Page 81 of Love You Too

The guttural sound she makes with each push reminds me how helpless I am to help, other than to offer moral support and the bones in my hand, which, so far, she hasn’t broken. It’s up to her and the doctor to get this baby out. I hate feeling so useless.

“I can see the head. One more big push, Beatrix.”

“I can’t. I’m too tired. I can’t do it,” she whines. It’s the firsttime I’ve ever heard her capitulate, and I suddenly realize I’m useless if I don’t help her now.

Leaning in, I brush the hair back from Trix’s forehead and kiss her there. “You can do anything, Trix. We both know it. Let’s meet our baby. Can you push once more?”

Our faces are inches apart, and I stare into her eyes. She blinks back tears and sweat, but that bright blue sparkle starts to resurface. She nods.

“Once more.”

“That’s all I’m asking. Just one push. Last one.” I look over the blue sheet at the doctor, willing her to make it true. I don’t want to break my word, so she needs to catch this baby when Trix pushes.

“Okay, once more,” she coaxes, while I let Trix crush my hand once more. I’m going to need to spend a week in physical therapy before putting on hockey gloves again, but it’ll be worth it. One thousand percent.

With a guttural grunt, Trix gives it one more push, and the baby slides out. Looking over the sheet, I see our baby for the first time as the doctor holds her up. “It’s a girl.”

The nurse helps me cut the umbilical cord and then cleans our daughter up a little bit before bringing her to Trix. Staring down at the two most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen, I feel overwhelmed by my fucking good fortune. “She’s beautiful.” I choke the words out before a lump in my throat prevents me from saying anything else. Trix is staring at our daughter with such wonderment, I’m not sure she’ll ever look away. But then she does. Her eyes meet mine, and she reaches up and wipes away a tear I didn’t feel on my cheek.

“She’s perfect,” Trix says.

I simply nod, leaning over to kiss Trix on the lips and smooth the hair off her forehead. Then I kiss our beautiful daughter on the cheek. “She is. And I’m the luckiest guy alive because I get tolove you both.” We both know without discussing it that she already has a name—Daisy. And I love her more than I ever thought possible.

Trix pulls me close, and I hope she never lets go. “Love you too.”

EPILOGUE

Beatrix

Two MonthsLater

“Was that Ella Fieldstone?”PJ asks, coming up behind me as I say goodbye to a guest outside the inn.

“Yup. She’s thinking about having her wedding here in a few months. We just toured everything. I think she liked it.”

The inn has been booked solid since we opened, and we have weddings practically every weekend through the fall. If I thought I was good at multitasking before, having a husband and a baby and a busy job has pushed me to new levels. Gotta admit, I couldn’t love it more.

PJ pulls out her phone and starts scrolling through social media as we walk toward the old brown barn. “She’s engaged to Jimmy Angelo, the lead singer of Catalog Twenty.Do you know that band?” Before I can answer, she pulls up a song, and it starts blaring from her phone.

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard that.”

“So, big celebrity wedding. That’s exciting.” PJ loves celebrity gossip almost as much as she loves wine country gossip. Almost.

The apple trees are almost all picked over, but it’s too early for summer fruit. The trees we pass on the way to the barn are leafy but mostly barren. I spot one dangling apple and yank it from the tree.

“She hasn’t decided yet. He’ll probably want to see it too. Don’t get too excited.”

PJ shrugs. “Eh, he probably won’t care. I think this is, like, like his third marriage, and he’s your age.”

“How do you know all of this?” I ask, deciding whether I’m offended that she made “my age” sound ancient.

She shrugs. “It’s my job to know who’s doing what.”

“In Napa.”

“No, everywhere.”

We arrive outside the barn and follow Archer inside to grab coffee before our family meeting, which we’re having outside because the weather is so perfect. Bluebird skies, flowers in bloom, ground squirrels running beneath the vines.

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