09.15
“Que lindo es.” Valentina smiled down at her newborn baby boy beaming with love for the delicate human she held so close to her chest
“You know he looks a lot like his tío Guille” Juliana commented as she observed her son’s features and realized that they quite closely resemble those of her brother in law. Valentina pouted and raised her eyebrows silently saying that she sees the resemblance
“¿Ya tienen nombre para el niño?” The nurse asked
Val and Juls exchanged a look ”Martín Guillermo Carvajal-Valdés”
“Perfecto, me das unos minutos y serán libres. Felicitaciones.”
Juliana nodded as he walked out of the room
“Guille is going to be so excited that we named him after him!” Juls smiled at her wife and her adorable son, their son. He was perfect. All the worries in the world went away when she looked at him, it reminded her of when she first became close with Val.
“Juls, could you hold him please. La neta estoy cansadísima y me tengo que dormir” Juls hesitantly but happily took Martin into her arms and held him close, as if a half inch of separation between them would cost them their lives.
“Hola mi amor” she cooed, smiling sweetly at him, “You’re beautiful huh? Just like your mamí.” Valentina dozed off with a smile watching as the two most important people in her life shared the sweetest mother-son moment she had ever seen.
—
Once the doctors let them leave and Val took her much needed nap in the hospital they headed home, Juliana drove as Valentina fed Martin to keep him from crying the whole way home.
They arrived home about 30 minutes later. Juliana parked and rushed to the other side of the car to open the door for Valentina like all the gentlewoman she is, her wife smiled at her as she stepped out of the car when they entered their home they were surprised to see their house spotless and both sides of their family waiting for them under a blue “Bienvenido Hijo” sign
Val smiled brightly looking around in wonder at the rest of the decorations while Juliana covered her mouth with her hands looking through the faces of their families stopping at Chino who stood with his new wife and son-ish and a sheepish smile on his face. She was uncharacteristically happy to see her dad there but of course she ran to hug Lupita first then to Panchito then her father, stepmother and step-brother. As her relationship with Chino improved she got a chance to bond with her 19 year old step-brother and over the course of 8 years they became like real siblings to each other “Congratulations Hermana,” Javier said as they pulled away.
“Gracias Hermanito, ven” The older woman ruffled his hair before pulling him over to her wife as she talked to her brother, sliding an arm around her waist.
“So he seriously has my name as his middle name?”
“Idea de tu hermana por cierto” Juliana chimed in, with a smile “I wanted Santiago but Val said I already chose the first name so she should choose the middle name” Juliana playfully rolled her eyes
“I’m with Val on this one, Martin Guillermo just flows better.” Javier commented earning a nod of approval from Guille
“Thank you Javi” She paused wanting to mess with Juliana but unable to because she had the baby in her arms “Guillermo hold your nephew” once her brother had a hold of the baby and he and Javier were distracted she turned to her wife who smiled at her like an idiot, Valentina took advantage of her smile and poked her fingers into the dimples on either side of her lover’s face placing a short sweet kiss on her lips “I’m the better name giver, admit it” she teased Juliana shook her head with a stupid-cute laugh. “Dilo Juliana.” Val said, adjusting her grip on her face so that she was squeezing her face with one hand.
“Fine, your name is better. Martin Guillermo Carvajal-Valdés sounds better.” Juliana rolled her eyes at Valentina’s proud smirk which was followed by another soft peck on the lips and Val releasing her face.
“Are you done gay panicking in front of the in-laws?” Javier whispered in Juliana’s ear earning a playful punch from his sister causing him to laugh loudly.
Juliana’s face quickly became serious as she whispered into his ear “Was it actually that obvious?”
“Juliana, estabas sonriendo como una idiota enamorada, es neta que me estas preguntando eso?”
“I’ll take that as a yes then, For the record, estoy sonriendo como idiota enamorada porque lo soy” and with that Juliana left to go talk to her step-mother-in-law leaving her brother and brother-in-law alone as her wife had apparently went over to talk to Mateo and Panchito which Juliana didn’t even question the pair as they were basically destined to become friends at some point.
——
The welcoming party ended at around 5:00 am, mind you Martín was born at 3:06 pm and they arrived at their house at like 6:13. Juliana woke up at 9:00 am and Valentina at 2:00 pm, which is only a couple hours later than when they usually wake up. Juls has had diagnosed ADD since she was a kid and throughout adulthood she’s realized that the only way she could get stuff done in the mornings was if she woke up super early to leave room for distractions. Her ADD did not pair well with an abusive father; she even failed a few classes because she couldn’t focus with Chino yelling at Lupita in the background. However today was a rare day where she could lie in bed observing her wife’s soft features as they’re deeply submerged in peaceful slumber. She could also routinely check up on her son as her dog Marco kept him company while she was gone, this was her first chance to take care of her little family. The little family she would do anything for, the family she would never even think of leaving behind, the family she would never treat the way that Chino treated her mother and her, not as long as she could help it. There was always a doubt in the back of her mind that one day genetics would win and she just wouldn’t be able to escape what she thought was the inevitable fate of becoming her father but she shook it off for as long as she could, trying to focus on giving this baby the best life he could possibly have.
“Juliana, amor are you awake?” Valentina whispered pulling Juliana out of her thoughts
“Sí mi vida. ¿que paso?” Juls said affectionately as she stroked a strand of hair behind her girl’s ear
“¿Cómo está Martín?”
“Bien, Marco keeps him company.”
“He loves him.” Val searched for Juliana’s hand under the sheets smiling when she found it, taking it in her own “We’re gonna be okay baby.” she didn’t know if she was convincing Juliana or herself but either way she knew she was right deep down.
“Vamos a estar bien” Juliana repeated.
“Te amo Juliana, te amo muchisimo” Juliana smiled pulling Val in close kissing the top of her head and drifting back off to sleep with her
“I love you too pretty girl”