“How are my girls today?” he asks while palming my belly.
“Me and your son are good,” I say with a smile, and he chuckles.
“I was just about to make some lunch—are you hungry?” Janet asks, and I shake my head.
“No, thank you—I ate before I drove down,” I tell her, and she nods.
“I’ll be in the kitchen. Come visit with me before you take off.”
“I will,” I promise, and she smiles at Tanner before wandering off down the hall. Once she’s out of sight, Tanner slides his hand up my back, and I turn to focus on him.
“Did you drive the Subaru?” he asks, and my nose scrunches. About a month after we confirmed that I was pregnant, he bought me a brand-new Subaru, insisting that it’s safer than my Bronco, but I’ve only driven it a handful of times, something that I know annoys him greatly. “Baby.”
“I like my car.”
“I know you do, and I understand why, but it’s not safe for you and our baby to be in your car.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not.” He gives me a look that says clearly he’s not happy. “If something was to happen to you, I couldn’t—” His jaw clenches as he cuts off his statement, and my stomach twists because I know that’s his worst fear, and I get it because I don’t know what I would do if something were to happen to him.
“Okay,” I say softly, resting my palm against his chest and feeling his heart thumping hard. This isn’t our first conversation on this subject, but I’ve never seen real worry from him about it until now. “I’ll drive the Subaru from now on.”
“Promise?” His eyes search mine, and I nod. “Thank you, sunshine.” He wraps his hand around the nape of my neck, then touches his lips to mine. When he pulls away, his eyes go over the top of my head. I look to see what or who has caught his attention and see Blake standing a few feet away.
“Cybil.” Blake comes to greet me; then, like he’s done for a while now, he places a kiss on my cheek. “How’s my nephew?” His eyes drop to my stomach.
“Good, active—especially when I want to sleep,” I tell him, and his eyes soften.
“Not much longer and he’ll be keeping you up all night like Taylor’s doing to Margret,” he says with a warm smile, referring to his sister’s newborn daughter, Taylor, who’s already crawling around and giving Margret a run for her money.
“I can’t wait until he’s here so they can entertain each other,” I say, and Tanner cuts in.
“You two really need to stop referring to my daughter as a boy.”
“He is a boy.” I turn to grin at him as I rest my hand on my stomach.
“She’s not,” he denies, then looks at Blake when he chuckles. “Everything okay?”
“Yep, just need to get the guest list printed so we’re ready for tomorrow,” Blake tells him, looking toward the closed office door.
“Everly already took care of it,” Tanner tells him, and instead of looking impressed, Blake looks annoyed.
“Right, then I’m going to—”
His words are cut off when pain slices through my stomach and back, and I reach out and dig my nails into his bicep and cling to Tanner’s shirt so that I don’t fall to my knees.
“Sunshine.” Tanner’s panicked voice cuts through the fog of pain, and I take a deep breath. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I answer once I’m able; then I meet his worried gaze as my heart starts to race. “It’s too early for me to go into labor, right?”
“You think you’re in labor?”
“I don’t know.” I hold my stomach, which feels tight. “I think so.” Tears fill my eyes because something isn’t right.
“It’ll be okay.” He scoops me up and heads toward the front of the lodge, with Blake right behind us. Before I can say a word, the two of them get me into Tanner’s truck, and the next thing I know, I’m being admitted to the hospital.
TANNER
Dressed in a set of scrubs, I follow a nurse into the operating room, and my heart seizes in my chest when I see Cybil lying on the hospital bed attached to machines, with a large blue sheet blocking my view of her belly. Her belly where our baby has been growing for months; her belly that I’ve kissed, rubbed, and fallen in love with. When I meet her worried gaze, I attempt to hide the fear I’m feeling; she doesn’t need to know that I’m scared, but I am. Other than a little bit of morning sickness, her pregnancy has been easy, so finding out after they ran some tests that she’s suffering from placental abruption has been a shock for both of us.
“You have to stay right next to her head,” the nurse informs me. I lift my chin, letting her know that I heard her, then walk toward my wife.
“Hey, sunshine.” I smooth my hand over the top of her hair, and tears fill her beautiful eyes. “It’s going to be okay,” I assure her, praying that I’m right.
“I’m so scared, Tanner.”
“I know, baby.” I drop my forehead to rest against hers and whisper soothing nonsense as the doctors and nurses work around us. Time seems to go in slow motion, and I don’t even think I really breathe until a sharp cry fills the room over the sound of quiet murmurs.
“Mom and Dad, you have a beautiful, healthy little girl,” a woman announces, and tears I can’t hold back fill my eyes as I wipe away the tracks of tears from Cybil’s temples.
“You were right,” Cybil whispers, sounding tired but happy, and I press my lips to her forehead, holding them there as a whirlwind of activity begins to swarm around us.
“So proud of you, baby.”
“You always say that.” I see her smile through the mask she has on before I turn to watch a group of nurses clean up our girl and check her over. “Is she okay? What does she look like?”
“She’s okay, she’s beautiful,” I assure her, then focus on her beautiful sleepy face. “We still need to decide on her name.”
“Claire Montana after my mom and the place we fell in love,” she says, her eyes searching mine and looking unsure, and I rest my lips against her forehead.
“I love it, and you.” I smooth my hand over her hair.
“Here she is, Mom and Dad,” a nurse says, quietly holding Claire close to Cybil’s chest, and I reach out and carefully touch her cheek with the tip of my finger.
“She’s perfect.” I look at my two girls, not sure that I’ll ever get used to loving two people so much. Before Cybil, I had no idea what love was, and now with our daughter here with us, I’m sure I didn’t.
CYBIL
“I love you,” I whisper to my husband, watching him hold Claire’s tiny body against his bare chest, and he turns his head my way, giving me a warm smile filled with contentment and happiness.
“I love you, too, sunshine.” He reaches across the space between us and touches my cheek. “I love both my girls.” He kisses the top of Claire’s head, and tears fill my eyes.
I’m sure some people might think I rushed into love, but without a doubt it was the best thing I’ve ever done, and I truly believe that my mom had something to do with the miracle I was given.