Let It Be (Butler, Vermont #6) - Marie Force Page 0,65
known she would be. Check out her mom.”
“And her dad. Handsomest guy in the whole wide world.”
“If you say so.”
“I say so.”
“Is it super weird to say I see a hint of Caleb in her? Or is that just wishful thinking?”
“No, I see it, too. It’s that little twisty thing she does with her lips. That’s all him.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
Ella glanced at him and watched as he swiped at a tear.
“I hate that he’ll never know her, that she’ll never know him.”
“She’ll know him, Gav. She’ll know him through us and through Hannah and your parents. He’ll be part of her life. I promise.”
He nodded and ran a finger over the baby’s cheek. “She’s so freaking perfect. Thank you for her.”
“Thank you for her.”
“You did all the hard work.”
Ella leaned into him. “I couldn’t have done it without you.” She continued to gaze at the sleeping baby. “I’ve dreamed of her for years, and you made my dream come true. All my dreams have come true because of you. As long as I have you and Sarah, I have everything I need.”
He held her close and kissed the top of her head. “You’ve got us, love.”
The bus full of Abbotts pulled up to the hospital’s main entrance shortly before eleven. Linc and Molly got off the bus to go inside to help Ella and Gavin. Char was there with the car seat, and the baby was loaded up. Linc took the base of the seat to the bus and asked Lucas to install it for his sister. As firefighters, he and Landon were car seat experts.
When they were ready, Ella was rolled outside in a wheelchair while Gavin followed, carrying the baby in the seat. As they prepared to get on the bus, Ella’s siblings gave her a round of applause.
“Way to go, Mama,” Lucas said, hanging with his brothers from the open windows.
“Holy hot brothers,” one of the nurses said to Ella.
“They’re jackasses.”
“They’re adorable,” the nurse said, laughing at their antics.
Linc hugged Char. “I’ll be in touch.”
“I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”
“Merry Christmas.”
“Same to you, Linc. It was so great to see you and to meet your beautiful family.”
“I can’t wait to meet yours.”
“We’ll make that happen very soon.”
They hugged once more, as if they were afraid they might not see each other again.
When everyone else was back on the bus, he left Char standing on the curb and waved to her as the bus pulled away.
“You’ll see her soon,” Molly said when he was seated with her.
“I really hope so.”
“You will.”
When they were on their way, Linc stood and turned to face the others. “I just want to say thanks to all of you for coming with me and supporting me through these last few days. And I want to thank you, Hunter, for handling the logistics and realizing that having you all in the room would make a much bigger statement than me telling my father I have ten children.”
“We do tend to make a statement,” Colton said, making everyone laugh.
“That’s what happens when you’re raised in a barn,” the group of them said together.
Lincoln laughed at the familiar refrain. “Indeed.” He glanced at Molly. “And now I want to tell you another story, this one about your mother.”
Molly’s brows furrowed with confusion. “What’d I do now?”
“It’s what you did forty years ago, after the first time we were here together, that I want tell them.”
“Oh,” she said, smiling as she tuned in to where he was going.
“When we got back to Vermont, we were still pretty shell-shocked by what’d happened with my father. We told your grandparents, and they were equally astounded. And then your mom, she went to her dad and told him I needed to know I still had a family. I had their family. She asked him to marry us that night.”
“Whoa,” Hannah said. “Did you do it, Gramps?”
“By then, I knew there was no coming between your parents, so of course I agreed.”
“What did you say, Dad?” Lucas asked.
He looked down at the love of his life and reached for her hand. “When Molly Stillman got down on her knees and asked me to spend the rest of my life with her, starting that night, I said, ‘Hell yes.’ And your grandfather married us right there in their living room, three months before our official wedding.”
“How have we never heard this?” Will asked.
“If I told you that, I would’ve had to tell you the rest, and I didn’t want to