Chapter
9
The
next day, AJ arrived at the hospital early and headed straight up to Tara’s
room. Even though he had been exhausted
when he had come home the evening before, he had barely gotten any sleep, for
he was too excited about going to see Madison that morning.
When
he got to Tara’s room, he found her sitting up in bed and holding Madison. “Dr. Hall said we can take her home this
evening,” she said, smiling.
AJ
grinned. “Great,” he said. He bent and kissed Madison’s head. “Good morning, baby,” he cooed. Madison opened her eyes and looked at
him. Her eyes were blue, like her
mother’s. AJ smiled down at her. He was already in love with his new daughter.
“Um,
AJ?” Tara asked hesitantly.
“Yeah?”
AJ asked.
“Dr.
Hall told me this morning that we should have an HIV test done on Maddie before
we take her home,” she said.
AJ
sighed. In all his happiness, he had
finally forgotten all about HIV. Now the
thought of it had been rudely forced back into his head.
“Yeah,
I guess so,” he said. “When can they do
the test?”
“I
don’t know, I’ll call a nurse and ask,” Tara said.
“I’ll
do it,” AJ said, hitting the call button, since Tara was still holding
Madison. A few minutes later, a nurse
popped into the room.
“What
can I do for you?” she asked, smiling at Tara.
“Is
Dr. Hall available now?” Tara asked. “We
need to talk to her.”
“Well,
let me go see,” the nurse said. “I’ll be
right back.”
“Thank
you,” Tara said as the nurse left the room.
A few minutes later, Dr. Hall entered the room.
“Hi,
Tara,” she said, offering a friendly smile.
“Hi,
Dr. Hall,” Tara said. “AJ and I were
wondering when we can have the HIV test done on Madison.”
“Well,
right now if you want to,” Dr. Hall said.
“Ok,
that’s fine,” said Tara. She carefully
handed Madison over to the doctor.
“I’ll
take her down and have it done now, and then I’ll bring her right back, ok?”
she said.
“Sure,”
Tara said. “Thanks.”
“You’re
welcome,” Dr. Hall said as she carried Madison out of the room. Once she was gone, Tara turned to AJ, looking
scared.
“Oh,
Aje, what if she’s positive?” Tara asked, her voice trembling.
“Don’t
worry about it right now,” he replied, with more confidence than he felt. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Tara looked at him doubtfully, but said
nothing.
Twenty
minutes later, Madison was brought back into Tara’s room. “AJ, do you want to hold her?” Tara asked.
“Sure,”
AJ said. He hadn’t yet gotten to hold
Madison yet and was a little nervous about it.
He didn’t have any experience with babies. He perched on the edge of Tara’s bed and held
out his arms awkwardly. Tara placed the
baby in his open arms.
“Put
your hand behind her head,” she instructed.
AJ adjusted Madison in his arms until he was holding her the right
way. She snuggled up against him, her
eyes closed. He was overcome with
emotion as he stared at his beautiful little girl. He had never realized that being a father was
such a wonderful thing. But now he knew,
and he would never forget it.
***
