“I reckon it happened in the usual way,” J.P. observed dryly. Of the three of them, he was the only one without a wife and children. Cord and Shallie had Carly, of course, and now a healthy son named Grant, after Shallie’s closest friend, Emma Grant.

Eli let his head rest against the glass. Fogged it up a little with his breath. “What if I screw this up?” he asked, supposing he could be forgiven for losing his grip a little.

Cord rested a hand on Eli’s shoulder. “You won’t,” he said, with the quiet assurance that comes from knowing someone for most of their life. “You’re a good man, Garrett. You’re a fine husband and you’ll be rock-solid as a father.”

“What is this, a rerun of Oprah?” J.P. interjected. “Let’s not go to pieces here.”

Both Cord and Eli laughed at that.

Then Cord said, “Relax, bro. We’re not going to talk about feelings or anything as terrible as that.”

“Shut up,” J.P. retorted, but he was fighting back a grin.

Just then, Sara and Melba—aka chief Summers—entered the small room and squeezed past the men to get close to the window and admire the new additions.

“Are they identical?” Melba asked, favoring Eli with one of her dazzling smiles. She’d been a lot easier to be around since (1) she and Dan had decided to try again, and (2) she’d been appointed to head up the Creek’s municipal police department.

Sara, for her part, was a happy mess, in her crumpled clothes and with her famous braid coming undone. She’d been in the vicinity since Eli had called the night before to tell her Brynne was in labor.

“Yes,” answered the proud aunt, before Eli had a chance to speak.

“You might as well tell the people their names, while you’re at it,” Eli told his sister, without rancor.

Sara gave him a sisterly look, part love, part putting him in his place. She often forgot that she was two years older than he was, not twenty.

“That’s for Brynne to do, not me,” she said.

“Speaking of my beautiful wife,” Eli put in, “I’ll be getting back to her now. My turn to sit by a hospital bed and be incredibly vigilant.”

“The least you can do,” Melba remarked cheerfully.

After that, everyone went their separate ways: Sara home to rest, J.P. back to his work on the ranch, Cord to his wife and family, Melba to the station house.

When Eli reached Brynne’s room, Mike and Alice were just leaving. Mike, the new grandfather, was beaming with pride, and Alice was still crying tears of joy, in juxtaposition to her wide grandmotherly smile.

Alice paused to kiss Eli on the cheek, and Mike shook his hand for about the hundredth time that day.

“She’s resting,” Alice whispered, pressing an index finger to her lips.