“Yes, I’m Wes Carter.” I lightly shook her hand. “May I ask why you’re here?”

“I was wondering the same thing,” Franco spoke.

“My husband Paul and I were in the cupcake shop. I had no idea that Anna owned the place. We went to talk in Central Park, and she went into labor.”

“Are you living in New York?” Franco asked.

“No. Not yet, anyway. We’re here looking at places to live.”

“Oh,” Franco said as he looked over at Anna.

I looked at Franco and tilted my head towards the door, gesturing that he take Anna’s mother out of the room so the two of us could talk.

“Anna’s mom, why don’t you come with me? We’ll go get a nice cup of coffee. Tell me what you’ve been up all these years.” He smiled as he placed his hand on her arm.

“Sure. Okay. And please, call me Carla.”

They left the room, and I looked at Anna, leaned in, and kissed her lips.

“Are you okay? Is she the reason you went into labor? Did you get yourself all worked up?”

“No, Wes. She’s not the reason. I guess those weren’t Braxton Hicks I was having all morning. And I’m fine. We talked. When I went into labor, she had a security guard get me a wheelchair, and she wheeled me out of the park and got us a cab. She was yelling at the driver to step on it. She took care of me for the first time in my life.”

“That’s good, sweetheart.” I pressed my lips against her forehead. I still had my concerns.

After eight hours of labor, our daughter, Aubrey Paris Carter, was born at six pounds, ten ounces. She was beautiful and looked exactly like Anna. I was going to have my hands full with her and the boys. I could already tell.

I sat by Anna’s bedside as she breastfed her for the first time. I had a beautiful family who were my entire reason for breathing. I stepped out of the room and called Dr. Stark to tellhim the news and also to tell him that Anna’s mother was in town.

“Dr. Stark,” he answered.

“Dr. Stark, it’s Wes Carter.”

“Wes, how are you?”

“I’m good. Anna had the baby.”

“Excellent. How is she doing?”

“She’s good, but there’s another reason I called. Her mother is here with us. They went to Central Park to talk, and Anna went into labor.”

“Hmm. Okay. I’ll come by the hospital and pay Anna a visit in case she wants to talk about it.”

“Thanks, Dr. Stark. I appreciate it.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

THREE MONTHS LATER

Anna

The love I felt for my daughter was so overwhelming I didn’t think it was possible. I sat on the bed with my back against the headboard and my baby on my legs. She was alert and awake as I talked to her and told her how much I loved her.

“There are my two favorite girls in the whole world.” Wes smiled as he walked into the room and kissed us both.

“How was your day?” I asked.

“It was all right. I spent most of it missing the two of you.”