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“Beatrice—one who brings joy.”

I shake my head and adjust the baby in my arms. “Mmm, I don’t like it.”

“Me neither, actually,” Beau says.

He’s been throwing out baby names for the last hour, and we’re no closer to picking one. Our theory that we’d know a name when we met her was wrong. The only thing I knew was how much I loved her, immediately. I’d never felt anything like it before.

I snuggle her a little closer, and she sighs contentedly, continuing to nurse.

She caught on like a champ, latching within minutes of the doctor putting her on my chest. She was healthy and crying, so the NICU was able to leave, unneeded.

The rest of the nurses and doctor soon filed out too, and then it was just the three of us alone, Beau counting her fingers and toes as I fed her for the first time.

It felt like magic, like something too good to be true.

A dream I couldn’t have perfected if I’d tried.

“Did you know Beau means beautiful?” Beau asks, grinning at me. “So does Bella. We should name her Bella so we can both be called beautiful every day.”

I roll my eyes, suppressing a laugh. “No Bella, too Twilight .”

“ Twilight was our make-out movie in high school.”

“I know, so we can’t name our child after the main character.”

Beau sighs and stretches, his shirt lifting to reveal a slice of tanned skin. “We had some good times during those movies.”

Heat licks at my cheeks. “Pick a name, Beau.”

He flashes me another grin, and I can’t help but notice the dark circles beneath his eyes. I don’t think he’s slept in days. “What about Rose?”

“What does that mean?”

“Rose,” he replies.

A laugh slips out of me, jostling the baby back awake from where she’d drifted off.

“I should have guessed.”

“Felicity means happiness.”

I tilt my head from side to side. “I like it but don’t love it.”

“Chloe. Eveline. Celeste.”

My eyes find his, and I let out a sigh. “None of them feel right.”

His chin dips in a nod of agreement. “I know, I don’t think so either.”

“Shouldn’t it just come to us? Your mom said she looked at you and Cooper and just knew your names.”

“Have you met Cooper? His personality was formed directly out of the womb.”

“She’s just sweet,” I tell him, holding her a little closer to me.

She’s drifted off again, and I pull her away from my chest, clipping my gown back in place before returning her to my body.

She snuggles against me, and I swear my heart sighs.

When I look at Beau, his expression matches the way I feel inside. Like mush that’s in love.

“She is sweet,” he says, and pushes up out of his chair, coming to stand beside us.

When he lifts her off my chest and holds her against his own, I think I could cry just from looking at them.

I can’t believe this almost didn’t happen.

That if I hadn’t stepped into a bar eight months ago, he never would have taken me home.

I never would have kissed him, and he never would have peeled my clothes off.

I never would have stared at that positive pregnancy test and known my life had just flipped upside down.

Again. We never would have found our way back to each other.

If it weren’t for that perfect little baby in his arms, we never would have had our second chance. We never would have made something new out of the rubble.

I pull out my phone and snap a photo, knowing I’m going to frame the image of Beau holding our daughter, haloed in the golden morning light, and put it on my nightstand so I can look at it for the rest of time.

He’s humming to her now, rocking back and forth.

He’s a natural at this. Last night when she cried, I fed her and he sang to her until she fell asleep on his still bare chest. I can still hear the sound of it, his deep voice singing softly in her ear.

I thought my heart might explode just watching them.

Ripping my gaze from them, I pull up the web browser on my phone and type “baby names that mean new” into the search bar.

Name meanings have never seemed that important to me before, and I still think if I found a name that we both loved that meant something like desert dirt , I’d probably still choose it.

But right now, we’re at a loss, and I’m ready to chase down any lead.

I’m tired of not knowing what to call her, of feeling like she’s missing something vital that only we can provide.

I tap on the first website that pops up and scroll through the names until one catches my eye. In my chest, something clicks into place, the last puzzle piece on a project I’ve been working on for nine long months.

My eyes lift to Beau, still rocking our daughter, humming a tune I would recognize anywhere. It’s the song we danced to at our wedding. There’s something poetic about him humming it now. A new beginning for us.

“Beau?” I ask.

He looks up at me, still swaying. His eyes are tired but bright, so full of love I think my chest might crack open. He looks like every dream I’ve ever had come true.

“What about Nova? It means new.”