“Okay,” she said quietly. “One night.”
I squeezed her hand. “The house will still be there tomorrow.”
“I know.” She looked down at Hope, asleep in the hospital bassinet. “I just wanted her first night to be there. In Gran’s house. Where she belongs.”
“Her second night will be,” I said. “And every night after that.”
Grace leaned into me. Let out a breath.
“Yeah,” she said. “Okay.”
They discharged us the next morning, just before noon. Hope had passed every check. Her temperature was stable. She was feeding well. Her lungs were clear. The pediatrician pronounced her “perfectly healthy, just impatient.”
“She gets that from her mother,” I said.
Grace elbowed me—but she was smiling.
I pulled the truck around, helped Grace into the back seat, where she could sit next to Hope’s car seat. The same car seat I’d installed weeks ago, practicing with a watermelon until I got the straps right.
The crew showed up at eight.
I was on the couch with Hope in my arms, still not entirely convinced she was real, when the doorbell rang. Grace was upstairs resting, under strict orders to sleep while she could.
I opened the door to find Cal on the porch. Flowers in one hand, a stuffed elephant in the other.
“Heard you delivered a baby today,” he said. “Figured we should meet her.”
Liam and Riley were right behind him. Mia bounced between them, already asking if she could hold the baby. Lucy came up the walk with a casserole dish, Gabrielle toddling beside her.
“You didn’t have to—” I started.
“Shut up and let us in,” Cal said. “It’s cold out here.”
I stepped aside, watched my family pour into the living room. That’s what they were, I realized. Not just crew. Family. The kind you chose rather than the kind you were born into.
Mrs. Patterson emerged from the kitchen with a box of cookies, crying before she even saw Hope. “Let me see her. Let me see this baby.”
I handed Hope over carefully. Mrs. Patterson held her like she’d done this a thousand times, one hand automatically supporting Hope’s neck.
“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh, she’s perfect. She looks just like Grace did. That same little nose.”
Cal appeared at my elbow. “How you doing?”
“Honestly? I have no idea.”
He nodded like that made sense. “First twenty-four hours are the wildest. It settles. Eventually.”
“When?”
“I’ll let you know when I figure it out.” He clapped my shoulder. “You did good today, Mitchell. Leaving the fire. Being there for her. That took guts.”
“You’re the one who told me to go.”
“And you’re the one who listened.” His eyes were serious. “You made a different choice. That matters.”
I made my way through the crowd. Liam handed me a beer I didn’t remember asking for. Riley asked about Grace, about the delivery, about whether I’d actually caught the baby myself or if that was an exaggeration.
“I caught her,” I said. “She was slippery.”
