“I’m here!”

“Oh, thank fucking God.” Xander disappeared and Hale was there, kissing me and taking my hand as he checked the situation.

“Hale, it’s happening!” A demon-like guttural growl bellowed from my lungs.

“You got this, baby! Keep pushing! Keep pushing!”

White light burst behind my eyes as the pain made me momentarily deaf and the world slowed in its orbit. There was Hale, smiling and cheering me on with his sleeves rolled up and hishair a mess as my body seemed to split in two. I couldn’t hear over the pain. My life flashed behind my eyes, and all my focus turned to survival. I pushed harder than I ever pushed. Then…

Sound came back with the whooshing sound of a gas igniting into flames. A battle cry ripped from me, loud and deep. And then there was a smaller sound, fragile, like the delicate squawk of a bird, and tiny, like the voices of the little Whos of Whoville.

“You did it!” Hale cried and laughed in awe, his compulsion for cleanliness gone as he pulled our newborn to his chest.

Then…there was peace. Hot, searing, sit-me-in-an-ice-bath peace. I sagged back in relief and caught my breath as those tiny squawks filled the air.

“Oh, Rayne, she’s perfect.”

She?I closed my eyes and smiled victoriously. We had a girl. Elara had a sister.

Tipping my head, I weakly watched as he used a pristine pocket square to wipe her mouth and nose. Of course, Hale would know exactly what to do.

He gathered her little body in a pure white towel, and I frowned. “Where didyou get that?”

He winked at me. “My beautiful wife gave her to me.”

My laughter was a mix of tears and euphoria. “I meant the towel.”

He smiled. “I always have a clean towel in my car in case of emergencies.”

Of course, he did.

The 9-11 operator instructed Hale to place her on my chest, skin-to-skin, so she stayed warm until the ambulance arrived.

“She’s so tiny.” It was hard to believe Elara was also once this small.

Lights flashed against the windshield, and Hale kissed his fingers and pressed them to my lips. “The EMTs are here.”

The paramedics rushed into action, and I was moved onto a stretcher. As soon as I was transported to the back of the ambulance, the cord was cut.

“You’re doing great, Mom.”

I smiled into my daughter’s squinting, silver eyes. “Hello, angel.”

“She has your hair,” Hale said, crouching by my side, staring in awe.

“And your eyes.”

“What should we call her?”

There were so many beautiful names that I honestly didn’t know which one I wouldchoose until the moment I met her. “What do you think of Avalyn?”

“Elara and Avalyn,” he said, testing the names together. “I like it.”

“It meansbreath of life.” That was what Hale did for me. He breathed life into my soul and from our love a family bloomed.

“I think that’s the perfect name for her,” he whispered, gently tucking the tip of his pinky into her little curled fist. “She’s our little breath of life. Plus, it sounds a lot like Avalon.”

“Oh, where you were born.”