Charlottesville, Virginia

Libby went into ten hours of labor at thirty-six weeks into her pregnancy. As soon as she arrived at the hospital and the nurse examined her and declared the baby breech, the doctor was called and told to prep for surgery.

In all the birthing scenarios, she had never considered that her child would be upside down and backward. Okay, that was not true. She had come up with dozens of ways this pregnancy could have gone wrong, but for some reason Baby stuck inside me hadn’t been one of them.

Colton was at her side as the doctor pulled her baby from her womb and handed her off to the nurse.

Sadie McKenzie Reese, a.k.a. “The Spud,” weighed in at seven pounds, one ounce, and when she opened her mouth to cry, it was the loudest, most earth-shattering shrill Libby could have expected from such a small thing. It was also the sweetest.

Colton accepted the baby’s swaddled form and carried her over to Libby. She turned her face toward the child’s, wishing she could hold her. “Does she have all her fingers and toes?”

“She does.” The child looked so small in Colton’s arms. “And she blew the doors off the Apgar score.”

Tears welled in Libby’s eyes. “She’ll need to be tough to keep up with her older brothers.”

“Won’t be long before she’s running circles around those two.”

Libby and Colton had married at Woodmont the day after Christmas last year, in the greenhouse with their family surrounding them. There had been Jeff, Sam, Ginger, Cameron, and Margaret. On Libby’s side had stood Elaine, Ted, and, to her surprise, Lofton, who had arrived minutes before the ceremony. Sierra had been Libby’s maid of honor, and Mrs. Mancuso had given her away.

Colton had been asking her to marry him for months, but she had refused to bind him to her for fear she would lose the baby. She had been twenty-eight weeks pregnant the day she had said her “I do,” and though she had not told anyone, she had started to make the very smallest to-do list for the baby.

“Jeff and Sam were hoping for a brother,” she said. She studied the little girl’s pink face, pug nose, and rounded lips.

“They’ll get over it and figure out there are advantages to having a sister.”

She was excited for the boys—her boys—to see their new sister. She would never forget the babies she had carried and lost and would see to it that all the bottled-up love she had had for them would be lavished on Sadie, Jeff, and Sam.

“Elaine and Mom are outside,” Colton said. “Elaine was pacing the hallway when I went into the waiting room an hour ago. Mom was quiet, which is how she gets when she’s worried.”

Libby adjusted the baby’s blanket, tucking it close to her chin. “Send them in so they can meet their little Sadie.”