Page 130 of Into the Storm

Epilogue

They married a month later in a small ceremony in the gazebo not far from the new dock in front of the lodge. They went to Hawai’i for a two-week honeymoon and returned in time to pack up Audrey’s small house for the bigger one they’d purchased down the road from Undine and Luke’s acreage.

Xavier retired from the Navy in early July and spent his time preparing the baby’s room while Audrey worked through the last week of the month.

When she reached her due date with no baby, she decided to start her maternity leave anyway. She was exhausted and cranky and had reached the point where she no longer was concerned about labor, she just wanted the baby out.

Early in the first week of August, she got her wish when her water broke with a rush all over their kitchen floor. Contractions started immediately, and they definitely weren’t the Braxton-Hicks kind she’d been having for weeks.

She practiced her breathing exercises on the car ride to the hospital, and by the time she arrived, she was convinced they were a hoax designed to make pregnant women believe they were prepared for something for which there was no preparation. But once she was able to walk around again and breathe, she decided perhaps they offered some merit.

Still, labor lasted twenty hours, some of which raced by and some of which dragged. But through it all, Xavier was there, holding her hand, feeding her ice chips, and providing indefatigable support.

Her rock.

Her husband.

Her life.

Their daughter was born in the early afternoon, and Audrey found she also wasn’t prepared for how beautiful her child would be, how amazing it would feel to have her tiny body, with umbilical cord still attached, placed on her chest.

She was so enamored of her perfect little wonder, she barely registered the passing-the-placenta part of the process.

Xavier was equally in awe, and the look on his face as he held their baby for the first time was yet another high.

At some point during their hazy first hours of parenthood, they learned Undine had gone into labor. She and Luke were down the hall.

Labor, delivery, and aftercare rooms were all one at the medical center, and Xavier spent the night in a large reclining chair next to her bed while she slept—or, at least, tried to sleep—with their daughter in her arms.

The next day, they learned Undine also had a girl in the wee hours of the morning. Their daughters’ birthdays were just a day apart.

Jae arrived with George to meet the baby at the start of visiting hours. They’d requested these two men be the first guests for a reason. Audrey was sitting up in the bed holding the baby when George entered the room, a wooden seal carved and painted in the Coast Salish style in his hands. “For the baby’s room.”

“Oh, George, that’s beautiful. Thank you so much.”

Xavier took the carving, freeing George’s hands.

“Do you want to hold her?” Audrey asked the elder.

“I’m a bit out of practice when it comes to babies. Never had any of my own kids. Just nieces and nephews.”

She placed her daughter in his hands, and he held her out, his large palm supporting her head, her swaddled body resting on the length of his arm. “Well, aren’t you a little beauty,” he whispered in the softest, cooiest voice she’d ever heard him use. His gaze flicked from Audrey’s to Xavier’s. “What’s her name?”

Xavier squeezed her hand as she said, “Georgina Jae Rivera.”

Both men looked up sharply, and George said, “Georgina?”

At the same time, Jae said, “Jae?”

“Yes. Because she wouldn’t be here if not for either of you.”

“Luke is gonna be pissed,” Jae quipped.

“He’s got his own daughter to name now,” Xavier said with a laugh.

George pulled Georgina to cradle her against his chest. “Georgina Jae,” he murmured, and she could swear she saw a tear in his eye. He looked up. “I’m honored.”

Jae reached for the baby. “My turn, old man.” He took the sleeping baby and held her against his chest and whispered, “Someday, I’m going to tell you all the ways your dad got in trouble when he was a kid.”