She was so… cute. Beautiful. Her hair was like mine already, fiery red and silky. Her features were Michael's, though. It almost hurt to look, to remember that this baby- she was Michael's. Her nose turned up, just like his did. I had always loved his nose. And his lips. She had his soft lips, that same sweet form that had made him irresistible from the time I met him.
And the shape of her eyes… well, they were actually my mom's eyes, regardless of Halley's joking that they were like her own. She hadn't opened them yet, but I could tell. They were round like Marion's, naïve, innocent-looking. Even though Marion wasn't innocent-far from it-, this baby was. Her life was a clean slate. She'd hardly been in this world for an hour. She was mine. My sweet, beautiful, wonderful baby.
I found myself laughing as I played with her tiny fingers. I wasn't normally this sentimental. But now, with this baby in my arms, I felt like a different person. I was a different person. And I wasn't. I was still the girl Michael had fallen for, the girl that befriended Halley all those years ago, the one that fended for herself when Marion was too drunk to care for her. Now, though, I was a mother. A mom. This was my daughter, little Grace Halley Thomas.
And despite the difficulties of childbirth, of losing Michael, and of nearly losing it myself on several accounts, I was glad to be where I was. With my baby in my arms, my best friend on my right side, and a future ahead of each of us. There was a sweet serendipity in the air. All of this, everything, was such a happy accident. I couldn't have asked for anything better.