EPILOGUE
GRAHAM
THREE YEARS LATER

“Good morning, everyone. How was breakfast?” I asked.

“Wonderful, Graham. You weren’t joking when you said Daniel could cook.”

“I’ve never had fluffier eggs before in my life.”

“Is the orange juice pressed here? Because it tastes fresh.”

“We do press it here,” I said. “But we can make other juices at your request. All you have to do is ask Daniel.”

The bed and breakfast was a hit with the town, and because it was such a hit, we were starting to get customers who were from out of town and traveling through. We had added some renovations over the three years it had been open. We expanded from the five rooms in the house and added four luxury guest houses that were scattered over the acreage of the land. If people wanted their privacy, they could pay extra to have a room, a bathroom, a living space, and a kitchen to themselves.

And those were a massive hit.

Cindy and I had gotten married a couple of years ago. It had been a small ceremony with Daniel and Nicole as witnesses. They had hit it off very well themselves. Lily was our little flower girl, and Cindy had looked stunning in her wedding dress. It was a simple lacy number that somehow fit with the outside venue we had picked, an apple orchard up in Washington State.

“Where’s Cindy?” a guest asked.

“She’s at a doctor’s appointment,” I said.

“The last one, I’m sure,” another guest said.

“Oh, yes. Our ob-gyn wants to make sure everything’s on track for a healthy delivery,” I said.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I excused myself from the room of guests. I walked into the back room where we had installed a beautiful stone fireplace. I saw Cindy was calling and I felt a warmth spread across my chest.

Until I heard the panic in her voice.

“Graham! Graham. You have to … the hospital.”

“Cindy, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m at the hospital. You have to get the bags. Leave Lily with—aaahh!”

“Cindy? Cindy! Talk to me, baby. What’s wrong?”

“I’m in labor, you idiot! M-my water broke at my appointment.”

“Okay. Don’t worry. I’m getting in the car now,” I said.

“Hurry!”

I cut the call and shoved my phone into my pocket. I whipped around and saw Daniel standing there with a grin on his face. I looked out the window and back at him, my mind swirling at a thousand miles a second.

“Sorry. Watching an ex-CIA agent flounder isn’t something you see every day,” Daniel said. “Go to the hospital. Your bags are already in the car. I’ll keep an eye on this place, and I’ll get Nicole to pick up Lily from school.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I’m gonna be a father!”

The guests whooped and hollered as I made one last round. I wanted to make sure everyone was okay as they tried to shoo me out the door. I made a break for the mid-sized SUV I had bought for Cindy when we found out we were pregnant, and I fiddled with my keys in my pocket.

It was time.

I was about to welcome my son into the world.

“Graham! Is it time?” Nicole asked.

“Cindy’s in labor! I gotta go,” I said. “Where did you come from?”

“I was coming to meet Cindy after her appointment. What happened?”

“Her water broke at the office. I gotta go!”

“I’ll grab Lily from school, and you call me when you have news,” she said.

I got into the car and raced into town. My heart was thundering in my chest as I raced through yellow lights. I kept to the back roads and dodged places where I knew there would be cops. I wanted to get to the hospital as fast as I could so I could support Cindy through all of this.

She had been such a trooper, despite the difficulty of her pregnancy.

It had been hard for her to take a back seat when she got pregnant. Gestational diabetes and a host of other issues forced her doctor to put her on bed rest for most of her pregnancy. She was constantly battling heartburn and had nausea throughout all three trimesters and staying away from the business had been hard for her. She loved every ounce of that place, and it put a lot of stress on her to keep away.

But it was even more stress on her when she was trying to work.

I skidded into a parking space and ran into the hospital. I slammed through doors and took steps three at a time to get to the level I needed. My chest was heaving for air, and my legs were carrying me as fast as I could go. I was rushing by nurses and stumbling into doctors as I made my way to the nurse’s desk.

Then someone reached out for my arm and slung me into the room I needed to be in.

“Graham! Graham, it hurts.”

“I’m right here, Cindy. I’m here. Where’s the doctor?” I asked.

“Right here, Mr. Anderson. I’m about to see how far along Cindy is.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“Cindy started having some Braxton-Hicks contractions in the doctor’s office, and I told her to wait it out before she left. When they didn’t let up, I went to check her to see if she was dilated at all yet, and her water broke.”

“So, not fake contractions,” I said. “How long have you been having them?”

“Since this morning,” Cindy said with a moan.

“Well, it’s obvious. She’s already nine centimeters and headed straight for ten,” the doctor said.

“But… but my epidural. M-m-my …”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Anderson, but you’re too far along,” the doctor said.

“No, no, no. No, I’m not. Give me something. I’m not doing this without something.”

Cindy squeezed down on my hand with a force I’d never experienced before. I leaned over her, blocking her view as nurses started to pour into the room. She was shaking with exhaustion, and tears were streaming down her cheeks. Her grip was so tight, I could feel my joints cracking and grinding underneath her strength. Though she’d had to have a C-section with Lily, the doctor had been willing to let her try to give birth the old-fashioned way this time around.

“Look at me, Cindy. Open your eyes.”

“Graham, I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” I said. “If there is one woman on the face of this planet who can do anything, it’s you.”

“I’m so tired,” she said. “It-it hurts so much.”

“Don’t fight it,” I said.

Her eyes fluttered open as sweat dripped down her chest.

“Accept what it is, and stay with me,” I said.

“I have to push,” Cindy said breathlessly. “Doctor. Doctor, I-I have to—”

I watched Cindy grit her teeth as she bore down with all her might. I wrapped my free arm underneath her leg, so she had something to push against. I breathed with her, screamed with her, panted with her, and cried with her. I was watching the fury of a woman come to light. I was watching the strength of the tiger within my wife burst forth. She pushed, and she groaned. She cursed, and she screamed. I strained to keep a force against her as her entire body lifted to bring our son into the world.

Then she collapsed in a fit of heaving and sweat as his sweet, beautiful cry filled the room.

“You did it,” I said breathlessly. “You did it, Cindy.”

She released my hand and cupped my cheek, her eyes fluttered with exhaustion.

“I’m so proud of you,” I said as I kissed her lips. “I love you so much.”

Cindy fell asleep from pure exhaustion before I even had a chance to lay Landon on her chest. I gave him his first bath while the nurses cleaned Cindy up. Then, they quietly lifted her by the sheets of her bed and moved her to another one. I settled down beside her, cradling my newborn son in my arms.

Funny, how things had a tendency to come full circle.

“Is he okay?” Cindy asked, waking from her nap.

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” I asked.

I helped Cindy push her hospital gown away before I handed her our son. Landon rooted around to find her nipple and promptly began drinking from her breast. I was constantly amazed at the female body and at the things it could do that mine never would.

I was mesmerized by her, the woman I loved.

“Oh, I remember this with Lily,” Cindy said.

“I remember it with Kason too.”

I felt Cindy’s eyes on me as I cupped the tiny head of my son.

“You know there will be a small part of him in Landon,” she said.

I nodded my head as tears brewed behind my eyes.

“I love you, Landon,” I said as I stroked his head. “And I’ll go to the ends of the earth for anything you’ll ever need.”

I bent down and kissed his forehead as he fell asleep against Cindy’s breast. She handed him to me, and I wrapped him up tightly before laying him down in the bassinet. I sat next to Cindy and dipped my lips to hers, taking in how beautiful she looked only an hour after giving birth.

“You’re incredible, you know that?” I asked.

“Only because you make me that way,” she said.

“I love you. You know that, right?”

“More than anything else on this earth,” she said with a smile. “Lily’s going to be very excited to meet her brother.”

“Especially when she finds out we used the name she suggested,” I said.

“She was so proud of that name. How could you deny those eyes of hers?”

“I’ll never be able to. You and Lily and Landon? You’re my weaknesses.”

“Do you regret it?”

I furrowed my brow as tears rose in Cindy’s eyes.

“Regret what?” I asked.

“Allowing us to be your weaknesses?”

I pressed my lips against Cindy’s, shutting off her silent sobs as my thumb dried up her tears.

“The only thing I would’ve ever regretted was walking away from you. The life you’ve given me, the hope you’ve filled me with, no one’s ever given that to me before. Ever. I could never regret you, or us, or this. Or any of it. You’re my home, Cindy. You’re my strength. And so long as I have you next to me, nothing can touch what we’ve built.”

“I love you, Graham,” she said in a whisper. “With all my heart.”

“And I love you, Cindy. With all my life.”

The End

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