Beautiful Mistakes {Zayn M.}

Chapter 39

Zayn leaned away from my body and cupped my face with his hands. “You ready? He asked.

I nodded and gave him the biggest smile. “Let’s go get her.”

Before Zayn let my face go, he connected his lips with mine. “I love you.” He rested his forehead against mine. This was one of the final moments without having our daughter with us. After this, we were going to have her everyday, and I could not wait.

We got out of the car, and Zayn grabbed Valentina’s car seat from the back seat. I got the bag that had a change of clothes for her and her blanket.

As we walked across the parking lot, the entrance to the hospital seemed so far away. Every step we took though was one step closer to our daugher. Zayn took my hand in his, and it was in that moment that this whole situation turned real. I had the man I loved more than anything by my side, and he was always going to be by my side. Even when he had to go off for months at a time I knew he would come back. Right then, I felt as if my life was finally perfect.

When we got up to the baby floor, we stopped and looked at the big sign that would direct us to the correct area of the floor to pick up Valentina. We had received a call last night that she wouldn’t be in the NICU. She was stable enough to not be in there anymore, so the moved her to the nursery. The arrow pointed down the hall in the opposite direction of the NICU.  

I could actually see the sign over the door that said ‘Nursery’. Zayn’s hand was still in mine, and when I started to move faster towards the door, he was getting dragged behind me.

Zayn laughed at my actions. “Slow down. We’re still going to get to keep her.”

I stopped in the middle of the hallway only a few feet away from the door. There was a big rectangular window that showed the inside of the nursery. When I looked into the window, I saw a few rows of beds that looked like clear plastic tubs. Some of them held newborns, but most of them were empty. I scanned the room looking for Valentina. My body tensed up a little when I couldn’t see her among all the other babies.

Zayn nudged my side and pointed to the back corner of the room. “Right there.”

I smiled when I saw her.Glancing around at all the other beds I noticed that she was the smallest baby in the nursery. Even being ten weeks old she was smaller than all the newborns.

She wasn’t surrounded by any other babies and I wondered why she was by herself. Maybe it was because she still needed a little extra attention, or it could have been because she was leaving the hospital.

I glanced over at Zayn. He was looking at Valentina with such admiration. It almost seemed like he had tears in his eyes, but I wasn’t going to say anything to him about it.

“Come on.” I said as I reattached my hand to his.

We walked as quietly as we could into the nursery. When we got to Valentina’s side I saw that she was awake. Her eyes were going around the room, taking in the new place she was located. The NICU was probably so familiar to her.

I put the bag I had been carrying on the floor and picked Valentina up so I was cradling her in my arms. Zayn also set the car seat to the side and came over to us. He put his hand on top of Valentina’s head and kissed her cheek.

“Hi Val.” He whispered in her ear. She turned her head a little and looked up at him. “Are you ready to come home?”

She looked over at me and tried to move closer to my body. It was hard for her because she was swaddled into a tight bundle. I shifted her so I was holding her on my shoulder.

A nurse I had never seen, probably one who worked in the nursery, approached Zayn and I. “Are you Zayn Malik and Rosemary Collins?” She read our names off of a chart. It looked like it was Valentina’s. Zayn and I both nodded.“Alright, we can go sign her discharge papers then and we’ll get you on your way. Just follow me.” The nurse took the bed Valentina was laying in and rolled it through the nursery and into another room. It was an office and there was a doctor sitting behind the desk doing some work. I set Valentina back into her bed before taking a seat in front of the doctor.