9/19/01
“Is it just me, or is he the most beautiful baby boy who was ever born?”
Beaming, Lilly pulled the blanket’s corner down just a little more so they could see his face clearly. It was wrinkled, squished and a little red still. But the child had the most peaceful expression upon his face when he slept. “It’s not just you. He really is.” She sighed, running fingers along the rim of the white whicker basket. “Our little Michael.” Dirty blonde tufts of hair barely visible, and ten tiny, unbelievably adorable little fingers and toes.
Edward put his arm around her, pulling her against his side with a tight squeeze. “Our first little love.”
His mother and sisters entered moments later, tiptoeing quietly so as not to wake this babe who, of course, woke instantly. But was comforted by the three strange, cooing women, and his loving parents. Lilly picked him up to calm him, bouncing up and down and uttering soft “Shhh”s.
Janet put her arm around Edward. “He’s simply too precious for words, Brother.”
“Thank you,” Edward replied as Lilly seemed to have her hands too full to do so.
“So?” Natasha asked impatiently. “Won’t you tell us what you named him?”
“Houdini!” Janet replied with laugh and without missing a beat.
“Not Houdini!” Lilly emphasized, speaking slowly though a dreamy haze. “Michael,” she stated. It had been her idea in the first place, so it was only fitting she be the one to announce it. “Michael Jonathan Galich. We used the names of both our fathers as he’ll never know either of his grandfathers.” She didn’t sound half as sad as she sometimes did when they mentioned their late fathers. Lilly’s father had been killed early in the Vietnam War, within the first three months, in fact. He’d been in command of twenty-seven men and only three made it out alive after being flushed right into a land-mine-infested patch of jungle. Of the three, only one would ever walk again, and he with a cane. But the three owed their lives solely to Jonathan Hammond’s fast thinking and quick reflexes.
“Beautiful choice,” Edward’s mother remarked, leaning right over the baby. “Lilly, may his new grandmother hold him for just a moment?”
Of course Lilly nodded, how could she possibly refuse the child’s only living grandparent? Her own mother had died of old age just last year, about the time that Edward’s grandparents had passed away as well. So many deaths making way for such a bright, beautiful new life. Still, she found herself somewhat reluctant to hand him over. “Careful,” she whispered out of instinct, biting her lip afterward.
The tiny bundle quieted at once in Grandmother Sylva’s arms. She certainly had the magic touch. Little Michael stopped crying with a yawn that almost took over his whole face, then drifted off to sleep. “I had three of my own, you know, Lilly, dear. I think I know how to be careful.”
“Sure,” Janet agreed, giggling as another tease came to mind. She punched her brother in the arm. “But look how your first turned out. You must have dropped him on his head.”
“Janet!” Natasha snapped as she took a seat in a chair in the corner of the hospital room. “It’s not right to tease him so. It’s a big day for the man.” She paused, a smile growing on her face. “And besides, I’m sure he was dropped many more times than just one.” Both twins erupted in giggles, and their mother hushed them so as not to wake the baby again.
“Ha ha. Very funny indeed,” Michael spoke blandly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Now neither of you will get to hold him until he’s old enough to fight for himself. He’ll need a head start around the two of you.”
Natasha smiled, but seemed to be slipping off into thought, so it was Janet who made the inevitable retort, “Fight for himself? Under your training he may never get to that point.”
“Hey now,” Eddy exclaimed, quick to redeem himself in front of his new son. “I beat up Stanley Caroll for you when he had you on your back with your skirt up ‘round your ears—“
“Teddy! Be decent!” Lilly hissed.
But Edward had a point to make. “Don’t you go forgetting that now! I always looked after my little sisters.” Lilly and Sylva were still huddled around the sleeping baby, cooing every time he made a face in his sleep. So peaceful and precious. Edward looked on proudly while combating with his sister. Continuing, “And even though you’ve got Anthony to take care of you now, and Natasha has her boyfriend, you’ll always be my sisters and I’ll always watch out for you.”
Janet, melting, smiled and wrapped her arms around him, needing to tiptoe a little to easily kiss his cheek.
Natasha, oddly silent, finally spoke up. She began by clearing her throat, then looking out the window into the alleyway below. “Lawrence proposed this morning.” And, still looking out the window rather forlornly, she held up her left hand.
“Nat!” Janet exclaimed with excitement, rushing over to her. “That’s wonderful news. I’m so happy for you!” She closely examined the ring. “Why didn’t you tell us until now?”
She shrugged, taking her hand back, inspecting the ring, then dropping it dejectedly into her lap. “It’s little Michael’s moment, not mine. And besides, under the circumstances…”
Janet squatted down in front of her sister, linking hands, fingers intertwined so the rings of both ring fingers touched. “He didn’t…”
Natasha bit her lip, the edges of her mouth turning down, and she nodded. “He’s being sent overseas this Friday. He’ll be stationed right in the middle of it all. He won’t be coming back.”
This caught the ears of everyone in the room, including Michael who stirred, yawned, stretched out his little arms, wiggled his fingers, and burst out into tears again. Sylva handed him back over to Lilly, who hugged him to her heart and bounced him again. She went to Natasha, pulling her to stand and taking her in a big hug. And Natasha immediately released her tears to her mother’s shoulder. “You don’t know that, little one.”
Between sobs, “I can feel it… I’ll be wearing this ring forever.”
Edward crossed the room, touching little Michael’s nose, stroking his arm, his cheek. He lay so safe and helpless in his mother’s arms, despite coming into the world in the middle of such death and war. Thousands murdered, slain, shelled, sacrificed. And now enters the innocent who would grow to deal with the outcome. “I hope you never see war, my son,” he whispered so softly he wasn’t even sure Lilly had heard. For Edward had been born in the wake of war, to a family who had survived the Nazis and the great depression. As he listened to his sister’s sobs, his mother’s reassurances, and his other sister’s sympathetic softness, he gritted his teeth and made his promise. “You will never see war. You will never live in poverty. You will never know unhappiness so long as I can care for you. I promise, Michael.” He gently poked his son in the tummy, tickling a little. The boy giggled and squirmed. Edward was not at all sure how he could ever keep such promises, but he was most determined to spend the rest of his life trying.
He put his arms around Lilly from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder, looking down at their child. The babe wasn’t just beauty, but hope. The sort of hope he knew their family could use right now. The sort of hope that never, ever dies with age. The sort of hope that transcends the boundaries of war and peace, black and white, death and life.