure and heart rate to start stabilizing. He is hooked up to so many tubes and wires that my heart breaks every time that I look at him.

My only desire is to hold him, and I can see that it burns deep within Ana as well, but at this stage, the Doctor wants to move him as little as possible for these first few days. But we have at least been able to hold his tiny little hand and gently stroke his face. And on the very rare occasion, I shock Ana to her core when I softly sing to him. Ya, it is old Marine songs, but I believe that it comforts and reassures him that his parents are nearby.

But what is breaking Ana’s heart is that she can go home today while our little one is going to have to stay for at least another two weeks. Some shit about a low birth weight. To me, he looks perfectly fine, weighing in at five pounds, nearly seven ounces. However, the Doctor is walking around here throwing big words at us that not one of us understands, but we know it is in the best interest of our baby.

Now, I keep on saying, baby…

Yes, we have not as yet come up with a name for this little one.

We are already failing as parents.

But that is the least of our worries.

What scares me shitless the most is that this Doctor, whom I am starting to firmly believe, does not know what he is doing, but he comes with words like ‘hard time.’ Well, to me, ‘hard time’ equals struggling. So he is telling us that the poor child is struggling to suck, swallow, and breath at the same time. And knocking me with a further term called ‘immature organs.’ Now what the fuck is an ‘immature organ?’

Well, needless to say, that at some point, I have chased him from the room because he is only upsetting Ana. And for this very reason, she is terrified to leave our son alone, not really alone, for she intends on spending her next two weeks right by his side, right where I will be spending my time as well.

So our main goal here is to get baby to increase his body weight as fast as we can and get him home where he belongs.

I sure as hell don’t want to spend my time in a place that I am the most frightened of being in.

If I think that Ana is terrified, then I must be beyond scared to death.

We have no idea what we are doing, and guess what…

Ya, the mother-in-law is making her way with my very confused parents up to give us the help that we need.

Now my mom did not understand why I wanted her to bring Maggie along. I only told her that I would explain once everyone was here, for I can only imagine how much shit my dad is already giving the old bag.

And he is probably going to have his own damn heart attack when he learns the surprising truth, just like I had. So it is in anticipation that we have been expecting their arrival at any moment now.

Turning to Ana that has been pacing the length of the floor while for the past ten minutes, she only but frowns at me, “Soldier, this is going to be a disaster. Your dad is going to kill my mother.”

“Boo, I hate to break it to you, but he has been killing her since the day that she decided to make the Hunter boys the topic of conversation for her gossip column.”

“Soldier, my mother is not that bad.”

“Boo, I can see where you get your temper from. Maggie can get pretty mean if you step on her toes, and then she will still publish it in the paper.”

Ana only but walks on over to me and aims the very flat of her hand to make an impact with my head, but from behind us comes a very familiar screeching voice, and I swear that I nearly fucking die on the spot.

“Ana!” Maggie’s voice travels to the corner of the room as she is about to reprimand her for wanting to slap me against the head.

But wait…

“Maggie, what did I tell you about keeping quiet?” The voice of my father travels even further down the corridor as both Ana and I spin around and face our parents. Well, my dad looks pretty annoyed from spending such a long trip with Maggie in the car. I can only think what my mother is going to have to say to this.

Yet, “Hello, my boy.” Maggie steps closer, and god, she wants to hug me. Now, do I push her away? That is one thing that I have never let this old bag do, and that is come in close contact with me. But now I am kind of forced to, though the question begs?

Do I call her mom?

“Hello, Maggie.” I only but step two steps back and watch as Ana grinds on her teeth. Ya, I need to do that goddamn hug thing with this woman that I cannot stand. So very reluctantly, I step closer again, and much to the shock of my father, I give her the shortest hug that Ana is going to squeeze out of me.

Quickly passing Maggie, I go to my mom that is only smiling awkwardly, knowing that she wants to know what the hell is going on here, yet she does not say a word. But the moment I go to my father, he lifts his eyebrow, and not even bothering to be quiet about it, he raises his voice, “Now, please explain to me why we had to bring this old hag with?”

I watch as Ana can barely contain her laughter, and with eyes that are begging, I look at her, “Please boo, please can you explain to my parents why they had to bring this… I mean Maggie along with them.”

With that, I can see the wicked smile grow on my mother-in-law’s face, yes, indeed, they are wicked just as they are told to be, and this one is the wickedest of them all. So not even giving Ana a chance to speak, we watch in horror as Maggie casually turns around and say the words that are going to haunt my father for days, “Ana is my daughter.”

“What!” My father’s voice lights up the room and gets the attention of a passerby.

My mother only but slaps him on the shoulder, “John, I think that we must have heard Maggie wrong. Maggie, can you repeat that again?”

“I said that Ana is my daughter.”

“Maggie, you are talking bullshit,” my father warns her as he steps closer to Ana, “I cannot see how this sweet girl is related to you.”

“John!” My mother stands with her hands in her hair, only shaking her head in total surprise. “You told me that you had a daughter, but you never said that it was Ana. Why?”

I take my mom gently by the hand and softly whisper for the nurses not to hear us, “Mom, that is a long story. But all that matters is that Ana is safe now and that she can be reunited with… Maggie.”

“Soldier!”

My dad only stands in the corner with disbelief on his face, “Don’t expect me to invite you over for dinner. It was torture enough to have you in the car for so many hours.”

“Oh, John,” Maggie walks over to my father, “We are family now.”

He only cringes and moves away before Maggie can reach another inch towards that intended hug that she thought that she would receive.

So standing in complete silence for only a few more minutes, my mom turns to me and shockingly looks at Maggie, “Now where is our grandson.”

And with that, they come wheeling him in again. The joy on my mom’s face is something that I will remember for the rest of my days. My father has gone quiet, for I know that if he speaks that, he will burst out in tears of utter joy.

Then it hits me, and I turn to Ana, “Lucas?”