Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
She huffed out a laugh. “You said you never wanted kids. In fact, you said hell would freeze first.”
He shrugged. “I don’t particularly… but what if I meet the man of my dreams and he does?”
“Peter?”
We all spun around at the sound of Dr. Nolan Burch’s deep voice as he froze in the doorway to the room.
Pete stared in shock at SaraCate’s ob-gyn. Then, without saying a word, he bolted past us, past Dr. Burch, and down the hall.
Lane murmured, “At the rate he’s going, he might just catch up to his dad.”
“How do you know my brother?” SaraCate asked breathlessly after coming off another contraction.
Dr. Burch frowned, glancing back over his shoulder before proceeding into the room to check his patient. “Peter’s your brother?”
SaraCate blew a hair out of her eyes. “Yeah. We have the same name. It’s not that common.”
“I, ah… I never knew his last name.”
Before any of us could ask him why he was being so strange about it, SaraCate screamed with another contraction. The doctor scrambled to check her progress, and within moments, she was pushing.
I quickly moved around the other side of the bed to give SaraCate another hand to break.
“You’re doing amazing,” Lane said, focusing on her face and encouraging her with a calm voice despite his nerves. “Deep, slow—”
“Hee-hee-hoooooo.” She ignored his advice and panted shallowly. The doctor encouraged her to keep doing what she was doing. Meanwhile, I nearly fainted from trying to control everyone’s breathing by modeling good behavior.
My head spun, and my face heated. “Babe?” Lane asked, glancing over and catching sight of me.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, trying to believe it. “Gonna be okay.”
“One big push, SaraCate,” the doctor urged. “That’s it.”
Suddenly, SaraCate’s giant groan was followed by a long, drawn-out moment of silence that was pierced by a baby’s wail.
“She’s here,” Dr. Burch said with a smile, plopping the messy bundle of newborn on SaraCate’s chest. “You did great.”
SaraCate’s eyes filled with tears as she looked back and forth between us and the baby. Then she gave us a tremulous smile. “She’s here. Your daughter’s here. I did it. I kept her safe for you.”
Warm tears streamed down my face as I watched the world’s most incredible miracle take place in real time. SaraCate reached out for my hand to put it on the baby’s back and then urged Lane to do the same. The three of us held on to her together as she squirmed and blinked.
“What’s her name gonna be?” SaraCate asked softly.
“Abigail,” Lane and I said together, locking eyes.
I cleared my throat. “It means ‘my father’s joy.’”
After a while, when SaraCate was somewhat recovered and I was sitting shirtless in the recliner with Abbie on my chest, visitors streamed in. Everyone had brought gifts for SaraCate and generally celebrated her generosity. Lane and I were thrilled to see everyone pamper her the way we’d been doing for months and planned to keep on doing as long as she’d let us.
Lane came over and propped himself on the armrest of the recliner, leaning in to put his arm around me and place his other hand on our daughter’s little round bottom. “She’s gorgeous.”
“She’s got a pair of lungs on her. Did you hear earlier?”
“Of course. She sounded like her daddy when the Bovines are down a couple points at the end of the game,” Lane said.
I laughed. Bless the man for trying, but he was not a football fan. If he was, he’d know the Bovines hadn’t been just a couple of points away from victory in a decade. “And did you see the side-eye she threw at the nurse when they wanted to put the hat with the bow on her? Our baby girl has opinions…”
“Yeah,” Lane sighed.
“…like her papa when it comes to the love life of our tenant in the apartment over the garage.” I gave my husband a look.
Lane rolled his eyes even as he cuddled closer. “I’ll have you know, matchmaking is a time-honored Thicket tradition, Jaybird. And is it such a bad thing to want everyone to find love and happiness like we did?”
“Not at all.” I wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him down to press our lips together. “No regrets, then?” I teased, already knowing what his answer would be since Lane had never given me a single reason to doubt it.
“Regret Entwinin’ myself to the best man in the universe? Regret working at a practice where I’m making a real difference? Regret moving to a town I love and that loves me back?” He shook his head. “Not for a single second. I found more in the Thicket than I ever dreamed.” He traced Abbie’s head with one gentle finger. “My life here is…”
“Perfect?” I teased.
He grinned. “Better than perfect. It’s just right.” He kissed me again. “And it’s ours. Together.”