Epilogue
“One more big push, Laura,” said Victoria, the midwife, from her perch between Laura’s legs.
Behind Laura, Owen propped her up and wiped a cool cloth over her forehead as he had for hours now.
“So tired,” Laura said, panting between contractions.
“I know, honey,” he said, “but you’re almost there. I have no doubt you can do it.”
His calm, steady support had gotten her this far, and she’d be damned if she’d let him down now.
As a blizzard howled outside the warm confines of the clinic, Laura bore down on the next contraction.
The pain was unlike anything she’d ever imagined, and for an instant, she wondered if the baby was capable of splitting her in half.
“That’s it!” Victoria said. “You did it!”
The baby screamed in protest as it emerged into a world of bright lights and frightening noises.
“You’ve got a gorgeous baby boy,” Victoria said as she quickly cleared his airway and cleaned him up. “With all his fingers and toes.” She wrapped him in a receiving blanket and handed him to his exhausted mother.
“Oh, a boy,” Laura said as she took her first look at the scrunched-up face and the tiny mouth that formed a perfect O to express his outrage.
She was so glad now that she’d waited to find out what she was having until he arrived.
His head was covered in glossy dark hair that reminded Laura of Justin’s.
She blinked back the torrent of tears that spilled from her eyes so she could see every detail of the little face.
“My God, look at him,” Owen said, reverently. “He’s beautiful.”
“I’d say he’s pretty close to nine pounds,” Victoria said. “Well done, Mom. We’ll give you a minute to get acquainted, and then I’ll be back with David to check on both of you.”
“Thank you,” Laura said, unable to tear her gaze off her newborn son.
Owen’s hand covered hers as she held the baby. With his free hand, he used a tissue to mop up her tears, and then grabbed a second one to deal with his own.
“It’s true what they say.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“The minute you see the baby, you forget all about what you went through to have him.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever forget it. You were amazing, honey.”
“So were you.” She tipped her head back for a kiss. “I never could’ve done it without you.”
He caressed her face. “Yes, you could have.”
Victoria popped her head into the room. “We’ve got some anxious grandparents and an uncle out here waiting to meet the new arrival. Mind if I show them in?”
“Please do,” Laura said.
Her father and brother escorted Owen’s mother into the room a minute later.
“Oh, let me see him,” Frank said, leaning over the bedrail for a closer look at his new grandson. “He’s beautiful.”
“Your daughter was amazing, Frank,” Owen said. “A true warrior goddess.”
“I have no doubt,” Frank said, kissing Laura’s cheek. “She always has been. Are you okay, honey?”
“Never been better.”
“What’ll you name him?” Sarah asked as the baby curled a hand around her finger.
“I was thinking about Francis,” Laura said.
“Absolutely not!” Frank and Shane said together.
“Why not?”
“That’s an awful name to pin on a little guy,” Shane said.
He’d joined them at the hotel right before Christmas and had become an invaluable member of the renovation team.
He was also helping Mac and Luke with the installation of new laundry and restroom facilities at the marina and had committed to staying on through the spring to help out with the new low-income houses they’d be building on the Chesterfield property.
“I want to name him after you,” Laura said to her father.
“And I’m honored, honey, I truly am, but don’t do that to him. Give him a good, strong first name, and I’ll allow Francis as a middle name.”
“He still thinks he’s the boss of me,” Laura said to Owen and Sarah, who laughed.
She laughed more often now that her bruises had healed.
Her husband was prohibited from having any contact with her as the case wound its way through the courts.
Laura would’ve been lost without Sarah over the last few months as the pregnancy made it impossible for her to do half the things that needed to be done at the hotel.
Sarah had stepped in ably, throwing herself into the project with a passion Owen said he’d never seen from her before.
Having grown up in the hotel, Sarah had many stories to share, such as the one about the second-floor guestroom where a young couple had spent their only two nights as a married couple before he shipped off to World War II.
He’d been killed nine months later without ever seeing his young wife again.
Laura had suggested they name the room after the couple, an idea Sarah, Adele and Owen had loved.
That had led to a mission to the basement where Adele had told Laura she would find many of the original furnishings in storage as well as logbooks full of stories about other guests who’d come and gone over the years.
Laura and Sarah had spent many a cozy winter day in front of the fire, thumbing through the yellowed books, mining for nuggets they could use to tell the story of the fabled hotel.
Each room now bore the name of a guest who’d celebrated a significant milestone there, along with a framed telling of the guest’s story inside the room.
Enlisting the help of Evan and Grant, Owen and Shane had moved much of the original furniture out of the basement. After she returned from her honeymoon to the Bahamas in January, Syd had deemed some pieces salvageable while others were relegated to the junk pile.
As the winter unfolded, the renovation had progressed along with Laura’s pregnancy, until Owen and Sarah had proclaimed her on maternity leave a week before the baby’s arrival.
Since Laura was too big and ungainly to be of much use to anyone, she’d ceded to their wishes and allowed Owen to wait on her hand and foot, the way he had in their early months together when she’d been so sick in the mornings.
And now, looking down at her baby son, she was filled with gratitude for the many blessings in her life and apprehensive about the phone call she needed to make.
“I need to call Justin.”
“Yes.” Owen disentangled himself from her and got off the bed, stretching out the kinks from hours of supporting her through the most strenuous part of her labor.
He rooted around in the bag she had packed for the hospital, produced her cell phone and handed it to her.
“We’ll give you some privacy,” he said, leaning over to kiss her and then the baby.
“Thank you.”
Frank, Sarah and Shane kissed Laura and the baby before they followed Owen from the room.
“What do you think?” she whispered to the baby, who watched her every move. She’d read that it would take a while for his vision to become clear, but he seemed to see her just fine. “Should we call your other daddy and let him know you’ve arrived?”
Even all these months later, the idea of speaking to Justin filled her belly with butterflies.
He answered on the first ring. “Laura?”
“Yes, it’s me, and a brand new baby boy calling to say hello.”
“Oh. Wow. Are you okay?”
“We’re great.” She couldn’t take her eyes off the miracle in her arms who pursed his tiny pink lips, as if engaged in deep thought. “He’s got your dark hair.”
“Is that so?”
“Don’t get too excited. I read that the hair they’re born with often falls out in the first few months.”
“Will you send me some pictures?”
“Of course.”
“What will you name him?”
“I was going to name him Francis after my father, but he won’t hear of it. He says it’s an awful name to give a little kid.”
“I have to agree with him.”
“I figured you might. Any suggestions?”
“I’ve always been partial to Matthew or maybe John.”
“Matthew Francis Newsome?” Laura said, gauging the baby’s reaction. “I don’t think he likes it.”
“It does sound kind of boring. What do you like? Didn’t you have a list of names going from the time you were a little kid?”
“Yes,” she said, touched that he’d remembered. “I like Holden and Austin.”
“Both good strong names. What does he think?”
Laura smiled at the way Justin was accommodating her whimsy.
They’d come a long way in the last few months and were trying to work out their differences amicably.
Laura suspected he’d met someone new, which had facilitated his newfound willingness to compromise—that and the pressure the senior partner at his firm had put on him to not further irritate Judge Frank McCarthy.
“I got a gurgle on Holden, but not much of a reaction to Austin.”
“Then Holden it is. Holden Francis Newsome?”
“Holden Francis Newsome,” she said to the baby and watched in delight as he tried to kick his legs within the tight confines of the blanket. “I think we’ve got a winner.”
“Thanks for allowing me to be a part of that, Laura. I know I haven’t done much to endear myself to you in the last nine months, but I’m glad to hear you and the baby are well.”
“Thank you,” she said, moved by the effort he was making.
“Your dad has something with him that I asked him to give you after the baby arrived.”
“What’s that?”
“Signed divorce papers.”
Laura gasped. Despite the effort they’d both been making to be more civil, she’d thought they were still a long way from brokering a settlement in the divorce. “What changed?”
“You won’t believe it, but my mom had a come-to-Jesus conversation with me,” he said, sounding sheepish. “Apparently, she heard about what happened between us from Mrs. Harrigan.”
“Ahhh,” Laura said. Mrs. Harrigan’s daughter Tamara had been the bridesmaid who’d set up the phony date with Justin.
“My mom was extremely disappointed, and by the time she was through with me, I was ashamed of myself.”
Laura winced, imagining the scene. “Your mom is one to be reckoned with.”
“Indeed.” He released a deep sigh that sounded almost regretful. “She also reminded me that we’ve got a child to consider, and it’s best for him if we make an attempt to be civil.”
“I completely agree. Thank you—and your mom.” Laura couldn’t believe this was happening. “What about the custody arrangement?”