Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Dean Owens stepped through the front doors of the hospital as they parted automatically in front of him and Noelle Calhoun, his fiancée.
He was full of excitement for Julia and Cooper, but as soon as he smelled the familiar, sterile scent of the hospital, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.
The sight of the white walls leading off into long corridors made him feel a little claustrophobic.
He’d spent entirely too much time visiting doctors during the past several months, in his opinion.
When he’d first been diagnosed with early onset osteoarthritis, he’d felt as though his life would never be the same, and the weight of that feeling had made him dislike being in hospitals ever since, especially since the results of his tests weren’t always good as he navigated trying out new medications and physical therapy treatments.
Come on, Dean, he thought as he followed Noelle toward the elevator. Your reason for being in a hospital is a happy one this time.
He smiled, thinking of the bundle of joy that was about to be born upstairs.
He still didn’t know the gender of the baby, since Julia and Cooper had decided to keep it a secret until the birth.
He was bursting with excitement to meet the newest member of his family, and he tried to focus on that instead of the way the hospital made him feel.
He laughed as Noelle bounced up and down in the elevator after pressing the right button.
She was, without a doubt, the best thing that had happened to him in his adult life, and he knew that he wouldn’t have met her without his osteoarthritis.
Noelle was a physical therapist, and he had first met her when he was her patient.
They had quickly struck up a friendship, especially after Dean offered to show Noelle around Rosewood Beach, since she’d been new in town at the time. Their friendship had morphed into love at the speed of a lightning strike, and he’d switched to a different PT before asking her out on a date.
He smiled at her, thinking to himself that he couldn’t wait for their wedding.
They had initially planned on having it much sooner, but his arthritis had flared badly earlier in the year, despite continued physical therapy and a switch in medications.
The doctor had advised an osteotomy surgery so that he could function without pain, and so that the operation could slow the progression of his osteoarthritis.
He and Noelle had made the difficult decision to postpone their wedding so that he could enjoy it without having to fight through the worst symptoms of his arthritis. Although they both were impatient to get married, they also saw the benefit of waiting until Dean was feeling at his best.
During the first few months of their relationship, he’d struggled with pain and fatigue but then learned to manage his symptoms through rest and had reached a point where he’d felt good most of the time—until his recent flare-up.
Both of them wanted him to feel that good again or perhaps even better while he stood in front of all their loved ones and watched Noelle walk down the aisle, ready to vow to love her for the rest of his life.
Noelle linked her arm through his as the elevator traveled upstairs, squeezing him in a tender hug.
Dean looked down at her with a warm smile, wondering for the millionth time how he’d gotten so lucky.
She’d been doing an incredible job of keeping his spirits up while he waited for his surgery to be performed.
They were both holding onto the belief that he would feel excellent for their wedding and that undergoing surgery would be well worth it, and she was the cheerleader in their situation, making sure they both stayed optimistic about everything they were facing.
He felt incredibly grateful for her, and he bent down to kiss her cheek just before the elevator doors opened.
They stepped into the hallway, and the sight of nurses and doctors hurrying past, clipboards held closely to their chests, made Dean’s stomach knot up again.
Despite his best efforts to stay optimistic, he still harbored doubts that the surgery would be worth it.
There was a chance it would go badly, or that even if it went fine, it would end up not resolving the pain and fatigue he was experiencing.
The thought of postponing the wedding and getting their hopes up for nothing felt like a punch in the gut.
“You nervous?” Noelle asked him, squeezing his hand. She seemed to have some kind of internal barometer that sensed his moods—she always knew immediately when he was troubled.
“Nervous?” he echoed, surprised she’d pinpointed his thoughts so exactly.
“For Julia?” she asked, her eyes on his face as they paused for a moment in the hallway.
He shook his head, smiling and squeezing her hand back. “A little,” he admitted with a chuckle. “But I’m mostly excited for her and Cooper. I know they’ve been looking forward to this day even more than the rest of us have been.”
They turned around a corner and found themselves in the labor and delivery waiting room. The rest of the Owens family was there, sitting in chairs or pacing back and forth in front of the windows.
“Hey!” Hazel scampered over to hug them both the moment she saw them.
As Dean’s twin, Hazel had always shared a special bond with him.
Like Noelle, she was quick to sense his emotions and offer him support.
She seemed to realize that being in the hospital made him jittery, and she squeezed his arm reassuringly.
Alexis gave them warm one-armed hugs, since Cash was nestled in her other arm, wiggling and looking as excited as if he knew exactly what was going on. Grayson, her distinguished-looking husband, hugged them as well.
“The family’s growing all the time,” he said, smiling.
Jacob looked up from where he was playing chess on a mini travel set with Samantha. “We’ve been voting on the gender,” he said. “I know we’ve been talking about it for months, but this is your final chance to place your bet. Winners get free milkshakes afterward.”
“Who’s buying?” Samantha asked dubiously.
“You are,” Jacob replied with a grin, and she shook her head at him as if she was much older than he was.
Faith, their cousin who had recently moved to Rosewood Beach and reunited with their family, laughed.
Her eyes were sparkling, and it was clear that she couldn’t wait for the baby to be born.
Although she and her partner Ryan McCormick were usually attached at the hip, he wasn’t there, and Dean guessed that had hadn’t been able to get away from work for the occasion.
Dean chuckled to himself, thinking that never in a million years would he have expected to feel disappointed that a McCormick wasn’t with them in the waiting room while a new member of their family was being born.
Ryan’s father, Judd McCormick, had wasted a lot of energy in the past, trying to tear down The Lighthouse Grill, which he apparently viewed as competition to his brewery.
His attempts had never been successful, due to how beloved the pub was in Rosewood Beach.
Things had been better with the McCormicks since Faith and Ryan had started dating.
Judd had backed off and was no longer scheming up ways to undermine The Lighthouse Grill.
Ryan wasn’t competitive and self-absorbed the way the other members of his family were, and the Owens had welcomed him into their inner circle with open arms, especially after they saw how well he treated Faith.
“Where is the baby?” Macey asked, looking up from where she was playing with a couple of dolls.
Based on the way they kept flying through the air at each other and then knocking heads, Dean would have guessed that they were supposed to be superheroes in the middle of a terrific battle, but he couldn’t be sure.
“The baby is coming soon, honey,” Vivian said, kissing the top of Macey’s head. “What do you think the gender is going to be? A boy or a girl?”
“It’s a girl,” Macey said, with absolute certainty. “My baby sister.”
Every woman in the room said, “Aww!” at the same time, and Dean laughed.
“Maybe Macey is right,” he said. “I think I’m going to put my vote in for girl.”
They discussed the topic animatedly while they waited, munching on chips and cookies from the vending machines.
Vivian, Macey, Dean, Grayson, Noelle, and Samantha all said that the baby would be a girl.
Hazel, Jacob, Alexis, Terrence, and Faith voted that the baby would be a boy.
Cash didn’t vote in a clear fashion, but when Alexis asked him “Boy?” he gurgled more loudly than he had when she’d said “Girl?”
They continued to play games and pace, everyone exuding a mixture of nervousness and excitement. All of them couldn’t wait for the baby to be born, so that they could find out the gender and welcome the newest member of their family into their lives. For now, however, all they could do was wait.
The waiting was pleasant, however, with them all there together. It almost felt like some sort of party—one that was about to get more exciting any second. Dean sat back in one of the chairs and smiled when he realized that he’d been having a wonderful time inside a hospital after all.
Julia stared down at the perfect pink bundle of joy in her arms, feeling dazed and exhausted and happier than she had ever felt before in her life.
She felt like superwoman—as though she had just accomplished something superhuman—and the reward that she’d received for her labors was perfect beyond her wildest dreams. A new wealth of love had awoken inside of her, and she could hardly believe that a whole new person had entered their lives, born of the love between her and Cooper.
“She’s a girl,” she whispered, looking up at her husband with shining eyes that were a little misty with tears of joy.
He laughed, bending down to kiss her forehead. “You’ve said that half a dozen times already.”
“I know.” She laughed too. “I’m just trying to process it all. Now that she’s here it all feels more real and more surreal at the same time. I feel like I’m dreaming.”
“That’s because you’re all drugged up,” he teased.
She shook her head, grinning at him. “You feel like you’re dreaming too,” she told him. “I can see it in your eyes.”
He smiled, touching his forehead to hers and keeping it there for a few moments. “It’s the best dream. I can’t wait to take her home. Macey is going to be beside herself.”
Julia chuckled when she thought of their toddler’s reaction to learning about her new sister. “She kept saying it would be a girl, like she knew. Maybe she still speaks baby and this little one communicated with her through my stomach.”
Cooper laughed. “A very possible theory. Speaking of our new little one, what do you want to name her? Does looking at her help you decide between our two names?”
They had chosen a few boys names they liked, and a couple of girls names. Now that they knew their baby was a girl, they simply had to decide between those two names, which were Quinn and Alice.
Julia gazed down at her baby, who was breathing steadily, seeming to be perfectly content in her mother’s arms despite the trauma of coming out into the world for the first time.
Even though she was sleeping peacefully, Julia got the sense that their little girl was full of spunk and personality, and she knew what name they should pick for her.
“I think Quinn suits her better,” she said, looking up at Cooper adoringly. “What do you think?”
“I agree,” he said, sharing warm eye contact with her before gazing down at their daughter. “Quinn it is.”
There was a short knock on the door, and a nurse entered a moment later. “Hi, Julia,” she said, all smiles. “Are you feeling ready for visitors?”
Julia laughed. “My whole family is still out there, aren’t they?”
“Sure looks like it.” The nurse’s eyes twinkled.
“I’m definitely ready. You can send all of them in.”
The nurse disappeared, and Julia settled back comfortably in the bed, excited for her family to meet Quinn.
A few moments later, the door of the room swung open and Macey raced inside, straight into her father’s arms.
“Look, honey,” he said, hugging her tightly. “You have a baby sister.”
“I know!” Macey cried joyfully, and Julia and Cooper laughed.
The rest of the family followed, all clearly trying to be quiet and not overwhelming—there were a lot of them, it was true—and grinning from ear to ear.
Vivian got to stand closest to Julia, and the rest of them circled the bed, all making soft noises of delight and staring at the baby with wonder.
“Everyone, we’d like you to meet Quinn,” Julia said, feeling her heart swell with happiness.
“Quinn.” Samantha nodded emphatically. “Good name.”
“I love it,” Hazel gushed. “I can tell that it suits her already.”
They talked in low voices, all sharing in the joy of the moment.
Julia smiled at the faces around her before looking down at the newest face in their family.
It was all starting to feel more real. Despite how tired she was physically, internally she felt a surge of motivation.
She couldn’t wait to bring Quinn home and dive into the next chapter of their lives.