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I still couldn’t believe how fast everything happened.
The nurses said five minutes longer, and we would have had to deliver Coral May West in the truck. I hadn’t been able to take a full breath from the moment I heard Sandy’s voice crack and the whimper of pain till I heard my daughter’s wild scream. Right after that sound, my body relaxed, and I fell in love instantly. Unconditionally. Looking at my sweet little cupcake in my arms, I knew there was nothing I wouldn’t do to make her happy.
She was beautiful.
According to Sandy’s mom, when we had FaceTimed before she caught her flight back to the ranch, she was the spitting image of my angel when she was born. Sandy’s mom was going to be staying at the smaller cabin that used to be mine for a bit to help.
“Corey,” I heard my mom whisper, letting my girl hold her finger with her hand. “I forgot how little they are.”
That made me tear my eyes from my girl to look at my mom. She glassy eyes and what she called happy tears rolling down her face. I leaned toward her and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too.” She smiled, “You used to be that small. Can you believe that?” She grinned up at me before wiping her face and reaching to take her from me. “Come on. Let me hold her. Grandma needs to get her snuggle time in before her other grandma gets here and I have to share her,” she whispered. “Go sit and relax. Rest with Sandy,” she suggested. I nodded.
Careful not to wake Corey, I handed her over. There was something poignant about seeing my mom hold my daughter in her arms. I knew the sight before me was something I would remember for a long time—my mom holding her first grandchild.
I turned to look at Sandy in the bed. She was asleep as the machines beeped around her. The delivery had been fast but had exhausted my girl. I sat on the chair next to her and held her hand. My eyes dropped to the ring on her finger.
Myring.
I had been ready to give Sandy time to plan a big thing, but she didn’t want one. She said the only thing she wanted was to be my wife, and so I gave that to her. A month after I proposed, we got married underneath the same tree where I had proposed, in front of our family and a couple of friends.
Two weeks later, my mom and hers threw her a baby shower in the same spot. I loved that our spot was already the background for so many important moments in our life. I couldn’t wait to see how many more happened there in the future.
“Hey.” Sandy’s light brown eyes opened, connecting with mine. “Is Corey asleep?” she asked. I sat straighter when she tried to sit up and winced in pain.
“Yeah, baby.” I pointed behind me and watched my angel smile softly at the sight of my mom holding our daughter. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just sore.” She cleared her throat. “We have a baby.”
“We do, baby.”
“Here you go, honey.” My mom moved close and handed her over to Sandy. “Your dad texted. We gotta get to the airport to pick up your mom.”
“Thank you, January,” my wife said softly, taking our daughter in her arms. A soft little happy sigh escaped from Corey as she snuggled up on Sandy’s chest. Almost like she knew she was her mama.
“Of course, honey.” Mom leaned in and kissed Sandy on the forehead. “Rest as much as you can, okay? Put this guy to work.” She winked. “We will be back before you know it.”
“Thank you, Ma. Drive safe.” She nodded and left the three of us alone in the hospital room.
“Wow,” Sandy whispered into the silence after my parents were long gone.
Her eyes rose from our daughter and locked with mine.
“So, this is what it feels like to have the whole world in your hands.”
“No.” I shook my head, getting up and scooting next to her on the hospital bed, my arm around her. “This is what it feels like with the whole world in your hands,” I said, kissing the top of her head.
Looking down at my girls, I smiled. Then my already big smile and full heart seemed to grow to an impossible size when Corey opened her eyes, and I had two brown-eyed girls staring at me.
Yeah. That was what it felt like to hold the world in your hands.
Like I was the luckiest sob on the face of the earth.
Epilogue
Sandy
It was hot.
