The Fireman's Baby(33)

Laura was so overwhelmed with love and joy that all she could do was nod silently with tears in her eyes and fall into his arms. When she told everyone about the engagement, they were thrilled. Everyone said it was about time.

They began arranging the wedding immediately. Even though their relationship hadn't been traditional, Laura still chose to wear white and Annie was her beautiful little bridesmaid dressed in pink. Sophie and Daniel's sister were bridesmaids, too

Daniel's best man was Sam, but Michael still found his way into the bridal party and there were photos of Daniel and all the other firefighters who had come to feel like brothers to her.

Her own parents, Sophie, and Annie senior and Roger and the twins and all the other wonderful people in their life, were some of Laura's most treasured possessions.

Baby Luke came along just six months after the wedding. Laura was pleased with herself for getting to choose both of their children's names, but she had named Annie after Daniel's mother, after all.

This time, Laura was not alone with a newborn, but had her new husband at her side and Annie proved to be a very loving big sister. Not many one-night stands and unplanned pregnancies wind up in the perfect fairytale ending, but having the fireman's baby was about the best thing that had ever happened to Laura.

When she thought back over their time together in those quiet evenings in their new marital home, she could only smile and still shake her head in that quiet disbelief that still remained after all this time, that a life that had gone so wildly off plan had turned out to be precisely the life she craved.

And so a little family was created out of the madness. Daniel would go out to work fighting fires and Laura would take Annie to preschool, before taking Luke with her to the gift card shop as a new baby for customers to coo over.

She would spend a pleasant day with customers and her baby and then go home to eat bad Italian with a man who really loved her. Their family was surrounded by people who loved them and they had no end of fun and laughter to their days. Everything turned out perfectly unexpected and unexpectedly perfect.





THE END