“This never gets old, does it?” she asked.
“Never,” he swallowed down the emotion that constricted his throat. “Thank you for this life, Lily. For letting me be your husband. For making me a father. For being so much of the glue that holds our friend group together.”
“Thank you for being brave enough to step up for me.”
“No. I wasn’t the brave one. You were. The bravest. To trust me to keep you safe. To trust me to love Sage. To be willing to start over in Silver Springs and leave everything you’d known behind. I’m so proud of you. I’m so proud to be your husband. I’m so proud of everything we’ve built together.”
“Okay,” she sniffled. “You probably need to just wait to say anything else nice to me until after our son is born. I can’t take it. I need my grumpy, growly man back.”
Gunner felt her stomach growing hard beneath his palm and her groan filled the air around them. “It’s okay. You’ve got this, Lil. Just keep breathing.”
He stayed like that, right by her side, from that momenton. Through hours of contractions. Through the infinitely sacred moments of pushing. He never let go. Never stopped trying to pour every ounce of strength he possessed into her.
And just as the earliest tendrils of morning light from the sunrise touched the edge of Lily’s hospital bed, their son’s beautiful cries filled the air around them.
THE END
