“You’ll like this one,” I told her with a grin. At that moment, two of the lodge’s maintenance workers carted in a tree. The tree was a sapling, but since it was a tree, it was still a large object to bring into a ballroom. I didn’t care about that, though. “Bailey,” I said once everyone’s attention was on the tree. “I bought this tree for you to plant in my front yard in the memory of Hart Kingsley. It goes without saying that your sleeping angel didn’t share my DNA. But because I’m in love with his mother, he lives in my heart. Even though he was only present for a short while, his presence changed the dynamic and the trajectory of both Bailey’s life and mine. The mark he left is indelible as hebrought the two of us together. And without him, we wouldn’t be welcoming his sibling in twenty-seven weeks—give or take.”
That announcement caused the entire room to erupt.
Epilogue
Bailey
Twenty-seven weekslater
“Bailey,are you sure you’re okay?” Pearlie asked me for the one hundredth time since I arrived earlier.
I wasn’t. I’d spent the night in a fitful sleep for two reasons. The first was that I couldn’t find a comfortable position. The baby was apparently huge and taking up every millimeter of space in my womb. The second reason was the cramps in my back. Every time I thought I was about to drift into the REM portion of sleep, my back wanted to act crazy.
Bright tried to convince me to stay home, but I refused. I didn’t see the point in sitting at home all day bored out of my mind, when I could be at work getting things done. It was already early March. We were barely a month out from the spring festival and Stronghart Manor Bed & Breakfast needed to be ready to host the visitors who had booked.
“I’m good.” I lied, basically using the countertop of the reception desk to hold myself up. Not only was my back hurting,but the constant tightening and loosening of my stomach muscles was trying to take me out. I was almost positive that I was experiencing contractions, but I couldn’t swear to it. The last thing I wanted to do was show up at the hospital in false labor and be sent home.
“Bailey, I’m uncomfortable with you being here,” Fawna, the receptionist, told me with a frown on her face. “You either need to be at home or in somebody’s hospital bed. You’re gonna end up having that baby right here.”
I tried to hide the grimace on my face. “You’re being dramatic. Anyway, you know I’m not having the baby in a hospital. I’m having a home birth.” After everything I went through with Hart, I was too triggered and traumatized to face the thought of a hospital birth. Bright was sweet enough to support my decision, but he did put in a caveat that if at any time things looked like they were going left, we would immediately head for Jackson Falls Medical Center. “And if I am in labor, I should eat, right? I heard that once you’re in active labor nobody will feed you anything but ice chips.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Fawna reminded us for the umpteenth time that she was childless.
“It’s true,” Pearlie confirmed. “What do you want to eat, Bailey? I’ll feed you. But right after you eat, I’m calling Bright to come and get you.”
I grinned at her through my discomfort. “You know what I want: crab cakes and duchess potatoes.” Ever since the Roaring 20s birthday party, I’d been stuck on duchess potatoes. They weren’t only delicious; they were also pretty to look at. Pearlie had gotten Brewer’s recipe and made them taste exactly the way I liked them.
Fawna wrinkled her pert nose. “It’s nine in the morning. Who eats mashed potatoes for breakfast?”
“Pregnant women,” Pearlie told her. “Come out to the kitchen, Bailey, and let me feed you.”
I followed her, and it was wasn’t too much longer before I was enjoying the meal Pearlie made for me.
I was resting my head on the countertop of the kitchen island, fighting my way through what I was starting to accept was a contraction when I heard a familiar voice.
“Bailey Boo,” my baby sister, Church, crooned. “Are you okay? Your mother called me, talking about she had a feeling that somebody needed to check on you. Here I am and you’re practically laying on the countertop.” She shook her head. “Mother’s intuition.”
“Why didn’t she come?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“She’s at your house with Bright getting everything set up. It seems like everybody has a feeling that this baby is coming soon.”
I was tired of pretending like I wasn’t in pain. “Okay. Let’s go. I’ve been hurting since last night. The pain is only getting worse and coming more quickly. Let me text the midwife.”
At the house,Bright met me at Church’s SUV and the two of them helped me into the house. Even through the pain and distraction, I noticed that the living room of Bright’s home was set up just the way I’d asked him to do it. Even though it wasn’t even noon, the blackout curtains I’d had him install were drawn shut. Candles were lit and string lights were hung, giving off a soft aura. The sound of a rainstorm coupled with the soft sounds of the familiar R&B slow jams that Alisha had raised us on floated from hidden speakers. Tina Marie crooned soothingly about “Portuguese Love.”
“You okay?” Bright questioned, staring directly into my eyes. “You ready for me to fill up the tub, or do you want to spend some time on the birthing ball?”
This man was so attentive to me. He made me feel so seen and heard that I wanted to cry. I’d never had that before in life. I was thankful. “I want to sit on the birthing ball while somebody fills up the tub. But first I want to get out of these clothes.”
My mom wanted to help me change, but Bright wasn’t willing to let me out of his sight. After he helped me change out of my clothes and into a sports bra and swim skirt, I tried to find comfort using the birthing ball. The birthing ball didn’t give me much relief, so Bright helped me into the tub.
“You can do this,” he encouraged me as he massaged my lower back.
I rocked and hummed, trying to concentrate on everything except the intense pain. Bright and I had opted against finding out the sex of the baby. He probably wanted to know, but I knew myself. I knew if the baby was a boy, like Hart, there was no way I wouldn’t have spent the entire pregnancy believing that this baby would suffer the same fate as Hart. It was better for my anxiety that I not know, and Bright went along with that. We both had our suspicions though.
By the time the midwife arrived and got set up, I was ten centimeters dilated and fully effaced. With her help, Bright’s encouragement, and my mom’s soft cheering, I managed to push the baby out in a little over an hour. The loud cries coming from the baby finally caused my nervous system to relax and let my heart settle into the notion that I was a mother to a very much alive baby.
Once both the baby and I were cleaned up, we were moved to our bedroom. I opened the fluffy, soft robe I was wearing so Bright could place our child on my chest and I could do skin-to-skin. It was my dream to have the opportunity to be skin-to-skin with a warm, breathing baby ever since I delivered Hart. I wrapped my arms around the baby as Bright dropped to his knees beside the bed. His head rested on my stomach, right below where the baby rested on my chest. Both of us were consumed by tears.
