Chapter 82: Chapter 82

I get tensed. The doctor notices this and asks everyone to leave except for Noah.

When the doctor finally tells me it's time, I'm both relieved and terrified. I want this pain to stop, but I'm not ready for this baby to appear.

I push for what seems like hours.

The pain is excruciating. Noah holds my hand and Dayna cheers. God, she's so annoying right now.

After several minutes of pushing, yelling and screaming, a cry fills the room. I want to faint. Never in my life have I ever felt so much pain.

They wipe Melody off and hand her to me. She's so tiny. She's perfect. I cry a little. She was worth every ounce of pain. Noah approaches me. Happy cannot describe how he looks right now.

Everybody comes in the room. Sasha is over the roof excited. She begs to hold The baby. "What's her name?" She asks.

I smile at Noah before I answer.

"Melody Cara Knight."

Noah's mother is reluctant at first. She looks angry but then when she sees Melody, her face softens.

Devlin stays cold the whole time. She stands against the wall. Her face is smothered with envy. Either nobody notices or they choose to ignore her. For once, the attention is not on her.

Everyone takes turns holding the baby until the nurse takes her away to run some tests.

When night comes about, almost everybody leaves. Noah and Devlin are the last ones at the hospital. The baby has fallen asleep and I lay in bed, bored. Noah and Devlin enter and their conversation doesn't sound pleasant. They start to bicker and I pretend that I am sleeping. Devlin begs Noah to come home tonight. Is she kidding right now?

"Are you that selfish that you'd ask me to leave Melody on the night of her birth?"

"It's not like she's going anywhere, she'll still be here tomorrow."

He just looks at her without saying a word. This look is similar to the look his dad gave to his mom at the dinner table that night.

"Please Noah, I don't want to be alone tonight." She pleads. "Plus," she says more seductively, grabbing his shoulders ."You know what we have to do tonight."

"No, Devlin." he pushes her off. "I can't believe you."

"I'm sorry," she says insincerely.

"I'm staying here tonight. You're welcome to stay if you want."

I pray she goes home.

She looks around my hospital room in disgust. "Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"On the chair. There are also waiting rooms you can sleep in."

"No thank you, I will be at home if you change your mind." She storms out of my room and hopefully out of the hospital.

Noah sighs and sits down on the chair facing my bed. He looks stressed. I feel bad for him for a second but then quickly realize he's choosing to marry her. I fall asleep to those thoughts.

I wake up to Melody crying. I pick her up and feed her. Noah is still sleeping. I don't see how he's sleeping through these cries. He must be very tired. When I put Melody back to sleep, I tap Noah's shoulders. He looks very uncomfortable in the chair. He wakes up abruptly.

"Is everything okay?" He looks at me and then at the baby.

"Yes, You look very uncomfortable. Did you want to come up on the bed?"

He looks at the bed. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, sure, It's not the king size that you're used to, but it can fit us both," I say.

He laughs. I get up on the bed and he gets in after me. It is big enough for both of us to sleep in but no room to move around. He sleeps with me hugging me from behind. I love this feeling. I wish we can stay like this forever. I'm dreading having to get up tomorrow morning.

When I wake up in the morning, Noah is not in the bed. He's not here at all. Instead, Devlin is here and she's holding Melody. I quickly sit up.

"Good morning, Ava," she says while rocking Melody. This makes me sick. "Noah told me to tell you he had to go to work. There was some kind of emergency at the office." She's talking to me, but her eyes are fixated on the baby.

"She is quite adorable, I must admit. Obviously, her looks were inherited from Noah." She walks around the room now.

"You know Ava, I thought we had an understanding. I really thought you had wisened up. For two months, you stayed away from Noah and even ignored him. You even did more than I expected you to." She rocks Melody harder now. This scares me. "But what I did not understand was how Noah got here so fast when you went into labour. How did he know? And then it hit me. He was with you."

She stops walking, her eyes still on the baby. "I was willing to forget that because you had done such a great job at ignoring him." the baby makes a sound. "shhh," she says to her. She starts to walk again. "But then, I arrive this morning and I walk into this room to find Noah spooning you." Her rocking gets more unstable and my heart starts to beat fast. Is she going to drop my baby?

"Clearly, you are incapable of following instructions." My heart starts to pound even faster, For some reason, I am unable to move. She puts Melody back in the basket. I am relieved. "So it looks like I'm going to have to teach you," she says.

Sasha walks into the room. She looks at Devlin and then at me. She looks confused.

"I was just playing with her," Devlin says.

"Are you okay Ava?" Sasha asks me.

I nod, but my heart is only slowly starting to go back to its original pace.

Devlin looks annoyed. "I should probably go," She walks towards the door.

"Maybe you should," Sasha says. She waits until Devlin leaves before asking me:"Did she say something to you?

I hesitate. Maybe it's time to confine in somebody other than Dayna, so I tell her. I tell her everything Devlin has said and done to me up until now.

"I never knew she was this crazy," she says. "We should tell Noah."

"He's probably not going to believe us," I reply.

"He would," she sounds unsure of herself. "Well, at least we need to tell the hospital and make sure they don't let her back in here ever."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I ask.

"Yes. What if she tries to hurt the baby?"

"I don't think she would hurt a baby, Noah would never forgive her if she did."

"The truth is, we don't know that. We have no idea what she's capable of doing. She could hurt Melody and cover herself up. Noah will never know. Anything to get you out of his life." She leaves to go tell the hospital that Devlin is to be banned from my room.

Sasha is probably right. I start to cry. This is too much for me. I'm not ready to have a baby. I never had a mother, how can I be a mother? I can't even protect Melody from Devlin. I should have never let her touch my child. I should have never let her run over me for this long. I should have told Noah. I should have never given her so much control over me. This is all my fault. Her taking advantage of me is all my fault. I decide that I'm not going to keep letting her get away with what she does. I know that this is probably easier said than done.

Amos enters my room with a bouquet of flowers. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he asks me.

"Ah, I'm alright," I reply.

He hands me the flowers. "It's beautiful," I tell him. "Thank you."

He looks at Melody in the basket. "Can I hold her?" he asks me.

I nod and he picks her up. He holds her gently in his arms. "She's beautiful," he says. "She looks just like you. She already has your eyes." He looks at her for a few minutes more and then puts her back in the basket. "She's so good, she hasn't cried at all," he says.