Page 58 of Savoring Sienna
“No, Sienna.” Her voice was soft but certain, carrying the note of acceptance. “I feel it and I’ve prepared for it. My time has come, and I’m ready for it.” A tear slipped down her cheek.“At least I’ll be with Richard again, but my baby…” Her breath hitched. “Doc Nigel promised if a choice has to be made, he’ll save her.”
She squeezed their hands, her eyes intense despite her failing strength. “My little poppet deserves the best parents. She’s yours, Sienna.” Her gaze shifted to Crone. “Yours and Crone’s. Doc Nigel has all the paperwork. Please love her and never let her forget about me and her father.” A tremulous smile curved her lips. “Please call her Hope... because I always believed she would become the hope that someone desperately needs to heal. Let her be that for you.”
The name hit Sienna with the force of a physical blow.Hope. The name she’d whispered to her unborn daughter in those precious months before Stan had destroyed everything. The name she’d screamed in the hospital as doctors fought to save her but couldn’t save her baby. The name she’d carved into her heart as a memorial to all she’d lost.
And now Milly was offering her another Hope. A chance to heal. A gift so profound Sienna sank to her knees beside the hospital bed.
Crone’s hand squeezed her shoulder. Suddenly, the monitors shrieked. Dr. Berringer burst in, barking orders as nurses swarmed the room. “You need to leave. Now!”
They stood outside the delivery room, waiting in agony, as each minute stretched like hours. When the doctor emerged with his shoulders slumped in defeat, they knew. His voice cracked as he spoke. This first loss of his career was evident in every line of his face. “Milly didn’t make it.” He swallowed hard. “But she made me promise. She insisted Hope should see her parents’ loving faces when she first opens her eyes.”
As if in a dream they followed him to the nursery. The bundle the nurse placed in Sienna’s arms was impossibly small. Her breath caught as reality crystallized in this perfect moment.Milly’s daughter, now her miracle, a precious gift born of loss and love.
“Hello, little Hope,” she whispered through endless tears. “I’m your mommy.” Her voice caught. “Your birth mommy had the biggest heart of anyone I know. She gave us you.” The words felt both strange and right on her tongue. Motherhood—a dream she had thought forever stolen from her, now returned in this miraculous way.
She traced Hope’s tiny features with gentle fingers, drinking in every perfect detail. Her heart swelled at the dark sweep of eyelashes resting against cherub cheeks, and the rosebud mouth that suddenly opened in a drowsy yawn as tiny fingers stretched and curled against the blanket. This was real. This was happening. This time, no one would steal this baby from her arms. This time, she had the strength and the protector she had lacked before.
Looking up, she saw her own grief and wonder mirrored in Crone’s wet eyes. This man who had helped her heal, who had shown her love could be safe and beautiful, was now becoming a parent with her. The thought threatened to drown her. With trembling hands, she passed their daughter to him.
“Meet your daddy, Hope.”
Crone cradled her as if she were spun glass, this tiny miracle pressed against his broad chest. His large hands, capable of such strength, held her with infinite gentleness. Tears flowed freely down his face as he gazed at her, his usual stoic control stripped away by the pure emotion of the moment.
“Hello, my darling daughter.” His voice roughened with emotion. “I promise you’ll always know how much your first mommy loved you. And how much we will always love you.” He looked at Sienna, his eyes full of understanding of what this meant, this second chance, this healing gift. “We’ll tell you aboutboth your parents, about their love story, and how their love led you to us.”
Sienna pressed close to them, her family… a word she’d thought forever lost to her. Sunlight broke through the clouds and bathed them in golden light where they stood at the window. Somewhere beyond the Universe, she felt them watching—Richard with a gentle smile, Milly with her hand resting on the shoulder of a little angel girl of almost two, her own little Hope she’d never been given the chance to hold. Three beautiful souls smiling down, three hearts entwined with the baby now cradled in her new parents’ arms. An exchange of Hope that reached across the boundaries of earth, binding the living to the loved and lost, finally making them whole.
Outside the room, the hallway was filled with familiar faces drawn tight with worry. Moira sat between Jagger, Derek, and Sadie with her hands clasped in silent prayer.
When Crone and Sienna emerged with the tiny bundle, the collective intake of breath seemed to echo through the corridor. Derek stood first, his face was a mask of complex emotions, of a strong man bowing to the beauty of new life.
“She’s beautiful,” Sadie whispered as she peered at the sleeping infant. “Just like her mother.”
Derek reached out with trembling fingers to touch Hope’s dark hair. “Milly was so excited about being her mother…” His voice cracked.
“She still is her mother,” Sienna said softly. “And we’ll make sure this precious little girl knows everything about her and her father. About how much they loved her before they ever met her.” She swallowed hard. “Milly gave us the most precious gift. She asked us to be her parents.”
Moira’s sob broke the heavy silence. “Oh, honey.” She embraced Sienna carefully, mindful of the baby. “That’s so likeMilly. Even at the end, thinking of others, making sure everyone was taken care of.”
“Hope,” Crone’s deep voice carried through the hushed hallway. “She named her Hope.”
Sienna felt his hand tighten on her shoulder as understanding dawned on their friends’ faces. They now all knew the significance of the name and had heard the full story of Sienna’s loss. What this little baby girl meant to her.
“The perfect name,” Moira said, wiping away tears. “Milly knew exactly what she was doing. This little one”—she touched Hope’s cheek gently— “she’s going to heal so many hearts.”
“Family isn’t always blood,” Jagger added quietly with his arm around Moira and one hand placed over hers resting on her belly where their own precious baby rested. “Sometimes people are placed in your path when you need them most.”
Hope chose that moment to wake, her tiny eyes blinking open to reveal dark depths that seemed to hold all the wisdom of angels. As she gazed up at her new family, both those who would raise her and those who would help guide her way, peace settled in Sienna’s soul. This wasn’t an ending, but a beginning. A new chapter written in love and hope, authored by a woman whose last act had been to ensure that love would multiply rather than divide in her absence.
“Welcome to the family, Hope,” she whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Their wedding day, The Double L Ranch
Crone
“You may kiss your bride.” Jagger’s words rang across the Double L’s garden, filled with joy and perhaps a hint of mischief.
