Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
We’d decided on a name as soon as we found out that we were having a girl, but we hadn’t told anyone. Not until today when all of my friends and family would show up to meet our baby girl—Helena Marie Percy.
We spent the next hour visiting with all those who wanted to see her. She was such a champ, too. Never complaining and loving every new person who held her. I grabbed a quick shower and dinner while everyone met our new addition.
By the time visiting hours were almost up, I thought I’d pass out from exhaustion and everything.
But then we were told that we had another visitor.
“Who is it?” I asked Camden.
But he smiled mischievously.
In strode Jem.
“Oh my god, Jem!” I cried.
She looked so grown up since the last time I’d seen her. Her hair was blonde and curly, creating an almost halo around her head. Her skin was back to its normal hue, and she no longer looked sick. Because she wasn’t. She’d beaten her leukemia and passed her first-year checkup—cancer-free.
“Hi, Katherine,” she said with a wide smile.
“It’s so good to see you. Did your parents drop you off?”
“They’re downstairs, checking out the gift shop,” she told me. “Figured I was okay, navigating a hospital since I grew up in one.”
That was a sad truth. But I was so glad that she was here. Paul had taken a job with Camden’s company, and their income had stabilized so much that Liza could stay at home to help Jem catch up on her schoolwork until she could go to regular school again. She’d already been accepted into a private school in the city, and we’d offered to cover tuition. She had a bright future ahead of her.
Camden settled Jem into a chair by the window and then handed Helena over to her. She held her with such delicacy that my heart swelled in size. It was like having our two kids together. Even though Jem wasn’t ours by law, she would always feel like she was.
A knock at the door pulled me away from them, and then in strode my mother. She’d been here all night with us. I’d thought it would be horrible, but it’d actually been such a relief.
“I brought another surprise,” she said.
Then she swung the door open, and in walked my brother, David.
Tears sprang to my eyes. “David, you came!”
“Of course I did! I had to come. Plus, Sutton came with her brother Jensen and his wife, Emery. I thought it might be overwhelming the first day for all of them to show up, too.”
“I missed you,” I told him.
David dropped down and wrapped me in a gentle hug. “We’ll have to find more times to fly out here. I want my kids to get to know their cousin.”
I nodded. We’d never had that before. Our parents had kept us far from our relatives. Insulated us so that we could only be Upper East Side at heart. “I’d like that.”
“In fact, Sutton requested that you come down for Christmas. She’s been volunteering with the ballet, and I know that she would love to have your family out. Especially after I told her that you did ballet growing up.”
“Actually, Christmas sounds great.”
It wasn’t like we were going to have a traditional Percy Christmas this year. It might be nice to go to Texas and start a new tradition.
“We’d love to,” Camden said.
My husband shook hands with my brother, and I couldn’t stop the tears forming in my eyes. At that moment, I felt like I finally had all my family together. By the time Jem and David had to leave with my mother, I was already making arrangements for them to come back. I hadn’t known how much I needed them all here together especially for Helena’s sake. I didn’t want her to grow up the way that I had. I wanted her to know her cousins and to feel like she could do anything she wanted. As much as we all hoped she’d one day take over Percy Towers, I knew what that pressure did to a kid. It would be better to let her grow into her own potential. Live her own life.
I kissed her little head one more time after I finished breast-feeding and then handed her back to her father.
Camden easily took her in his arms and rocked her back to sleep. His eyes were only for me.