The Circle Ch. 21

She'd been up for hours, taking a morning swim and then straightening around the house, and then single-handedly working up the best breakfast with the fixings she could find. Tina's heart felt as though it would spontaneously combust with the love she felt, not only for Jim, but also for herself and all the others in the house. She could never remember feeling this good in her life.

* * * * *

Seven pounds of trouble; that's how Alex described Willow's baby as he held the small bundle in his arms amid his huge outpouring of additional love for mother and child. Despite his taunt, he had tears of joy in his eyes.

Alex looked up at the others in the room, "This is the most beautiful baby there ever was."

Alice teased, "You're biased, and besides you haven't seen what I have in store for everyone. Just wait another couple of weeks." She patted the immense baby bulge in front of her.

After returning from a long weekend with her sister, Willow had comfortably gone into labor, been driven to the hospital, and then gone through natural childbirth. Alex, Derek, and Marlene had been in the delivery room with the hospital staff as she delivered.

Willow also had taken a short leave-of-absence from her job as the local news anchor for WWLX-TV, the local TV station, but one unique feature of the delivery was that she'd had two camera crews with sound in the delivery room. As she'd directed, one focused on what she was doing and what she said, the other was shooting down her body towards the doctor. A number of her comments had to be beeped out, such as 'Jesus H. Fucking Christ that hurts like ... FUUUUUCCCCKKKK.' Normally, Willow didn't swear.

When she showed an edited version of the birth on TV no one ever saw anything 'inappropriate' but they sure saw the doctor with a broad smile holding up the bright pink baby girl for the first time as baby took her first gasps of air.

Even more unique and daring, and with everyone's permission, Willow had invited a film crew to see her arrive home with the new infant, and to get each person's reaction to the newborn. The fact that Willow had a large 'family' had been mentioned several times by her on the air, but this was seeing everyone for the first time. We were all on our best behavior.

Clearly, in this case, there were more than enough eager arms to cradle the bundle of love. Each person, man or woman, couldn't wait to hold the baby, although the men were each a little cautious and overly gentle with the infant.

Willow was glowing and telling each person about the delivery, and how nice everyone in the maternity ward had been. Occasionally, she'd suckle her infant to her generous bosom for nursing, now even greater than before the pregnancy.

Several of the men made sure to dote on Willow too, kissing her and thanking her for all that she'd done. There was a lot of love.

In the background, Tina watched with fascination at how everyone behaved around the new mother and baby. She'd never really seen the intentional family interact in concert with one another around a joyous event.

One of the film crew asked, "What's the baby's name?"

Willow smiled, "No one here knows. I've kept it a secret so far, but I'm pretty sure now. I've tested it for a few days. I want to name the baby Ariana Renata Mendez. The name will preserve her Spanish heritage but sounds modern enough not to burden her with too much. She can also generate quite a few nicknames from the two words too."

Everyone ooohed and aaahed about the name. Willow got more kisses and hugs. Off to the side, Matt was passing Ariana to Tracy, who was so enthused about the baby we were sure she was going to go off birth control that very day.

Matt asked, "What'd you do about declaring a father for the birth certificate?"

Willow said, "I put down Alex Saunders." She turned to Alex, "I know I didn't ask, and I hope that's all right. You were one of the seven volunteers."

Alex started crying. "I'm ... so ... happy," he sobbed. "Thank ... you ... That's ... wonderful and ... the nicest thing ... to hear."

Alice said, "Who wants to be listed as the father of my baby? Before you volunteer, you have to know it's a boy, and he just might fall in love and want to marry Ariana, so it can't be Alex. We don't want to advertise any incest in future marriages."

Sheila stepped forward; she was now in her seventh month. "I'll need to list a father too, although Jim already approached me and asked if I'd consider him. I do."

Nathan laughed. "I think you just got married. You said, 'I do.'"

Nathan went and hugged Alice, "I would be highly honored if you'd allow me to be named as the father. I accept all the responsibilities for junior ... except changing the really messy, dirty diapers."

The pair kissed and the deal was sealed, although all the other men had also stepped forward to volunteer.

Two weeks to the day later, Alice waddled into the dining room at cocktail time. She looked around the room and spotted Nathan. The pair locked eyes and she nodded to him.

Nathan stood up as though a cattle prod had just goosed his ass. He practically yelled, "NOW?" His voice silenced the room.

Alice replied, "Now, and you'd better hurry. My water broke and my bed is a mess. I'm sorry, but could someone please take care of that. Suddenly, my labor pains are like really fucking intense and only a few minutes apart. I thought they were supposed to start far apart and get closer together over time."

Nathan, Monica, and Matt rushed Alice to Matt's car. Her bag was already in the trunk. The three of them would be her family in the delivery room, Nathan being the designated father, and Monica and Matt 'close relatives.'

Four hours later, Theodore Winslow Ames entered into the world demonstrating an amazing set of lungs, and a desire to continue kicking and punching as he had for the past four months inside Alice's womb.

Two months later Sheila and designated father Jim Wilson delivered Marshall Goddard Parkinson into the world accompanied by Zoey and Bob in the delivery room.