And that’s just Sam.
The rest of us will strengthen our bonds as friends, find new ways to be lovers and partners, develop our careers and hobbies, and maybe even grow families of our own.
And through it all, we’ll be there for each other. Just like we always have been, but better now, because there are more connections, more love, more memories to share and cherish.
“Who wants to hold him next?” Kate says. “I don’t want to be a hog.”
“Plus babies kind of scare her,” Harry adds with a wink.
“They’re just so damn tiny,” Kate replies. “It’s terrifying.”
“I want to hold him,” Hattie interrupts.
I turn to her, breath catching in my throat. With all that she’s been going through with her own body and fertility, I know that it can’t have been easy to utter the words she just did.
A shadow flits across Kate’s face and I know I’m not alone in my thoughts. But she nods and stands, eyes brimming with tears of love and empathy as she hands the newborn to Hattie.
Hattie settles Sam into the crook of her arm, her other hand fixing his swaddling blankets. “Hi,” she says, almost fearfully. “I’m your Aunt Hattie.”
Sam’s tiny hand twitches and flops in his sleep, pushing back the bundled blankets. She moves to adjust them again, then freezes when his small fingers wrap around her pointer finger.
“Oh,” she breathes in the same awed tone that I did a moment ago, voice thick with tears. Ben is at her side in an instant, cradling her as she holds the baby.
After a long moment during which I’m pretty sure we’re all collectively holding our breath, she looks up, smiling. Hattie’s glistening eyes go first to Amelia, then to Kate, and finally to me.
“I think he’s lovely,” she declares, “and I intend to spoil him rotten.”
I know that her words are meant for Amelia and Tatum, but their meaning is for me. My friend is telling me that it’s all going to be okay between her and Sam, that her love for him will transcend her own pain. Maybe her loss will even make their relationship all the stronger.
I nod and smile, hot tears filling my own eyes. I rock back against Oliver, so grateful to be able to share this moment with him.
And not just this moment — every moment to follow this one.
I turn the engagement ring on my finger, wholly ready for a life like this — so full of love that even the hardest, most painfully shed tears are worth the joy of finding a treasure so rare as my fiancé.
It was a one in a million shot that I’d find myself in this room paired with a man that makes my toes curl and the doors of my heart fly open wide. Oliver is my miracle, and he’s made me believe that anything can happen if we only make ourselves available.
I’m so ready for it.