Sam pressed her ear against the door and just as quickly yanked it away. “Was that a—”
“Baby.” Willow sighed. The high-pitched cry of a newborn baby filled the landing. Willow wiped her eyes and hugged Sam tight. “We’re aunties.”
A beeping noise traveled up the stairs from the kitchen.
Willow’s eyes widened. “I forgot about the cookies. I’ll be back soon.”
Before the baby cried for a second time, Willow rushed downstairs. The last thing everyone needed was an oven full of burned cookies. Especially if the fire department made an unexpected appearance.
Zac walked into the kitchen.Willow stood at the counter, carefully placing small spoons of jam on top of some balls of cookie dough. After the last few hours, it was good to be here, drawing in the sweet, comforting scent of freshly baked cookies. “What are you doing?”
Willow jumped. The spoon fell onto the baking sheet, leaving a sticky blob of jam on top of the cookies.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“That’s okay. How are Megan and the baby?”
“They’re doing fine. Megan said to come and see them when you’re ready.”
“I’ll go upstairs soon,” Willow said with a smile. “I want to get these cookies in the oven in case Megan and William are hungry. Did they have a boy or a girl?”
“A girl.”
Willow’s smile took some of the weight off Zac’s shoulders.
“That’s wonderful. Nora will be excited.”
“She isn’t the only one. William hasn’t stopped smiling since he saw his baby daughter.” Zac walked across to the cookies cooling on the counter. Just looking at the big pieces of chocolate sitting in the middle of each one made his taste buds go into overdrive.
“Would you mind if I ate a cookie?”
“You can have as many as you like. Would you like a cup of coffee, too?”
He sat heavily on a kitchen stool. “You don’t know how good that sounds.”
Willow frowned. “Was it a difficult labor?”
“It was faster than I was expecting. Megan did really well.”
“How are you?”
He watched Willow pour hot coffee into a cup. “I’m okay.”
“Are you sure?” Willow handed him the coffee.
“Thanks.” He sighed when she didn’t move. “That was the first baby I’ve delivered in three years.”
Willow’s eyebrows rose. “Did you tell Megan and William?”
“They knew, but they weren’t worried.”
“But you were?”
Zac tightened his hold on the cup. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because a lot can go wrong, especially when it’s a quick delivery.”
