I turned away to hide the look on my face and then I heard the clink of the fork on the edge of the plate. “Hope?”
“Yeah,” I said, turning around to face him.
“Are...Are you pregnant?”
I shook my head in a yes motion, unsure of what he was going to say. “I know you didn’t want to have any more kids, but I did make sure. I checked with the doctor today, and I am a little over two months.”
Instead of the reaction that I expected, a smile floated to his lips, and he stood up from his chair and walked over, taking me in his arms. “Over all the years we’ve been together, you’ve given me the most fulfilling relationship, two beautiful girls who I love with all my heart, and now this.”
“You’re not angry?”
“Angry? Why would I be angry? Hope, I am over the moon with this news, and I can’t wait for the next few months to be over so that we can hold this little guy in our arms.”
Epilogue
Hope
“And one more push, Hope.”
I felt Carter grab my hand tighter as I gave one final push. I heard the cry of a newborn baby fill the room.
“And we have a boy,” the doctor sang out as he placed the warm body on my belly.
Carter sat at the head of the bed, holding my hand, his other arm wrapped around me. “You did it, baby. You did it—another healthy baby.” He placed a kiss on my forehead.
A few hours later I was dosing peacefully in the quiet hospital room. The door opened and Kendall and Mackenzie came running in, Carter walking in behind them.
“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!”
“Girls, I explained to you both, you need to be quiet,” Carter sternly scolded.
Kendall looked to Carter and started whispering, calling for me. I smiled as they both climbed onto the bed beside me.
“Hello, my lovelies. Please tell me you were good for Uncle Hunter and Aunt Autumn today.”
Mackenzie nodded. “Kendall was bad, Mommy. Uncle Hunter got angry.” I laughed. Hunter’s equivalent of getting angry generally involved apologizing to the girls first and then giving them ice cream.
“No. I was good, I swear. It was Mackenzie.”
“Okay, girls, that’s enough now. Mommy needs her rest.”
The nurse returned to the room, pushing a bassinet carrying our newest member of the family. Both the girls smiled to each other and looked over the edge of the bassinet at the sleeping baby.
“Girls, this is your baby brother, Carl.”
We had chosen the name after Carter’s father, who had passed away shortly after we had gotten married. Carter sat the girls down in a chair beside me and picked up the baby, first setting him in Mackenzie’s lap. She looked down into his sleeping face.
“Mommy, he is sleeping.”
I smiled as I watched the amazement on their little faces. Carter then placed Carl onto Kendall’s lap.
“He’s so little. Were we ever this little, Daddy?” Kendall asked.
“You were, maybe even a bit smaller,” Carter whispered.
Carter brought Carl over to me and placed him in my arms, leaning down and kissing me on the forehead. “I’ll be right back, princess. I am just going to take the girls out to your parents.”
Once they were gone, I looked down into Carl’s face. I could see Carter in him. He had a lot of Carter’s features.