“Thanks.”
Steph is next to arrive, coming up the porch steps behind him and followed swiftly by Luke, Mark, and Owen–each with big grins.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Aidan says, moving further into the entry, “but my mom and the chief are on their way too. She wouldn’t let me hear the end of it once she learned about this little impromptu get-together.”
“Of course not. The more the merrier.”
I usher everyone towards the kitchen, pausing to place the beer on the counter, then move to Lucy’s side where she’s standing now by the French doors. I take the baby from her arms and hold her up in front of everyone as they gasp and exclaim at her cuteness. Pride dances in my chest just as Lucy steps up beside me. She rubs her hand tenderly against our daughter’s back a few times before finally announcing, “Everyone, meet our daughter, Cecelia Leigh Gardner. Cece, for short.”
The room erupts again with noise and our friends converge on us. “After your abuela,” Piper states, and Lucy nods.
Cece is passed around from person to person while Lucy and I watch with a mixture of anxiety and delight. Aidan rolls his eyes at me repeatedly when I flinch at each hand-off and when I lecture them all about supporting her head. It’s only when Cece makes her way into Steph’s arms that I’m able to finally relax. At least she has experience.
We settle in around the little folding table sipping on our beers and Piper produces a bottle of something fizzy and raspberry for Lucy, raising a toast to Cece in little plastic champagne glasses. Another toast is made to our new home and the girls praise my grand gesture giving me nods of approval.
Nora and Chief Hudson arrive with pizza and more beer. Another round of pass-the-baby follows and Lucy rests her head on my shoulder smiling sleepily while we watch our people love on our little girl. I don’t think it’s possible to be happier than I am right now.
There are some gifts to open, and Steph marvels at how at ease Cece is while being handled by so many strangers, how good-natured. It’s true that she’s barely made a peep the entire time they’ve been here, only fussing briefly when the doorbell rang for Nora and the chief. “That won’t last,” she says, and it almost sounds like a threat. No doubt she knows more about what we’re in for than anyone else here–other than Nora, that is–who I notice is nodding in agreement, her face stretched with a knowing grin. Great.
Lucy gives the girls a tour of the house, and I can hear her distantly chattering away about her plans for each room while I remain in the kitchen hovering over my daughter. She shouts in surprise when she finds the little box of colorful ribbons that I’d left on the counter of the bathroom that will be our daughter’s. I take the stairs two at a time, joining the girls by the vanity in the little bathroom. Lucy is fingering the satiny fabric of a cobalt blue ribbon when she meets my gaze in the mirror. Her eyes are wide and twinkling.
“You remembered?” she asks, her voice filled with reverence. “About Sophie and the ribbons she always wore?”
I just nod and she drops the ribbon, turning to step into my arms. The girls slip from the room to give us a moment alone. We listen to their fading voices as they descend the stairs, bickering over who gets to hold Cece next. She giggles, but it’s broken by a yawn. And then another. She presses her face into my chest, and I know it’s time to wrap up this little party and get my girls home.
“They might be out of luck. I don’t think the chief is going to give her up,” I joke.
“Nope, he had her locked in pretty securely against his chest the last time I saw him,” she agrees, and I can feel her smile against my chest. “He even snarled a little at Luke when he got too close.”
“A man after my own heart.”
“Yep.”
On their way out, Piper pauses in the doorway to pat my face, murmuring, “You did good, Noah.”
“Thank you.”
“You sure did,” Steph pipes up from the porch. “The house is gorgeous, and those bathrooms sure do sparkle!”
“Well … I may have stress cleaned in here a time or two while I was working up the nerve to beg for forgiveness,” I admit. “No doubt the neighbors were wondering justwhoexactly was moving in, and what I was up to with all the lights blazing at 3:30 in the morning. I got a little side-eye from the elderly man across the street last week.”
“Oh great,” Lucy teases at my side, running a hand over Cece’s head. “We’re off to a good start with the neighborhood watch, then.”
“They’ll be happy to have a cop around,” the chief assures her. “Don’t you worry about that.”
???
That night we lay in bed together for a long while, exhausted, but still riding the high of the last few days and unable to fall immediately to sleep. Instead, we catch each other up on what we missed during the months we were apart. Lucy tells me about the baby shower and about a confrontation that occurred between Mrs. Abernathy and the mayor out front of The Bean just a few weeks ago where Mrs. Abernathy swung her umbrella at him and literally chased him away.
I told her more about what went down with my parents and filled her in on what I could regarding the Jane Doe case, and the fact that she’s no longer a Jane. No, she hasn’t regained her memory yet, but shehasdecided to stay in town following her release from the hospital. And she’s chosen a new name for herself–Tessa. It may very wellbeher real name, too, as she claims to have good feelings whenever she hears it, though we’ve yet to find any new evidence or links at all to the name. Luke has offered her the use of his garage apartment while she gets on her feet and she’s currently looking for a job.
“That was nice of him.”
“Yeah, he seems to have a real soft spot for her. He spent a lot of time as the duty cop watching over her at the hospital.” I shrug. “I guess they’ve become friends.”
“Well, I’m looking forward to meeting her. Maybe I could even find a spot for her at The Bean. We’ll see how it goes after they’ve adjusted to me being on maternity leave. With Jill doing double duty filling in for me it’s very likely that we’ll be needing some more help.”
“That could be good.”
