Chapter 11 - The First Hold|
Three days passed.
Under Dr. Aris’s careful treatment, Mara’s internal injuries healed rapidly. By Sunday afternoon, she was approved to be wheeled down to the NICU to see her daughter for the first time.
Dominic pushed her wheelchair down the quiet corridor. He had slept on the small sofa in her ICU room every single night, refusing to leave the hospital despite Rocco’s pleas regarding business at the docks.
They stopped before incubator number four.
Mara leaned forward, tears immediately filling her eyes as she looked at the tiny baby sleeping under the plastic hood.
"She's so small," Mara gasped softly, reaching through the rubber portal opening to touch her daughter's tiny fingers.
Instantly, the baby’s tiny hand closed around Mara’s pinky finger.
Dominic stood behind the wheelchair, leaning down, resting his cheek against Mara’s dark hair, his large hand resting gently over hers inside the incubator.
"What should we name her?" Dominic asked quietly into her ear.
Mara looked up at him, her dark eyes soft for the first time in eight months.
"Elena," Mara murmured. "After your grandmother."
Dominic’s breath caught. He leaned down, pressing a tender kiss against Mara’s temple. "Elena Vescari. It’s perfect."
The double doors of the NICU opened softly. Dr. Aris stepped inside, holding a medical clipboard.
"Mrs. Vescari," Dr. Aris smiled warmly. "Elena’s breathing levels have stabilized. If her weight gain continues at this rate, she can leave the incubator next week."
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Mara let out a joyful, soft laugh, kissing her baby's tiny hand.
Dominic looked at the doctor, then down at his wife and child, feeling a sudden, deep sense of purpose he had never known in his thirty-five years of life.
