Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
He reaches across the table for my hand to reassure me. “They did the ultrasound.”
There’s a half-dozen black and white photos on the table between us, each of them depicting a tiny gummy bear baby that’s inside me at this very moment. I touch my stomach, expecting to feel something.
“Can we really trust it?”
He chuckles. “Yeah, pretty sure when they let us hear the heartbeat, it was the real deal, Madison.”
He’s right. Okay, I’m allowed to be happy. It’s okay to let my guard down.
I draw my gaze away from the ultrasound images and peer up at him. I’m wearing a lopsided grin. “So…I’m pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant,” he confirms, unfurling a tentative smile while squeezing my hand.
We lock eyes, and in the span of a millisecond, the words I love you spring to mind and spill out of me, and though it’s unexpected for me as much as it is for Sawyer, I don’t regret saying them. I watch his face transform, light fill his eyes. He squeezes my hand tighter, tugs me off my chair. He pulls me down onto him, cradling me in his arms, and his lips press against my cheek, my jaw, my forehead. He turns my face and steals a proper kiss and tells me he loves me too before he lifts the photos off the table and we review them together again, picking our favorites.
“I think the baby looks just like you,” I tell him with a mock-serious tone.
He turns them and squints. “I don’t know…definitely has your amorphous blob of a head.”
A laugh bursts out of me, and then I poke him.
“When should we tell people?” he asks.
“Let’s wait. It’s kind of nice to have it be our little secret.”
Life has moved a mile a minute since I returned to Oak Hill. My intention when coming back home was to ground myself and make peace with my broken engagement and tattered life, maybe even enjoy some rest and relaxation. I should have known my first night back in town—when Queenie dragged me to John’s Ice House—that a little R&R wasn’t in the cards.
Do I wish things had happened differently? Not even a little bit.
Who cares that I didn’t take up yoga or check out self-help books from the library? I’ve made peace with what’s transpired, and the old life I thought I wanted was only ever an illusion. I’ve landed somewhere better, somewhere real and messy. Through the strangest of circumstances, the pieces of my life fell into place—chaotically, sure, but in the end, I know I’m right where I was meant to be all along: back in Oak Hill with Sawyer.
Three weeks after our visit with Dr. Lopez, we’ve moved in together, made things official, and are already settling into daily life. Work hasn’t slowed down at all, but I’m starting to get a handle on the most important things. Invoices are no longer sent two weeks too late and we’re up to date on our bills, thank goodness. Collections shouldn’t be calling anytime soon! Today, I’m rewarding myself with a fun errand. I’m headed to a local florist to pick up a few centerpiece arrangements for a bridal shower we’re coordinating for one of our clients.
Cornelia’s Florals has been open since before I was born, and Queenie has worked with the company since the inception of Wildflower Weddings. No one—not even Fiona—does flowers like Cornelia’s crew.
I open the front door and step inside the tidy shop filled with buckets of flowers and artfully arranged bouquets. Cornelia herself is behind the counter, working on de-thorning a few dozen roses. She sees me and beams.
“Hey. Morning, Madison. I was wondering when I’d see you in here.”
Marge usually picks up our custom orders, but today I get to do the honors.
I pass a beautiful orchid centerpiece on my way to the counter. “How’re you doin’, Cornelia?”
She sets down her thorn stripper and wipes her hands on the front of her apron. They shake a little from the exertion of her task; Cornelia must be close to eighty, but she barely shows it. “Can’t complain. Business has been booming lately what with you and your mama keeping me so busy.”
I smile, glad to know the shop is doing so well.
“And apparently I’m not the only busy one.” She quirks a brow mischievously. “I hear you and Sawyer are together.” When I laugh then nod to let her know the rumors are true, she replies, “I’m not surprised.”
I smile curiously. “Really? I am.”
Her brows shoot up like she doesn’t quite believe me. “I still remember him coming in here way back in high school. It must have been homecoming season.” She furrows her brows in thought. “I recall him looking over the mums, but then he changed his mind and just wanted some kind of fancy bouquet for you.”