“Do you need anything? Ice? Heating pad?”
“I’m better now that you’re here.” I gripped his hand. “I love you, you know that?”
He tilted his head. “Is there something I should worry about? Is that baby coming out with blue eyes or something?”
“No. I just know everything’s about to get crazy and it will become a circus.” A wonderful, amazing circus but a circus all the same. I touched his chin. “You’ve made me so happy, Anderson Thompson. I’m so grateful to have you in my life.”
His hand landed on my belly. “You know I feel the same. Every day with you and this crazy, mixed-up family is a gift. Thank you for sharing your life, your body, and your love with us, Heaven.”
He kissed me and another contraction rolled through me, causing me to break away and gasp. I tightened my grip on his hand.
“Time for Dena?”
I nodded. “Where are the others?”
“They’re just outside.”
The door swung open and there they were, waiting for me.
Soon the room was full, just like my heart, as the final piece of our family entered the world. As the baby squealed, wrapped tight in a cocoon of blankets, his shock of dark hair peeking out at the top, I leaned against the pillow, exhausted. Anderson’s smile was a mile wide, the tiny baby tucked in his safe arms. Hayden peered over, kissing his tiny forehead. I’d learned the giant of a man was putty in the presence of a newborn.
“You did good, mama,” Jackson said, kissing my cheek.
“The strongest of us all.” Oliver picked up my hand. “We’re lucky to have you.”
But the luck went both ways, and we all knew it wasn’t luck anyway. Nothing came easy in our lives, it never had, but we’d been blessed to find one another, and we’d fought for one another and cried for one another and lived for one another. In the end, we’d found our own little slice of heaven.