“Oh, well, let me finish my announcement. Yeah. Anyway, all of this will be great practice for us because Darcy and I are expecting our own baby as well.”

Tyler leaned in to Courtney as the voices of the family raised in congratulations.

“You were right. That superhero power again.”

“Hold on. There’s more,” she whispered to him.

“Um, thanks everyone. But we have to go,” Ed’s voice was hurried and Courtney heard the folding chair behind him move.

“Ed, what’s going on?” Darcy asked, again her voice filled with panic. Courtney heard Ed whisper something. “Oh. Oh! Oh, we have to go. We have to go.”

“What happened?” Ed’s mother now asked.

“Our baby is on the way. That was the birth mother’s mother. They just took her to the hospital.”

“Go. Go!” Simone said through tears, obviously moved that she’d helped yet someone else.

There were cheers and sobs filling the air among the breeze rustled song of the leaves in the trees. Courtney felt the stir of emotion begin to take over with Tyler’s hand in her own.

She moved in closer to him. “I love your family. You need to know that.”

“I know that.” He kissed her cheek.

“I want to be part of this,” she said as softly near his ear as she could.

“When you’re ready we’ll make our own announcement then.”

She rested her cheek against his. “In time. Today and next week certainly belong to Ed and Darcy.”

“Carlos and Madeline just ran out too. My mother is already in the house. I don’t think my father knows what’s going on,” he said with a chuckle

“I’m thinking this party will be relocating.”

“I suppose you’re right. That’s how we roll here.”

“That’s because life and family is so important.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.” She felt him shift. “There go Warner and Clara.” He laughed. “Tori is crying, and the kids are trying to pull her into the house to leave. I think Chris is already in the car.”

“Perhaps Uncle Tyler should be there too.”

“Uncle Tyler.” He sighed—actually sighed. “Hadn’t thought about that really. But I’ll go later. I think there are going to be a lot of visitors. She won’t miss me.”

“Then we should help clean up. This house needs to be ready for that new life coming home to it.”

The phone call had come in after Tyler and Courtney had settled in on her sofa.

“I’m an uncle,” Tyler pulled Courtney closer to him.

“To a nephew or a niece?”

He chuckled. “Oh, yeah.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Her name is Emily.”

“After your grandmother.”

Tyler stroked her hair. “Yeah. She created the eclectic family and Ed and Darcy consciously added to it with that in mind.”

“I think that’s beautiful.”

“She’s completely healthy and they can take her home tomorrow.”

“And the birth mother?”

“She’s doing fine. She’s fourteen.”

“Oh, my.”

“Yeah. She is very sure she doesn’t want to be a mother and she tried to hide the pregnancy until it was too late.”

“Small blessings in everything,” Courtney added.

“We’ve been invited over tomorrow. I told them we’d come with Avery at lunch since we have a lot of work to do.”

Courtney snuggled in closer to him and Tyler contemplated everything that had happened. He’d never stopped to realize that life moved so fast. In one moment a life could be taken from you or the gift of life could be given.

One moment you’re a child—the next you’re in charge of your own future.

Clearly now, he thought of the moment at dinner when Courtney said she wanted to be part of his family. Didn’t he want that more than anything? It was much too soon to bring it up to her parents, he was sure of that. But he wouldn’t dream about announcing it until he’d spoken to her father—asked his approval.

Dear Lord, what would he do if he didn’t get it?

“You’re thinking awful hard,” Courtney said.

“I am. So much has happened in the past few weeks. I was just taking inventory.”

“The day Fitz died I thought I would too,” she said. “My heart was so broken I didn’t think it would ever mend.”

She sat up next to him and turned toward him. “I couldn’t have expected that I’d meet you on that plane and my whole life would change.”

“Small blessings in everything, just as you said.”

She leaned back into him again. “I could have done with having had it all and Fitz here too.”

Tyler draped his arm over her shoulders. “I know. But he’d never have left you on purpose.”

“No. Nothing could ever make him have done that.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Courtney wasn’t sure lunchtime was ever going to come. They were making great progress, but the truth was she and Avery wanted to go see the baby and not much more was going to get done until they had their opportunity.

Tyler finally agreed, called and made sure they had the baby home, and they headed over.

Avery all but pushed them both out of the way when they walked into Ed and Darcy’s house. “I’m holding her first.”

Courtney laughed. “You know, she’s being silly. She’ll hold her first and look at her. I’ll hold her longer and really get to know her.”

Tyler laughed as they walked in.

“Oh, Ed, she’s beautiful,” Avery was saying when Tyler led Courtney into the living room.

“She is. She’s absolutely perfect.”

“I was thinking I’d have more time to prepare,” Darcy said. “Two weeks to become a mother, that’s not normal.”

“I’m sure your mother and father felt the same way,” Courtney said and then wondered if she should have.

The room was silent for a moment. “You’re right. You know I remember my mother saying that. They’d waited years for a baby and then one day they got a phone call that there was a baby and they could come and get her.” Courtney felt Darcy’s hand on her arm. “Thank you for reminding me that I was someone’s miracle too.”