Falling Apart (On Hold)

Chapter Twelve

Hope you like it. :) I'll try to make the chapters longer!

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I woke up in the middle of the night, with sharp pains in my stomach. Gasping, I put my hand over my round belly and tried to breathe in and out, my eyes shut tight.

"Tessa? Baby, you okay?" Cash asked, sitting up and looking at me worriedly.

"The baby's coming," I ground out as another contraction shot through me. Cash cursed and got out of bed, pulling on a tee shirt and throwing on a sweater over it as it was still winter and cold. He grabbed the baby bag and came over to help me up. Just then, something wet splashed down from my 'down there'.

I looked up at Cash wide-eyed. "Hospital?" I whispered.

He nodded and helped me change as quick as I could into loose pants and one of his shirts. Then he picked me up and carried me to the car.

The next four hours were a blur. All I remembered was pain, more pain, me screaming, Cash whispering to me and my mom telling me what a good job I was doing. Then finally, I felt relief and heard a cry.

When the nurse handed me my son, I had tears in my eyes. I looked at his wispy, brown hair and lovely, green eyes. I was so filled with love for this little human being that Cash had blessed me with. My heart seemed to be bursting with it.

"Cash, he's so beautiful," I sobbed, clutching my tiny baby in my weak arms. "Thank you. Thank you so much." I lifted my head to him and brought his face closer to mine so I could kiss him. My tears melted into his skin.

"He has your eyes," Cash commented after the kiss, leaning over my shoulder to get a good look at the baby. Our baby.

"And he has your hair. And nose. And lips. And everything." I smiled.

"What do you want to call him?" he asked, stroking the baby's fine hair.

I stared at my son's green eyes for a moment before finally coming to a conclusion. "Tanner. Tanner Calvin Gallagher."

Cash looked at me surprised. "You want to give him my name?" he asked.

"Yes," I laughed. "You're his daddy."

There was a moment of silence and then Cash gently lifted Tanner from my arms. The way he cradled the baby, it was so loving, tears instantly sprung up in my eyes. I was so happy. I lay back tiredly and the last thing I saw before I fell asleep was Cash pressing his lips to Tanner's forehead.

-

I was at the park for a long time because not only did Tanner started crying when I tried to put him in the stroller, but I made some new friends.

One of them was a single father, Devin who knocked up his girlfriend at seventeen only for her to run off after the birth of their daughter. He was nineteen now and even though he was five years younger than me, he was mature way beyond his years. So I enjoyed his company.

His little girl, Bailey, was adorable at one year old. She was a replica of her daddy, with his hazel eyes and curly blonde hair. She also had his natural tan skin, something I was jealous of, because I had to spend hours in the sun to get a tan.

Looking at Bailey waddling around, playing with her toddler friends made me wish I had a little girl, too. Cash and I had talked about children before, before we'd even got engaged and he'd always wanted to be a father, but wanted to wait a while. Then I wondered - maybe it was the unplanned pregnancy that had made him leave. And if so, why couldn't he have at least told me?