Page 90 of Rebuilding Friendship Inn

Jean smiled, seeing the rays of light coming from her own eyes, and took the picture. She didn’t immediately send it to her mother, though she knew she was waiting for news.

Everyone was, but Jean just wanted another few moments with her, Heidi, and Reuben. She leaned against his shoulder and sighed as they both looked down at their baby.

“She’s so pretty,” Jean said.

“She looks like you,” Reuben whispered.

The baby did have slightly olive skin and dark hair, and Jean pictured her birth mom in her mind. Becky had been darker too, and while she’d given no details about the father, it looked like he’d had dark features as well.

Reuben did too, and Jean couldn’t help thinking that God had brought them a baby that fit precisely with them.

“Your mother isat the lighthouse already,” Jean said a few days later. Her hair bobbed against the back of her neck, as she’d secured it in a ponytail and then looped it through itself so the bottom was curled under.

She hadn’t slept much the night before, and the culprit currently cried for her next bottle. Jean had just started heating it, and Reuben bounced and shushed the girl to no avail.

“She is?” Reuben asked. “She knows we don’t take off for another four hours, right?”

Jean smiled. “She knows. They all know.” She opened the microwave and shook the bottle. “You know they’re all going to be there when we get there.”

All of her friends and his family. Jean wasn’t upset by it, but she did want to be back in her own home, with just her, Heidi, and Reuben. They needed to start establishing their own patterns and routines, and Jean needed to be home to do that.

“It’s ready,” she said.

“They won’t stay long,” he said. “I’ll text my mother and tell her they get a couple of hours.” He was as tired as Jean. Thrilled, yes. Happy beyond belief. But tired.

She hadn’t brought AJ’s first-week-survival kit with her to the mainland, and she wished she would have. She’d texted Laurel, and she’d given her a list of the items.

Jean’s mother had painkillers and Epsom salts, but she didn’t have an eye mask, and Jean didn’t have access to her own pillows and blankets. Heidi hadn’t slept in her own bed yet.

Even the bottles Jean and Reuben used would stay here. Jean had everything they needed at home, and her mother had bought a few things so they could stay for a few days after Heidi’s birth.

Reuben settled into the recliner in her parents’ living room, and Jean handed him the bottle. “I’m going to go shower.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his head as he finally got Heidi to start eating. The noise level went down, and Jean turned to leave.

She met her mother coming out of the hallway, and she eased into a hug. “Thanks, Mama,” she whispered.

“We’ve loved having you,” she said back. “Your daddy and I are planning to come to the cove in a couple of weeks too.”

Jean stepped back and nodded. “I’d like that. Reuben can show you the lighthouse, and we can go boating before it gets too cold.” She grinned and then remembered how much she needed to pack before they left. “I love you, Mom.”

“Love you too, Jean. I’m so happy you finally got your baby.”

Jean ducked her head and continued into the bathroom. Inside and alone, Jean looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. “I finally got my baby.” She pressed her eyes closed, and added, “Please let me be a good mother, Lord. Please, and thank you for the journey to this point.”

She could recall such low days, and she truly thought she’d finally learned the lesson of accepting the good with the bad and learning and knowing the difference between the two.

“They’re here,”someone said, and as Jean was trying not to trip down the uneven lighthouse stairs, she couldn’t place the voice.

Heidi had been asleep since the car ride to the airport in New York, for which Jean was grateful. But that also meant she’d wake soon and want to eat.

She pushed aside her worry; someone could feed the baby. Theywantedto do that, and Jean didn’t need to hog her. They’d all be gone soon, and then Jean would have to shoulder everything herself.

“We’re here, Heidi,” she said, stepping through the door Reuben held open for her. The bottom level of the lighthouse held her kitchen and living room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. It felt like every inch of the space had been filled with people—and love.

The first face she saw was Kristen, and Jean’s chest filled with life. Her mother-in-law had often been Jean’s lifeline and anchor at the same time, and she loved her dearly.

“Here she is,” Jean said. “Heidi Lynn.” She passed the baby to Kristen, who smiled and breathed in the baby as if fusing her to her soul through oxygen.

“Oh, she’s so beautiful,” Kristen whispered. “Yes, you are, Heidi. So beautiful.”

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