“It's Annie, Mom,” Daniel told her.
There was another long pause and then another teapot shriek of ecstatic joy. His mother, who was usually so frail and arthritic, leaped to her feet and began to dance around the living room.
“After me?” she gasped. “Did you hear that Roger? They named her after me!”
Annie crossed the room to plant two big kisses on her son's cheeks and then ran to pick up the telephone, handset, deliberating over who to call first.
“When do I get to meet the mother?” she asked him excitedly. “Laura is it? When will I meet her? We have so much to talk about. Has she thought about preschool yet? Gloria knows all the best preschools. We'll have lunch. And does Laura know about infantile colic? You suffered from that, you know, and so did your sister. It wouldn't surprise me if your daughter was just the same, but I have just the thing for it.”
Daniel's panic melted away and he grinned to see his mother so happy. Even his father was sitting with the happy, proud smile of a new grandfather on his face and Daniel felt some of the pressure dissipate, as he realized that his parents were simply happy to have a grandchild at last.
“I'll call Laura tonight,” he promised. “She can come for dinner tomorrow.”
Laura was surprised when she received Daniel's call, but excited too. Even though he'd said that he was going to tell his parents about her, she supposed she'd doubted it slightly. Even now that he felt afraid that they would think she was some irresponsible floozy. Still, if she wanted Daniel to be a part of Annie's life, then she supposed that she would have to welcome his parents too. Annie would be a lucky little girl to have two sets of grandparents who loved her dearly.
The Final Chapter
So the following evening, Laura got her daughter ready in a sweet little pink dress, tucked her pink bunny beside her in the stroller and waited for Daniel to pick her up.
“Nervous?” he asked her, as he carefully strapped his daughter into the new car seat he had bought just for her and opened the door for Laura.
“Yes,” Laura confessed. “What did you tell them about me?”
“The truth,” Daniel told her.
“That some woman, who was a stranger to you, enticed you into her bedroom for a night of wild, unprotected sex?” she asked.
Daniel shook his head. “No,” he reassured her. “I told them that a bright, intelligent, young woman invited me for dinner one night and that even after I got her pregnant and left her alone for months while I was away, she still took care of my child and was nothing but gracious and forgiving when I returned.”
“I guess that's a better way to phrase it,” Laura smiled.
The captain reached over and laid a comforting hand atop hers. “They're going to love you,” he promised her. “You could be a lice farmer and my mother wouldn't care so long as you brought her a grandchild.”
“Lice farmer?” Laura giggled. “Is that a thing?”
“I said the first thing that came into my head.”
“Lice farmer?”
Daniel laughed. “Are you teasing me?”
“When I'm not seducing firemen, I actually have a pretty good sense of humor,” she told him.
“When I'm not impregnating gift card store owners, so do I,” he grinned.
Laura smiled and looked back at Annie in her car seat. Her baby was wide-awake for once and watching the world go by.
“I haven't heard her cry yet,” Daniel commented.
“It doesn't happen very often,” Laura told him. “Only when she's hungry or tired, just like her mother.”
“Bad Italian,” Daniel recalled. “Is that what our daughter will eat?”
“Actually, I've been taking cooking lessons I'll have you know,” Laura told him proudly. “I've learned how to poach an egg.”
“Impressive,” Daniel grinned.
Laura nudged him playfully and he laughed. She looked out the window then and wondered what she was doing. Ever since Daniel had returned, she had found herself flirting with him, except it wasn't a conscious effort this time, but something that just came so naturally between them.
Even though she was supposed to be playing it safe and keeping her guard up, the man just made her smile and since he'd returned he'd done everything in his power to do right by her and their daughter. He had not played any games, or said he'd needed time and even now he was driving her to meet his parents.
She had to admire how courageously he stepped into his duties. She recalled all too well how stunned she had been, looking at that line of positive pregnancy tests; how afraid and uncertain and upset because her plan had gone off track. She'd had nine months to grow used to the idea and prepare. Daniel had no such luxury. He had gone off a young, handsome bachelor and returned a father, and he hadn't shied away or run off.