Epilogue
“Are you sure the baby seat is strapped in right?” Cole asked, both hands on the steering wheel of the brand-new GMC Ford Yukon he’d bought to bring the baby home from the hospital. “Is she buckled in?”
“It’s fine. She’s fine.” Erin stared at the bundle wrapped in pink, strapped into her car seat, blissfully unaware that her daddy was freaking out in the front seat.
Erin, sore from the experience of bringing their beautiful baby girl into the world, looked at her husband and managed a laugh. She’d opted to sit in the back with the baby while he drove them home from the hospital.
Not only did they have a new truck, fully loaded and very safe, according to Cole, but they had a new digital SLR camera with home movie capabilities, and the house had been wired with video cameras so they could watch the baby in any room. To say Cole had lost his mind was an understatement.
But Erin loved every minute of his involvement, knowing what a change it was from the solitary, withdrawn, disinterested man he’d been when he came back to Serendipity.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Glad you remembered I had something to do with this too,” she said, chuckling.
“Oh, I remember. Every last second of making her to you giving birth to her.”
Erin tried her best not to blush. It might be natural, but it was still a mortifying moment, at least until the pain had wiped every last thought from her head.
But she was worth it, Erin thought, stroking her daughter’s cheek, enthralled with her soft skin and tiny features. She wasn’t paying attention, and it seemed like only seconds had passed when Cole pulled into the garage of the house, shutting the electric door behind them.
A few minutes later, he’d helped Erin out of the car and placed the baby in her arms. He let her go ahead, and she slowly made her way upstairs. Although the baby had her own room, they’d agreed to keep her in their bedroom, at least for a little while.
They settled her into the bassinet and Erin eased herself onto the bed.
Cole joined her, stretching out beside her. “Your parents wanted to be here when you came home, but I talked them into waiting until this afternoon.”
Erin grinned. “Good thinking.” It would have been too much to have people here waiting for her, even if it was her mom and dad.
Ella and Simon had been at the hospital, so they hadn’t been deprived of time with their granddaughter.
“I wanted my girls all to myself for a little while.” His eyes were alight with joy, and Erin hoped she’d never again see the bleakness that had been there nine months ago.
“Say that again,” she said, staring into his handsome face.
“What?”
“My girls.” Erin would never get tired of hearing him refer to them that way.
“You are my girls. You were mine since the day I laid eyes on you at Joe’s. I was just too stubborn to admit it.”
She smiled. He was that. “I’m just glad we were able to pull off the wedding before she was born.”
“I still wish you’d had a big wedding with all the trimmings. You deserve that.”
Erin shook her head. “I deserve you.”
They’d had a small wedding at the house on December 15, with Erin’s family. Cole’s mother and Brody had come—and to everyone’s surprise, so had Jed, who had been on his best behavior. He hadn’t stayed long, but he’d witnessed the ceremony, and they took what they could get from him.
“My dad gave me away and I walked down the aisle to you. The rest would have been icing.” She loved that expression of his. “And you give me enough of that every day.” She cupped his cheek in her hand. “I love you,” she said, her voice catching. She shook her head. “Sorry. I’m still overly emotional.”
He clasped her hand in his. “You think I’m not? Never, not once in my life, did I think I’d have . . . this.” He swept his arm around for emphasis. “I didn’t think I deserved it.”
That truth never failed to upset and anger her. “You were so wrong.”
“It’s in the past.” He brushed a kiss over her lips.
“Not far enough if you can still remember it,” she muttered.