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Ava shakes her head. “Nope. I’m not done yet.”

Nora looks over to Lennon. “She’s going to be a baby hog! I knew it.”

Lennon shrugs, but there’s a smile on her face.

“Can I see the baby?” James asks as Ava lowers her arms so he can admire his new cousin. “Aw, she’s really cute.”

“She is, isn’t she?” Lennon interjects from the bed.

James looks up at me now. “She looks like you.”

I laugh through the lump in my throat. “Is that right?”

He nods confidently. “Yup. Totally.”

I know that isn’t biologically possible, but his observation makes my chest threaten to burst.

By the time everyone leaves, quiet finally descends on the hospital room. Lennon is nursing Presley in bed, and I’m perched on the edge, watching her stare down at our daughter.

“She does look like you,” Lennon whispers.

“You think so?”

“Well, I mean…I know it’s not possible.” Her finger traces my daughter’s cheek. “But she does.”

I tip Lennon’s chin so she’s forced to look at me. “Hey. Anything is possible. And I’d like to believe that after everything we’ve been through, you and I are living proof of that.”

Chapter 31

Lennon

Graduation and Making Out with the Wrong Guy

“Freaking finally!” Ginny squeezes my upper arm as we enter the packed gymnasium for our Pinning Ceremony. This year’s nursing class is the largest in Garnet Valley Community College history, and the number of people here supporting their loved ones makes that evident.

I scan the crowd for my family but don’t see them yet.

“We did it, Lennon. We’re actually nurses,” she continues.

I turn to her, letting her bright smile trigger mine. “Still have to pass the NCLEX, but that’ll be a cakewalk, Ginny.” I take her hand. “Thank you for being beside me through this. I—I couldn’t have done it without you.”

She scoffs. “Are you freaking for real right now? You finished the program early, and I thought I might collapse from exhaustion by the end. I don’t know how you did it while pregnant, girl. But you sure as hell didn’t need me.”

Ginny’s words make me stand a little taller.

The pride I feel in myself today is something I wasn’t sure I’d ever have.

I accomplished a pretty spectacular feat this past year—finishing the nursing program and having a baby.

When I think about how I felt back in August when I found out I was pregnant and where I am now, it boggles my mind that I was able to work past that self-doubt.

But I did.

And I know that a huge reason I was able to was because of the man holding our daughter right now in the audience.

As soon as my eyes land on Easton, my cheeks start to burn from my smile.

He lifts Presley’s tiny hand, our two-month-old completely oblivious to what’s happening. Today, I’ll take enough pictures to show her when she’s older—to prove she can do hard things and build a life full of love along the way.