Page 183 of Sugar & Shadows

“We are?”

He bent down and kissed my forehead. “Yes. We’re so ready.”

In the doorway, I looked around the room, noting the whiteboards, the coffee cups, and the office supplies. Then I surveyed the amazing people who were hustling down the hall. Months ago, we’d been strangers connected by a common goal. Now this was a family. A loud, opinionated, and occasionally felonious family. Exactly the kind Marigold would have wanted.

After seventeen hours of labor, Corinne Marigold Monroe-Harding joined us at 3:08 a.m. She showed up to the party with a full head of dark hair and a solid I don’t give a fuck attitude. Weighing seven pounds and eleven ounces, she immediately informed everyone within earshot how displeased she was with her change in accommodations.

She was welcomed by the crowd of folks who had gathered in the hospital waiting room to celebrate her birth before I got cranky and sent them all home. Gabe and Mom were by my side every minute, coaching me, letting me rage, and feeding me ice chips.

Giving birth was unlike any challenge I’d ever encountered. I’d negotiated billion-dollar mergers, and I’d buried scandals. I’d managed to get through a Russian military checkpoint with only a tube of lipstick and my God-given charm, but none of it had prepared me to bring a human being into this world.

Trust me, I tried strategy, research, and messaging, but nothing could change the complete chaos that was labor and delivery. At one point, I threatened to sue the hospital. At another, I threatened to murder Gabe. The nurses informed me that these were both very common reactions.

Thank God for my mom, who rallied my spirits around hour fourteen, telling me stories about my own birth. Some of the details blurred together—the contractions, the exhaustion, the weird sensation of pushing, gripping Gabe’s hand so tightly I may have fractured his fingers. The nurses good-naturedly laughing off my attempts to negotiate for a shorter labor.

But then there was total clarity. The moment they placed Corinne on my chest, everything disappeared. The pain, the fear, and all of the world around us vanished.

She blinked up at me with her curious eyes and furrowed brow, and suddenly it all made sense. My life had been devoted to chasing the next milestone. A crisis, a puzzle, or a problem to solve.

But in that moment, my world shifted.

Gabe sobbed, taking endless photos with his phone, kissing my forehead and touching her tiny hand.

“Hello, Corinne,” he said softly.

“She doesn’t look impressed,” I replied with a smirk.

He ignored me. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Apparently, after a person gives birth, they’re expected to just take the baby home and keep it alive all on their own. Rude.

We got three days of bliss in the hospital. Just the three of us, with the occasional visit from my mom and the wonderful nurses who helped me get her to latch, taught Gabe to swaddle, and provided me with truly horrifying adult diapers.

Half the town was at our house when we arrived. With freezer meals, cases of diapers, and endless presents for Corinne. This child was three days old and already a minor small-town celebrity. Gabe’s parents had insisted on making dinner, and of course my mother was there. I had a feeling she’d be moving into the other spare bedroom. Nate, Gabe’s brother, stopped by, and so did Josh and Jasper and their families. And Harper and Nina. And soon, it was a welcome home party.

I was rocking Corinne in the cool night air, enjoying the feel of being surrounded by my people, when a familiar man bun bobbed in the distance.

“Congrats,” Logan said, throwing his arms around Gabe in a back slapping hug. “Sorry I’m late. I had a few things to take care of.”

In Logan speak, that probably meant bottle feeding a litter of orphaned raccoon cubs or splinting the broken leg of a deer. I’d learned never to underestimate him.

“No worries,” Gabe replied. “We’ve had our hands full with this one.”

“She’s beautiful,” his best friend gushed, leaning down. “Do you need a kitten, Princess Corinne? Or a puppy? Ooh. How about a goat? I’ve got two looking for a home.”

“No pets,” I growled.

He just smiled at me. “Don’t worry, Corinne,” he said conspiratorially. “We’ll wear them down together.”

I glared at him. He’d bring us a mountain lion in a bow tie if I wasn’t careful.

Behind him, movement caught my eye, and I noticed a woman I didn’t recognize.

She had a cool bob and thick glasses. Her artfully slouchy sweater and multiple ear piercings screamed city person.

Logan cleared his throat. “Have you guys met Avery?” He rested his hand on the small of her back. Though he was touching her, there was a foot of space between their bodies and the expression on his face was one of uncertainty. It was totally foreign coming from the most gregarious man in town. The way he barely let his hand hover against her back was strange for a guy who reached into cows to deliver breach calves several times a year.

Was he afraid to touch this woman?