Guardian

XX.

It was a girl, a beautiful perfect little girl, born at four-twenty-two AM on an early Sunday morning in January. She had her mom's hair color, though not too much of it yet, and a twinkle in her eyes that could only have come from her father. Weighing in at seven pounds, she had one more gift from her father. She was born with a birth mark on her back in the shape of wings. She also had a good set of lungs as she let out that first cry. They were both so happy to finally hear her announcing that she had at last arrived. Ian was so proud of Krysta and their new baby girl.

Krysta was exhausted but excited as they put Angel into her arms. At this point it was Krysta crying, crying tears of joy as she welcomed her into the world.

"Happy Birthday my little one," was all she could think to say.

She hated to let go when she had to but they promised that she'd be returned as soon as the both of of them were ready for her public debut. Even Ian had tears in his eyes as he watched them take her away. He leaned down and kissed an exhausted Krysta.

"You did it. I knew you could," he whispered.

"We did it."

It had been many long rough hours with Angel being a breach baby but Ian held her hand all the way through just as he had promised her. She had her guardian angel holding tight to her, giving her strength and encouragement all the way to the end.

After many hours of monitoring her condition, they decided that the safest way to bring this child into the world was by Cesarean. The baby was in the wrong position making it more difficult to have a normal birth. It was the sonograms that they kept taking and the tilt, position of Angel's head and neck that caused the concern. They wanted to avoid any possible injury to the child during childbirth. While Krysta was trying hard to remain strong and holding her own, each hour seemed to exhaust and weaken her a little more.

She was afraid that they wouldn't allow Ian to be present for the birth when they moved her to the operation room. They discussed it and decided if Ian wanted to be there he could be. So a masked Ian was allowed to go with her and watch her arrival. There was no other choice that Ian could make. A guardian angel had to be there.

Krysta was moved back to a regular room again. It had been so long since she had slept. She was so tired that she fell asleep quickly. She could still feel Ian's hand as she drifted into somewhere she didn't recognize.

She dreamed of a beautiful young child, perhaps the age of three or four or so. It was a little girl with rosy cheeks, a handful of beautiful curls and sky blue eyes in a yellow dress with golden wings. She was dancing around in a field of daisies. There was a bright blue sky and the biggest most beautiful rainbow that she had ever seen that stretched perfectly across it.

She could hear the child giggling with excitement as she started skipping towards the direction of the rainbow's end. When she got closer to the end, she could see the treasure that was waiting there. It was Ian standing there. The child ran now towards him and when she reached him he leaned down and picked her up in his arms carefully so as not to harm her wings.

Krysta woke suddenly from the dream and looked at Ian who was napping in the chair next to her bed. He had gone as long as she had without sleep. It didn't seem right to wake him.

She laid there fully awake, thinking about the dream that was still vivid in her mind. Ian had told her that he couldn't give dreams anymore. She finally decided that it must have been a regular dream from her vivid and overly stimulated imagination.

Ian woke when they finally returned Angel to her mom's waiting arms. She felt as with her father, she felt like she was looking deep into a pool of forever, an eternity in her eyes.