Thank you for your continued unwavering support. I appreciate it more than you could possibly know and certainly more than I can express.
We've come to the end of another story and I just want to applaud all of you for the great job of reviewing, favoriting and following that you have done.
Once again, you took a chance and went along on this little journey with me, staying the course along the way. It does a girl's heart good, to see someone actually appreciating something she's done.
Blessings to all of you: those who read, those who read and review, those who have made it a favorite of their's and those who have followed from the inception...I sincerely THANK YOU. Looking forward for your continued support on the next story.
Standard disclaimer.
Epilogue
"Push, baby, push. You're doing so great. I see the head," Sam said, in an excited, yet terrified voice.
"Arrrgggggg..." Mercedes grunted, as she used her last remaining strength and gave a final push.
She collapsed back against the bed and then heard the sweetest sound imaginable.
The first cry of her beautiful baby.
She watched as the doctor and attending nurses took her baby over to the other side of the room to check it out and clean it up.
Suddenly, the doctor was placing their child on top of her chest and she was looking into the scrunched up face of her daughter, throwing her very first temper tantrum.
"She definitely has her daddy's temperament," Sam said.
He laughed, as he rubbed their daughter from head to toe, making sure for himself, that she was okay in every way.
"I think she's hungry and letting us all know," he chuckled.
Even though exhausted, Mercedes looked from her husband to her baby girl and felt pride and happiness, as her family was growing.
She could see the love and pride shining in Sam's eyes, also tears, and it was the most beautiful thing in the world.
"Kady would like to have her father hold her now," Mercedes said to Sam, after a while.
He gently picked her up and held her closely to his chest.
The tiny movement of her breathing, was the most amazing feeling in the world.
The night before, he'd felt her strong kick from the inside of her mother's stomach. Now he was holding her in his arms.
A short while later, the three of them transferred rooms.
They were there, no more than a few minutes, when there was a knock at the door.
"Can we come in?" said the subdued voice of Mercedes' normally booming father-in-law.
"Come in, dad, mom," Sam said. And as soon as they entered, he said, "Meet your very first grand child and granddaughter, Kadence Layla Evans...Kady for short."
Dwight Evans gently took his granddaughter from his son and a tear streamed down his cheek, while Mary looked on, her eyes filled with tears.
Things hadn't turned out badly at all, he thought to himself. He was in a hospital, holding his brand new baby granddaughter and his son was happily married.
He looked over at his son and smiled. 'You should be thanking your old father.'
But Dwight knew better than to ask for any praise, for all he'd done to get these kids together. His beautiful granddaughter, was all the thanks he needed.
"You two have done really well here," Dwight said, as he smiled from Mercedes to Sam. "She's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen in my life," he continued on.
He reluctantly handed the baby girl to his wife, who was anxiously waiting and watched a glow come to her face, as she sat in the rocker and held the precious gift to her chest.
"We almost got a Christmas baby," Dwight laughed. It was December twenty third. But they all agreed, that Kady was the perfect gift for the whole family.
"Guess we'll have to work on giving Kady a little brother, to be born on Christmas next year," Sam said, as he looked at his wife hungrily.
She was still the most beautiful thing in the world, even after the hard labor she'd endured.
"Now son, I assure you, I want a ton of grand babies running around that empty old mansion, but you may not want to scare your wife off. It never is a good thing, to talk about child number two, when she is still feeling the pain from the first one," Dwight said and winked at Mercedes.
"The pain's already forgotten dad. I love this baby girl more than anything in the world and want to make many siblings for her, because, I love your son so much and that love needs to be shared, with the wonderful children I know we will make."
Dwight's heart enlarged just a bit more, at how much he loved his new daughter. He'd asked her to call him dad, because, he knew she didn't have one.
He truly loved her, like she was one of his own kids.
And since she was married to his son, she was his family now. He still loved to hear her say it, though.
He bent down, kissed her cheek and whispered, "I'm proud of ya sweetheart."
Before Mercedes' eyes could completely fill with tears, there was another knock on the door.
Her face broke out into a huge smile, as Kurt stepped through the doorway, carrying a huge teddy bear, balloons and a large bag of chocolates.
"Kurtie, I'm so glad you finally got here," she said to her best friend.
"There was an accident on the freeway, or I would've been here an hour ago," he said, as he bent down and kissed her on the cheek.
"Come and meet your God-daughter," she said.
Kurt's eyes instantly filled with tears, as he took the precious bundle into his arms.
"She's perfect Mercedes, just like her mom," he told her, while trying to get his emotions under control. "No offence Sam...cause you're perfect too and she's all you."
Sam and his parents laughed, while Mercedes sported the biggest smile on her face.
Kurt was right, except for being a shade darker than Sam, Kady was his mini me.
They all visited for about an hour and Mercedes' heart was nearly bursting, with how much love she had for the people in the room with her.
Regretting that he had to leave, Kurt said his goodbyes and handed little Kady back to her grandmother, who delightfully took her and smothered her in kisses.
Minutes later, Mary walked over to the bed, with her granddaughter in her hand, and passed her to her mother, where she immediately announced, by a loud wail, she was ready to be fed.
That gave all the people in the room a laugh.
"You did really good, honey. I'm so very proud of you. I can't wait for you and Kady to get home," Mary said to Mercedes.
"Thank you, mom. I'm so glad you both were here."
Mercedes choked up and Sam came to her side, sitting on the bed and immediately throwing his hand around her shoulders.
"There's never a need to thank us...we're family and we love you," Mary said and brushed a kiss across her cheeks.
"We'll leave you kids alone now," Dwight said. He kissed his little granddaughter one more time, kissed Mercedes' cheek and kissed Sam's head.
Then, hand in hand, he walked out of the room with his wife. They both had huge smiles on their faces, as they stepped through the door.
As two of them turned the corner, Dwight's eyes twinkled.
"Well Mary, one son down, two to go. I like being a grandpa and I'm getting greedy now. I want new babies every year, for the next ten years or so," he stated, as if he would indeed get his wish.
"Now Dwight, I admit, this turned out really well, but you will not be doing any more meddling in your sons' lives. They can find their own mates and find their own way," she said, sternly to her husband, even though, she knew it was a futile battle.
Dwight just wrapped his arm around his wife and whistled a tune, as they headed for their car.
He wouldn't say anything, yet, but he already had the perfect bride picked out for his middle child, Stevie.
I hope this epilogue made sense. I had to do an almost re-write to get it up to scratch.
Thanks again and stay safe!