Owen snickers at my questions.
Ace's lips move like he's holding back laughter. "You're the one who's having a baby on the same night I have a date."
Oh, I’m going to kill him. I already regret asking him to be the baby’s godfather. I point to the door. "Just go."
The girl, whose lips I now believe to be sewn shut, blinks in surprise.
"Call me when the baby comes," Ace says to Owen. They shake hands, and even though I'm annoyed at Ace's single-man idiocy, I accept the gentle hug he offers.
He pats my huge belly. “Give her hell, kiddo.”
“Out!” I roar, and Ace laughs, shuffling back through the door with his date. I meet Owen's eyes.
"Bye, Felicia," we say at the same time, then I laugh until I nearly cry. Maybe it helps spur the baby into action, because pretty soon after that the doctor checks me and declares me ready to push.
An hour later, Hudson Michael Miller comes into the world and a euphoric feeling comes over me. The moment my eyes land on him, an explosion of love blooms in my chest and it’s like my heart has just grown a new compartment, this one made entirely for him. He is perfect, absolutely perfect, and I love him in a way I never knew possible.
When Hudson has been cleaned and checked by the doctor, he is given back to me. Owen hovers over us, alternating kisses between my forehead and the baby's. "We'll try for a girl next time," he says with a wink.
At my sixteen-week appointment, I'd spent all of ten seconds disappointed to hear my hunch had been wrong. Now, looking at the tiny face Owen and I created, I decide I don't care what gender is next in line for us. The longer I stare at Hudson, the more I think of the baby who never was.
"Are you thinking about it?" Owen asks, his voice low.
As hard as it is, I tear my gaze away from the baby who is here now. "Yes."
"Me too. And that's okay." Owen kisses my mouth, telling me he loves me, he loves us, he loves our story, as flawed as it may be.
It was a bumpy road filled with potholes and pitstops, but we got our happily ever after.
Epilogue
Autumn
Two years later
"Today, everyone, we have a very special guest for story time." I smile out to the small crowd of young children and their parents. Every Saturday morning, the back of the bookstore I co-own with Livvie transforms for story hour. We bring out chairs and trays of sliced apples and carrot sticks. And coffee for the parents. Can't forget the caffeine.
I bounce two-year-old Hudson on my hip. "Hudson's daddy is going to read to you!" I tell the small crowd. Hudson claps his hands and squeezes his chubby thighs in his excitement.
Owen joins me at the back of the room and kisses my temple as I step away, settling onto a chair. Hudson climbs off me and runs back to Owen, who scoops him up and sets him down on his lap.
"Okay, everyone, remember how we show Mr. Owen we're ready to listen?" I call out, looking at all the toddlers, preschoolers, and young children. I snap my fingers, and the older ones do too. The younger kids follow suit, practicing the skill.
Owen is our most popular reader, and the discovery of his hidden talent was a happy accident. A parent who was supposed to read had the flu, so Owen filled in. That was eight months ago, and Owen has been on the regular rotation ever since. He does all the voices, ranging in pitch from a high shrieking princes in a castle to a low growling dinosaur.
Things with the store couldn’t be better. Livvie is pregnant and enjoys running a financial advisor firm with her husband in Phoenix. She called me just yesterday to ask if I could give her little sister Luna a job. Apparently she married a German guy she met in Amsterdam after knowing him only a week. Then the second he got his green card, he split. Now she’s twenty-two, divorced, and looking for a fresh start. I know about those all too well, and told Livvie I’d be happy to help. She arrives in Sedona next week.
As I sit back, listening to Owen, I absentmindedly rub my growing stomach. It'll only be a few more months until we meet our baby girl. This time, my hunch was right.
Owen reads, and Hudson sits still, enraptured by the story and helping turn the pages. Funny how when I returned home three years ago, I checked the weather before boarding my plane and thought about how nice it would be to have a similar, personal radar to tell me what was in store for me.
Would I have believed the radar if I saw all this? Probably not.
I wish every day that my mom were here to be a grandma to my kids. That will never happen, and it's up to me to tell them all about her. How she was a fierce mama bear, how she raised me as a single mother, how she fought cancer three times like a warrior.
Our daughter Makenzie Faith Miller will know why she carries that middle name.
Owen closes the book when the story is done, catching my eye, and winks. I smile back at him.
This is the life we always wanted together, and even though it took us longer than we thought it would to get there, we made it, and that is what counts.
We found our way home to each other. Thank God for second chances.
The End