August

Dani's water broke during the night in early August. She was very ready not to be pregnant anymore. When the contractions woke her up, she must have yelled because Elizabeth came running in and then Jack followed by Autumn.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked. "You screamed."

"It hurts so much. Something is wrong."

Elizabeth nodded to Jack who ran out of the room to call the hospital.

As she moaned, she tensed and Elizabeth tried to calm her while trying to coax Autumn out of the room. "Autumn, go back to bed, sweetie."

"Mommy….what's wrong?"

"Nothing. She's having her baby. Nana Grace is going to come watch you."

"I wanna…go! I'm gonna be Auntie!"

"You can come up after she has the baby."

"Not…fair," she said, crossing her arms.

Elizabeth ushered Autumn out of the room and into Brady's. "Brady?"

"Huh?" he asked, sitting up.

"Can Autumn stay in here with you until Nana Grace comes? We are heading to the hospital with Dani."

"Yeah."

"Thank you."

She heard a loud yell from Dani and ran out of the room, trusting Brady to watch Autumn for a bit.

As Jack, Elizabeth and Dani pulled out of the driveway about fifteen minutes later, they waved at Grace who was pulling in.

"Brady?" Autumn said quietly.

"Yeah."

"I'm scared."

Brady climbed down and laid next to Autumn on the bottom bed. "Why?"

"Dani….was crying…and yelling."

"That's what ladies do when they have babies."

"How do you….know?"

"I just do."

"I want to go."

"Nana is taking us up later. For now, let's go to sleep. It's still dark out."

Elizabeth sat in the back seat with Dani as they drove. Thankfully, the hospital wasn't that far away. However, to Dani, it felt like forever.

It felt like the contractions were right on top of each other. In reality, they were about five minutes apart.

"I decided something," she panted.

"What's that?" Elizabeth asked, stroking her arm.

"I want you to adopt me."

Elizabeth smiled and kissed her forehead. "I'm glad, sweetheart. I would love to be your Mom."

Jack smiled in the rear view mirror and winked at Elizabeth. "I like the idea of being your Dad, Dani."

"I like it too," she told him as another contraction hit.

Elizabeth felt Jack step on the gas. "Sweetie, be careful."

"I am. I just don't like it when someone I love is in pain."

As the night wore on, Dani was having a hard time dealing with the pain so they gave her an epidural which allowed her to be able to rest. Elizabeth stayed with her as Jack headed down to the coffee shop to get them coffee.

"Nana?" Autumn climbed into bed with Grace in Jack and Elizabeth's room.

"Hi, honey bun. Why aren't you sleeping? It's so early."

"I want to see the….baby."

"We will, but it's going to be a while before she is born."

"Why?"

"Because it takes time."

"I'm hungry."

Grace looked at the clock on the table next to her. "Six am. Alright, let's go eat something."

"I want Golden...Grahams."

"Okay. Golden Grahams it is."

Brady walked downstairs a few minutes later too and grabbed his own cereal. "Why is everyone up so early? It's still summer."

"I wanna see the baby."

"Is she born?"

Grace looked at her cell. "No, not yet. Probably a few more hours."

"Can we go to The Nook?" Brady asked as he shoveled a bite of Frosted Flakes in his mouth.

"Yeah! I want to…see Mommy's book."

"Sure, we can go and maybe pick out a book for the new baby?" Grace heard Carter wake up so she headed upstairs to get him.

"I'm so scared," Dani whimpered to Elizabeth.

"I know it's scary, sweetheart, but you can do this."

The nurses put her numb legs in the stirrups and lowered the epidural medicine so she could feel what she was doing.

"Next contraction, I want you to push, Dani," the nurse said.

"I can't."

Elizabeth looked at her and smiled. "Yes, you can. I am right here."

A moment later, her stomach hardened and she felt pressure. "Now, sweetheart," the nurse told her.

Dani pushed hard, her face turning red, but she made little progress.

"Okay, let's wait again, until the next contraction."

Elizabeth knew it would also give the medicine time to wear off a bit more. "Listen, you need to use the muscles that you use if you were going to use the bathroom."

"Okay, I'll try."

"Good girl." She kissed her hair and smiled. "I love you, Dani."

"Okay, push!" the nurse told her as the doctor walked in.

"Good job!" the doctor told her. "I see the head. Lots of dark hair."

About thirty minutes later, Dani's daughter was born. All eight pounds, nine ounces of her.

She immediately wanted to eat so Dani got a crash course in breastfeeding from Elizabeth. She had been teaching her a bit as Carter had his nighttime snack but that was nothing compared to having to figure it out with her own child.

"I don't know…"

"It's ok. Touch her chin right there to get her to open her mouth a bit more. As soon as she does, bring her closer."

After a few tries, she was finally latched on. "Wow, it worked," Dani said, watching her daughter eat.

"I'm so proud of you," Elizabeth told her.

"Thank you. I can't believe she's finally here."

Jack knocked on the door a while later. He poked his head in. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Dani whispered, not wanting to wake the sleeping baby on her chest.

"Oh wow. Good job, Dani. She's beautiful."

"Thank you."

"May I hold her?"

She passed her off to Jack. "I think I'm going to try to sleep."

"Okay. Papa's got this."

"Papa?"

"Yeah. If you are my daughter, she's my granddaughter."

Jack sat on the couch and smiled. "What's her name?"

"I want to wait to say until everyone is here."

"Okay. Fair enough."

Around dinner time that day, Grace brought the older kids up to the hospital, leaving Carter with Julie.

As they all crowded around the bed to see the baby, Dani smiled. "Who wants to know what her name is?"

"Me!" Autumn said.

"You already know," Dani told her.

"It's a secret!"

"That's right. Now, I'm going to tell though. Everyone, this is Bethanie Gracyn Thornton. Bethanie after Elizabeth, Gracyn after Grace and I thought I would give her the name Thornton since that is going to be my last name soon enough."

Dani and Bethanie came home the next day. Jack had to work so Elizabeth left the kids at home with Julie this time and headed up there to get her.

When she walked in the room, Bethanie was crying hard and so was Dani. "Dani? What's wrong, sweetheart?" Elizabeth picked up Bethanie and shushed her, gently bouncing her. "It's okay now, shhhh."

Dani dried her tears and sat down. "I'm such a bad mom."

"You are not a bad mom. I've seen you with her."

"I don't know what I'm doing. She cries so much."

"Some babies do that, and if you aren't sure about something, I will be there to help you. Okay?" Elizabeth laid Bethanie on the bed and wrapped her arms around Dani.

"She's going to cry. She doesn't like to be put down."

"It's ok. You need a hug right now, don't you?"

"Yeah. I really do."

"When did you feed her last?"

"I just got done feeding her. She was sleeping so I put her down to get dressed but she woke up and started up again."

"Did you burp her?"

"I tried but she didn't burp."

"She might have a tummy ache. Let me try."

Elizabeth put a cloth over her shoulder and then picked up the baby. "Okay, sweet girl. Give Mimi a burp."

"Mimi?" Dani asked with a smile.

"Well, it sounds less old than Grandma. Plus, I'm only 26 so I'll take what I can get."

Bethanie gave a loud burp, making Dani giggle. "Wow. That was a big one."

"Sometimes when a baby needs to burp, it makes them upset. You just need to be patient and keep helping her." Elizabeth kissed Bethanie's soft hair and smiled. "You are so pretty, little one. Welcome to the family."

"I can't wait to be in my own bed," Dani said with a sigh.

"I bet. One of the first tricks I'm going to teach you is to sleep when she sleeps. So if you feed her and put her down in her crib, you need to sleep too. Otherwise you will be exhausted."

"Well, when do I eat or take a shower?"

"You'll have to juggle some things but you have lots of family that would be more than happy to hold her while you take care of things."

They chatted about signing up for homeschool courses as they drove home. "I asked the high school about what company they recommend and I have a couple we can look at in the next few days."

"Okay."

"I know it's kind of overwhelming to think about, but you won't need to start school until Autumn and Brady do, so you have about a month."

Dani nodded and stared down at her daughter. "She looks like her dad."

"Does she?"

"Yeah, he has dark hair and her nose matches his."

"Do you want to tell me about him?"

"Not too much to tell."

"Where did you meet him?"

"At a fair. I was there with my foster family at the time. He asked me if I wanted to ride the Ferris wheel with him. So I did. Then I would sneak out and see him at night after that."

"You didn't know him from school?"

"No. He's older."

"A lot older?"

"He's twenty one."

"Dani."

"I know. He said all the right things. He told me I was beautiful and I felt safe with him."

"You are beautiful and maybe you were safe, but, sweetie, that was illegal for him to have sex with you."

"Illegal?

"Yeah. You are a minor. Under 18. He committed a crime."

"But I wanted to be with him, Elizabeth. He didn't force me and I never told him how old I was."

"In the eyes of the law, that doesn't matter. He was over eighteen and you were under eighteen."

"Well, he left me anyway when I told him I was pregnant. I have no idea where he is." Elizabeth saw her wipe her eyes in the mirror.

"I'm sorry, Dani. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's fine."

When they pulled into the driveway, she hadn't said anything else. "Dani?"

"It's okay. I promise."

"Alright." Elizabeth took the carseat out of the vehicle and carried it while Dani took the diaper bag and walked in behind her. "Another trick, Dani. This porch swing is the perfect place to nurse a baby."

"I might just do that."

That evening, at dinner, Julie announced that Mike had proposed to her and they were getting married in the fall.

When Bethanie let out a squawk, Jack offered to hold her while Dani finished eating.

"So I was wondering if Autumn wanted to be my flower girl with Mike's daughter Alissa."

"Yes! I do!" she said, yelling, making Bethanie cry. "Oh…I'm sorry Bethie," she said quietly, kissing her head.

"Double flower girls?" Jack said with a smile. "That's pretty cool, pumpkin."

"Yeah!"

Jack smiled down at his soon-to-be granddaughter. "Dani, I think she's hungry too."

Dani took her and headed outside to the porch swing. "Can I go?" Autumn asked. "I want to swing."

"Sure, sweetie. Make sure you ask Dani before you go out there."

"Okay." Autumn walked out the door right behind Dani. "Dani?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I…sit with you?"

"Sure."

Autumn climbed up carefully and watched as the baby ate. "She's gonna…get big…like me?"

"Yep."

"Mommy feeds Carter….like that…before sleep."

"Yes, she does." Dani smiled when Autumn leaned her head against her arm. "So are you excited to be a flower girl?"

"Yes. What does it mean?"

"You get to walk down the aisle in a pretty dress and throw flower petals on the floor."

"I get…to make a mess?"

"Well, kind of, but it really just makes a pretty path for the brides to walk down."

"Oh. Were you a…flower girl?"

"No, I never have been."

"Why?"

"Because I was never asked."

"Oh."

Dani put Bethanie up to her shoulder and patted her back a few minutes later, listening for a hearty burp. When she got one, Autumn giggled.

"She sounds…like Carter and Brady."

Dani smiled. "I suppose she does."

"Autumn, time for a bath," Elizabeth called from inside.

Autumn gave Dani and the baby a kiss. "Night."

"Night, sweetie."

Dani finished feeding Bethanie and then headed inside to put her in her crib. She was definitely ready for sleep herself.