Chapter 52
Bringing home baby—Boston, MA
Daniel pulled into the driveway and stared. Seven cars were parked on the street on either side of the house—he had to count them twice.
Nora turned to him from the passenger seat. “Daniel, did you plan this?”
“I wish I’d thought of it.”
It was a family reunion—his and Nora’s.
His parents were there along with Lisa, and Bianca and her parents, Aunt Carla and Uncle Sebastian.
And then there were Nora’s parents, and Rachel, and her Uncle Bruce, the jeweler, and his wife Dorothy.
Nora turned to the back seat. “This is all for you, baby girl. See how many people love you?”
Baby Girl Langley-Keller was three days old, and still nameless.
Daniel had been compiling lists of possible names for the last three months, but Nora refused to even engage in the conversation.
“She’ll tell us what her name is when she’s ready,” she’d said.
He hadn’t understood, but he wasn’t going to argue about it.
“That’s right,” Daniel cooed. “I’ll get her out. The buckle on the car seat is a little tricky.”
It was, but he also just wanted to hold her. She was beautiful; she had her mother’s eyes, and she could already smile. Everyone else—Nora included—said it was just gas, but they were all wrong.
“Come here, you,” he said, unbuckling her and scooping her up. “Come and meet your family.”
Nora , a moment later
Nora watched Daniel pick their daughter up. He was already a natural at it—as if there’d been any doubt about that.
Everything had moved so quickly, right from the moment they’d met at Shakespeare and Company.
They were engaged a day later.
Moved in together at the end of January.
Found out they were having a baby on Valentine’s Day
Married on April 2 nd —because even though Daniel would have gone along with her plan to marry on April Fool’s Day, everyone else flatly refused.
Bought the house in June.
And now here they were, husband and wife and baby, all together, with her family and his to welcome them home.
The baby was fussing a bit, reaching her pudgy little hand towards Daniel’s chest, where his necklace was hidden.
Now he was reaching there himself. “You want this?” He pulled out the necklace, put it in the baby’s hand, and she closed her tiny fingers around it. Her fussing stopped.
Of course it did. Even a three-day-old baby knew how important the necklace was.
And it hit her. Their daughter was telling them her name.
“Daniel! She just named herself!”
He turned to her, met her eyes, and she saw the recognition in them.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. She had no doubt, and that was clearly good enough for Daniel.
He called out to the assembled family members, “Hey, everybody! You can stop worrying, we know what her name is now.” He paused and took a second to turn their daughter around so everyone could see her clearly.
“We want you all to welcome home our daughter.” He smiled brightly, and said it clearly. “Sapphire Langley-Keller.”
Daniel , several hours later
It was almost ten o’clock. All the family members were off to nearby hotels for the night. There was room for two or three houseguests, but as Bianca said, “It’s your first night all together at home. We’re going to let you have it for yourselves.”
Sapphire was asleep in the crib her grandfathers had assembled, so they’d said. Daniel suspected there was more to the story, but that was something for another day. Right now, he was content—overjoyed—to be alone with Nora and their daughter in their bedroom.
“It just occurred to me,” he told Nora. “The necklace isn’t mine anymore.”
She nodded. “Now you’re keeping it for her until she’s old enough to wear it.”
“And to hear the whole story about it,” he said.
“The whole story?”
“The whole story,” he said. “The good and the bad. She deserves to hear it all, someday. And then maybe…”
Nora finished for him. “Maybe she won’t have to wait ten years to make it work with the man she’s meant to be with.”
“Maybe. But I wouldn’t change a thing. We needed those ten years to get here. And to have that perfect little jewel over there. Right?”
“Right.” She kissed him then, eyes open and bright and shining, the way they’d always been for him. The way they’d always be, now and forever.
The End
(for now…Sapphire may have a story of her own to tell one of these days!)
If you enjoyed Ten Years and Then...