31

Remy

Our house had a small yard where Serg had been cultivating a small garden with autumn vegetables, and I'd been spending the morning helping him, even though I had never been the one with green thumb.

I walked ahead of him, using a trowel to turn up the dirt, and Serg was carefully planting the little vegetable sprouts and seeds he'd gotten from the town greenhouses and hydroponic gardens.

"So far you've planted so many rows of potatoes and spinach," I commented. "That seems like sort of an odd combo."

"My dad was Pakistani, my mom was Russian, and I lived in Idaho, so one thing I know how to work with is potatoes," Serg said, and he was only half-joking. "Besides, spinach is really good for pregnant and breast-feeding woman. And anything we grow we can share at the Public Cafeteria or trade for something else that we do need."

"That is really smart."

"Well, I am a really smart guy," he replied with a smirk.

I had gotten far enough ahead of him that I could take a break, leaning against the hoe as the morning sun beat down on us, and I wiped the sweat from my brow.

"How is it working in the cafeteria?" I asked.

"It's good. Cooking has always made sense to me, you know that, and they have such a greater variety in their ingredients than we did back at the lakehouse. They have dill and sour cream, so I was able to make traditional borscht for the first time in years!" His face lit up when he talked about food. "And the people here seem nice. You should come down for supper one night. Mayor Vaughn is there a lot, and he really seems to care about making this town a beacon for humanity."

"A beacon for humanity?" I repeated with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah, he does actually say that sometimes. Or maybe a lot." Serg shrugged. "It's cheesy, sure, but it's still a nice sentiment. It's refreshing to be somewhere that is about thriving and building things up instead of just surviving."

"I didn't think we were just barely surviving at the lakehouse," I disagreed.

He sat back on his knees and gave me an apologetic smile. "I know. I liked it there, too. But I also liked civilization, and I have enjoyed having some semblance of that again."

"Yeah, I guess I get that," I relented. "But isn't anyone else worried about a population of this size attracting hordes of zombies eventually?"

"They have a few different ways of keeping them at bay, and the cold really helps in the long winters," he said. "Plus, the town has been continuously growing for nearly a decade. The fences are still standing, and I don't even hear any zombies."

"That is true." I realized that I hadn't heard any zombies since we'd been here, but the general noise of the city life may be drowning them out, too.

"Hi!" Eden said, waving to catch my attention. She was standing in front of the house, breathless because she had been running, and I knew her because she worked at Jovie's clinic .

I immediately dropped my trowel and walked over to her. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing's wrong." She smiled at me. "The baby is here."

"The baby is here ?" I asked.

She nodded. "Mother and baby are doing well."

"Holy shit." I turned back to Serg. "Go tell Boden. I'm going now."

And I didn't wait a moment longer. I sprinted down the roads I had already learned, racing ahead of Eden. I ran up the steps and into the clinic without any hesitation for the very first time.

In her room at the back, Stella was laying in her bed, looking both exhausted and strangely content. Max was standing with his back to me, holding a mewling bundle wiggling in a soft blanket in his arms. He turned to face me, and I finally laid eyes on the tiny, pink baby.

"Remy, I want you to meet your niece, Rafaella Avalyn King."

"You named her after Mom?" I asked, and my voice cracked.

"We needed a beautiful name for a beautiful girl." He moved toward me. "Do you want to hold her?"

"Wash your hands first!" Jovie interjected. She was sitting in the bedside chair. "There's soap and water in the kitchen."

I glanced at my hands, covered in dirt from gardening. "Oh, right. Sorry."

I rushed to the kitchen to wash my hands, and by the time I had finished, Boden had arrived. I borrowed his much cleaner flannel shirt to wear over my dirty, sweaty tank top, leaving him in a t-shirt. And then I ran back to the room so I could finally hold the baby.

Even before the zombies, I'd never been one of those people that flocked to babies. When my brother was born, I had been eleven, and our mom had to bribe me to hold him because I initially wanted nothing to do with him.

Eventually, I had warmed to Max when he was old enough to move around and laugh when he saw me, but he was still the exception to the rule. I didn't like babies or kids, but I had always liked him specifically. Later on, I had come to like Stella, too.

But now I couldn't wait to hold Rafaella.

When Max put her in my arms, I had the strangest sensation of my chest swelling. Like there was suddenly so much love and light inside me that I had to expand and grow to contain it all.

"She's so precious." Boden was there, whispering at my side as he reached down and touched her tiny hands. "She's so small."

"She came into this world at just over 5 lbs, and she's a few weeks early," Max said. "But she's strong, and she's already latched well."

"Latched?" Boden asked.

"Breastfeeding," Jovie said. "That's one of the bigger concerns with preterm babies, but she's eating and swallowing like a champ."

"When was she born?" I asked.

"A few hours ago. It all happened so quickly, and Jovie wanted to wait until she was sure we were all stable before she sent Eden to fetch you," Max explained.

"No need for an explanation," I said. "You're a dad now, and your priorities have shifted."

"Yeah." He had a big goofy grin as he laughed. "I'm a dad now."

"You are a dad now and forever." Boden turned his attention away from the baby and went over to Stella. He kissed the top of her head, and he asked, "How are you, kiddo?"

"Tired, relieved, terrified, ecstatic, hungry, and I think that almost covers it," she said with a sleepy smile.

"Oh, I can get you something to eat." Serg jumped at the chance to be useful.

"There's food in the fridge and pantry." Jovie motioned vaguely toward the kitchen, and I realized that she sounded very tired herself. She had given so much to ensure that Stella and Rafaella were safe.

"When do you get to come home?" I asked.

"To be on the safe side, I'd like Stella and the baby to stay for another week," Jovie said. "Obviously, Max and Ripley are free to go as they wish."

"I think I want to stay with my girls, as long as I am not in the way." Max sat on the edge of the bed and took Stella's hand.

"That'll give us time to get the nursery ready," Boden said. "So far, we only have a basinet."

Serg returned a moment later with the food, and then he took his turn at holding the baby. Both he and Boden were so excited to be uncles, and their faces lit up like Rafaella was the sun when they held her.