her in as soon as she wakes up.”
I nod my head, but I’m not satisfied. I won’t be, not until my wife is here and I have her and our daughter with me at the same time.
I’m rocking our daughter when they finally wheel April into the room. They set her up in bed and she’s still pretty out of it.
“Hey, honey,” I say to her and she blinks her eyes a few times before finally opening them.
“The baby?” she asks me.
“She’s perfect. She’s so perfect, April. Look at how beautiful she is.” I lay her down on her momma’s chest and she instantly falls asleep. April is looking down at her and love is shining in her eyes.
I can’t hold it back anymore. A tear escapes and rolls down my cheek. Before I know it, I’m full-on crying. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost either one of them.
I lean down and whisper to her, “I love you and our baby girl.”
She’s exhausted. I can see it in her face. But she still smiles at me. “We love you too.”
April
It’s the middle of the night and I jolt up, remembering that I’m in the hospital. Looking around the room, I see Terry sitting in the corner with our baby girl pressed against his shirtless chest.
Just in one afternoon he’s a natural. I had wondered how he would do with this, a new baby and all. But he’s done perfectly. He’s a natural. And there’s no doubt that he loves his little girl.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I thought about Allen today. He would have become a father today. We may not have worked out, but he would have loved his little girl, I have no doubt.
My voice is scratchy as I mutter to Terry, “You’re going to spoil her.”
He smiles over at me and shrugs his shoulder. “She’s my baby girl. Of course I’m going to spoil her.”
She starts stretching in his arms, wiggling all around. He gets up and brings her to me, laying her on my bare breast. She latches on to me and we both watch her suckle. Terry’s hand is stroking through my hair, and his voice is hoarse. “I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to either of you.”
I reach up and grab his hand. “But nothing did. Plus, you just told me you loved me. There’s nothing that would stop me from coming back to you now.”
He leans down and kisses my lips gently. He pulls back a little to look into my eyes. “I fell in love with you five months ago, honey.”
I release a breath. “All this time wasted.”
He just smiles and shakes his head. “It wasn’t wasted. We were together. That’s all that matters, and from this point forward it’s the three of us…. I finally got my family.”
I press my forehead to his. “Kiss me, Terry.”
He smiles widely. “With pleasure,” he says right before his lips touch mine in a kiss filled with promises.
Epilogue
Terry
Six weeks. It’s been six weeks and I’ve been marking off the days since the birth of our baby girl, Ella. I mean, I should be talking about celebrating her six-week birthday, but I’m not. No, I’m hoping to celebrate something else.
I whip my truck into the driveway and sprint across the yard, up the steps and into the house. I call April’s name as soon as I walk in, ducking my head in and out of each of the rooms for her. My heart is racing and the closer I get to my bedroom, the harder it beats. I stop in the doorway and there she is.
“What’d the doctor say?” I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s lying on the bed, wrapped in a black silky robe.
She just smiles and nods her head. “He says we’re good to go.”
I pounce on her then, jumping onto the bed with a whoop and a holler.
I start pulling her clothes off her and look over into the bassinet next to the bed. “Where’s Ella?” I ask her between kisses.
April is pulling at my clothes as fast as I’m pulling at hers. “She’s with Shannon for a few hours.” I’m not surprised when she mentions Shannon watching Ella. Shannon and April have become pretty close since she jumped in the fire truck with us when April went into labor.
Groaning, I lean over her. “A few hours. Honey, I have months and months to make up for. A