Finding Freedom (Book 4) (Piper Anderson Series)

by Stewart, Danielle

  Everyone’s eyes were locked on Crystal, and Jedda could almost feel the heat rushing to her flushed cheeks. It wasn’t easy being new to this tight knit group and it was even harder to take a different stance on something than they did, but that’s what Jedda liked about Crystal. She was brave.

  “Crystal’s right,” he said, not looking over at her. “I want her back here as much as anyone, but forcing her to do it won’t work. If Lindsey can tell us where she is then let’s give her a little time.”

  Heads nodded and shoulders shrugged as everyone came to terms with the plan. It wasn’t going to be easy to let Willow go, but it was necessary.

  Jules leaned forward and the glass in her hand tilted, water splashing to the planks of the porch. “My water,” she shouted as she let the glass drop and break.

  Betty shot to her feet. “It’s okay, dear; I’ll get a towel. Don’t worry about it. Just a little water.”

  “No,” Jules said clutching her stomach, “my other water.” Everyone stood as Jules’s words began to sink in.

  “You’re in labor?” Michael asked as his skin went ghost white. “It’s time? This is happening?”

  “Either that or I just sprung a damn leak,” Jules said as Michael and Jedda helped her to her feet.

  Michael’s words were coming in a panicked flood. “Where’s the bag, the hospital bag, with all the paperwork and the Chap Stick and the coming home outfit? Is it at our house? Should I get it first?”

  “Michael,” Jules shouted as she latched onto the collar of his shirt and pulled his face down to hers. “Get a hold of yourself or I will leave you here. The bag is in our trunk. Someone get me some dry clothes. Bobby you drive us, because I think Michael needs to put his head between his legs. Ma, you’re coming right? I need a backup Lamaze coach in case Nervous Nelly here ends up lying in the bed next to me. Piper, you come too in case Ma drives me crazy and I kick her out. And hurry the hell up, if I have this baby on this porch, I’m gonna be pissed.”

  Everyone scrambled into motion, bouncing off each other and frantically trying to help. They piled into Michael’s car. “I’m gonna be a grandma!” Betty shouted out the window as they pulled away.

  Jedda and Crystal were left standing quietly on the porch. How dramatically their lives had changed in the last couple weeks. How fast they both went from being relatively alone, to part of something bigger than they ever imagined. And now here they were alone, wondering what to do next.

  Before he could muster up the words he’d been considering saying, Crystal was moving across the porch toward something she’d seen. “What’s this?” she asked as she knelt down and picked up a small black jewelry box that lay beneath the porch swing. When Jedda shrugged she flipped it open and saw a beautiful diamond ring. The sun caught the three stones and light glittered across the ceiling of the porch.

  “Whose is it?” Crystal asked, searching the box as though someone might have written a name on it. She pulled the ring out and tilted it to the side. “It’s engraved,” she said, squinting to see the words. “It says, Porch Swing Love.”

  They both took a second to think and then in unison said, “Bobby and Piper.”

  Crystal carefully put the ring back into the box and snapped it shut. “She certainly didn’t lose the ring while it was in the box. He must have taken it. I bet he was going to propose again.” Crystal laughed as she stared down at the stunning ring.” We have to take this to them.” She pulled her keys from her pocket. “He’ll be worried sick that he’s lost it and maybe he planned to do this today.”

  “We can send him a text. Let him know we found it.”

  “What’s the fun in that?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  As the automatic doors to the hospital whooshed open, Jedda squeezed his hands together tightly. This was his first venture back into the heart of Edenville since Jules kicked a guy for bad-talking her mother and refusing her business because of him. The large box tucked under his arm was feeling like a bad idea now as people began to stare.

  “Can I help you with something?” a nurse behind a large desk asked as she glared down at the box with skeptical eyes.

  “We’re here to see a friend,” Crystal said. “Julie Grafton, well actually I guess she’s Julie Cooper now. She’s having a baby today and we’re bringing everyone some lunch while they wait.” She pointed down to the box.

  “Oh.” The nurse seemed to relax a little. “Straight through those double doors and take a left. I’m sure Betty will be happy for something other than hospital food. She was just in the kitchen talking to the staff about overcooking vegetables.”

  They made their way through the doors, following the signs to the maternity wing and finding everyone gathered in the waiting room.

  “Hey,” Bobby said, looking eager for a distraction. “Glad you guys decided to come by for the very exciting ‘waiting around’.”

  “We brought lunch,” Jedda said, holding up the large box. “Just leftovers from the wedding.”

  Betty practically ran toward the box as she pulled it quickly from his hands. She shoved the old magazines out of the way to make room on the small coffee table in the waiting room. “I could kiss you two on the lips. I called Clay to come down and bring me something to eat since there isn’t a damn thing in this place that could pass for food. He’s tied up for another hour, so you two are like angels descending from the heavens.”

  “With cake.” Piper laughed as she sank a fork into the fluffy dessert.

  “How is she doing?” Crystal asked as she helped hand out the rest of the food.

  Betty filled her plate with some of the barbeque chicken as she gave an update. “She’s just about there. On the verge of being fully dilated, and ready to push the last we heard a few minutes ago. They’re supposed to call me in there any second,” she said quickly, putting her normal manners aside as she shoveled in some food.

  “Mrs. Grafton?” a nurse called from behind the reception desk, a phone pressed to her ear. “They’re ready for you.”

  “Oh my word,” Betty shouted, and then filled her mouth with more food. She hustled away from the waiting room as she buzzed with excitement.

  “I can’t believe Jules is about to have a baby,” Bobby said, a seriousness falling over his face. “I feel like five minutes ago we were climbing trees and digging for worms.”

  Piper offered him a bite of her cake, which he gladly took. “I can’t believe Michael is about to be a dad. And more than that, I can’t believe how fatherly he is now, like overnight he just changed.”

  “They make a great couple. Just like you two,” Crystal said, shooting Jedda a funny look, which reminded him of the ring he had in his pocket.

  “Bobby, do you know where the coffee is? I want to get a cup,” Jedda asked, shifting his weight nervously from one side to another.

  “Yeah, go around the corner—” Bobby started, but Jedda quickly cut him off.

  “Can you show me? I don’t want to make a wrong turn and end up in a delivery room.”

  Bobby shrugged and stood up to go with him, though he seemed a bit confused. “It’s really not far.”

  “I know, I was just trying to get you alone,” he said in a hushed voice. “Was it too obvious? Do you think Piper suspects anything?”

  “I’m starting to suspect something.” Bobby shot him a quizzical look. “What’s going on?”

  Jedda reached into his pocket and pulled the ring box out, resting it in his palm, a big smile on his face. “It must have fallen out of your pocket this morning in all the commotion. Were you planning on giving the proposal another try?”

  “No.” Bobby grabbed the box hastily and jammed it into his pocket. “I took it off the counter when she was doing dishes and I had it engraved. I just haven’t found the right time or the right way to propose again. I didn’t want to steal Jules and Michael’s thunder, but they kept putting the wedding off. Now with the baby coming I think I should wait,” Bobby said in a hushed voice as he
looked over his shoulder repeatedly. “I don’t want to screw it up again.”

  “Screw what up again?” Michael asked as he came up behind them, still in the blue scrub shirt he’d been given. “Whatever it is will have to wait while you meet your amazing goddaughter. Because she’s ready to see you.”

  “She’s done?” Bobby asked, “I mean, she’s here, she’s born?”

  “Yes,” Michael beamed, his smile spreading across his whole face, his eyes lit with pride that Jedda had never seen up close before. Bobby reached into his other pocket and pulled out a handful of cigars. With them, out fell the ring box.

  “What’s that?” Michael asked, bending down to pick up the box. “Is this Piper’s ring?” He flipped it open and clearly already knew the answer to his question.

  “No,” Bobby lied, “it’s a . . . it’s something else.”

  “Shut up,” Michael demanded as he rested his hands on Bobby’s shoulders. “Are you planning on proposing again? Redeeming yourself?”

  “I’ve been holding onto it for a little while. Just waiting for the right time. I didn’t want to take away from everything you and Jules had going on. Piper and I can wait. Let her keep thinking she lost it.”

  “Bullshit. Let’s go. I’ve got a great idea,” Michael said, waving at Jedda to follow along behind him. “If I’ve learned anything this year it’s there is no time like the present. None of us are promised tomorrow and that ring sitting in your pocket is the perfect example.” Michael hit the button for the elevator and when the doors opened he pushed Bobby inside.

  “Where are we going?” Bobby asked, looking like a deer in the headlights.

  “You’re coming to meet my daughter. They’re moving them both upstairs now. And then you’re putting that ring back on Piper’s finger. The right way.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Jedda felt too big and very out of place in the small hospital room loaded with joy and celebration. He’d never held a baby before, and if he could help it, he wouldn’t break that streak today. Jules looked better than he had expected her to. For some reason he assumed she’d be out cold in her room somewhere alone, not allowed any company. Here she was sitting up, pillows propped behind her, holding her bundled-up baby in her arms and smiling like she’d just won a new car.

  “She’s so beautiful,” Crystal cooed as she leaned over Jules, who drew back the blanket to show her sleeping daughter’s face.

  “She looks like you, Ma,” Jules said as Betty pulled her chair even closer to her daughter’s side. “Let’s hope she’s quieter than you, though.”

  “Does she have a name yet?” Bobby asked. He and Clay, like Jedda, kept their distance from the fragile package that might get passed around. The women on the other hand looked as though they were ready to form a line.

  “She does,” Michael said, stroking Jules’s hair and smirking at Betty.

  Betty raised her chin as she made a declaration. “I’ve decided it’s perfectly fine for you to name her whatever you like. Now that she’s here I can see that her name isn’t important, she’s perfectly perfect in every way. You could call her doorknob and I’d love her.”

  “Oh, doorknob.” Michael snapped his fingers as though he wished he’d thought of that name earlier. “I knew we forgot to go through the inanimate object list when we were picking.”

  “Her name is Françoise Taylor Cooper,” Jules said as she stared down into her daughter’s angelic face.

  “Oh my,” Betty cried, the tears in her eyes spilling over, as Jules handed her daughter carefully to her. “Taylor was your daddy’s middle name.”

  “I know,” Jules whispered, her own tears wetting her cheeks.

  “We’ll call her Frankie,” Michael said as Jules made room for him on the bed next to her. “I wanted her to have a tough name. If she’s going to have this crazy red hair,” he said as he leaned over Betty’s arms and exposed the crown of his daughter’s head, “then I want to make sure she’s strong enough to win all the fights she starts.”

  Betty rocked back and forth as she whispered sweet messages of love into her granddaughter’s ear.

  “She’ll be going to get checked out in a few minutes, Ma; let everyone else get a chance to hold her.”

  Betty pouted and the men against the far wall all waved their hands in unison that they would not like to ride that ride.

  “How about you go see Aunty?” Betty sang in a baby voice as she handed Frankie over to Piper’s open arms.

  “Do you know how to swaddle her?” Jules asked Piper as she sat up a little in her bed.

  “I read the books, it’s kind of like wrapping a burrito, right?” Piper asked as she laid the baby down on the cushioned changing table.

  “Yes. I want her to be warm when they bring her down. Would you take that blanket off and rewrap her?” Jules asked, her smile too big to match the request, prompting Michael to pat her arm slightly to calm her.

  “I can try,” Piper said, pulling the blanket back and gasping. “It’s got marker all over it.” Piper inspected the blanket closer looking thoroughly concerned.

  “What does it say?” Jules asked, the smile she fought returning.

  “It says, ‘Aunty Piper, I think you should marry Uncle Bobby,’” Piper read aloud, the words not sinking in, her alarm still focused on the ruined baby blanket. Then suddenly it hit her and her face turned fire engine red. Looped with a few stitches to the side of the blanket was her diamond ring, shining under the fluorescent overhead lights. The ring she thought she’d lost was right there in front of her. “My ring?” she whispered.

  Michael stepped forward and pulled the thread, releasing the ring. He handed it to Bobby, then, wrapping Frankie in a new blanket and cradling her in his arms, he settled back down next to Jules. Everyone was looking thoroughly ready to watch the show unfold in front of them.

  “Piper,” Bobby said as he dropped to one knee and held her hand in his, “I’ve been carrying this ring around with me, waiting for the perfect moment to do this, and it never seemed to come. I didn’t want to screw it up again. Where is the perfect place to ask someone to spend the rest of her life with you? When is the perfect time? Michael reminded me this afternoon that if I stop and wait for everything to be perfect, I’ll miss what’s right in front of me. You deserve better than me sliding this ring on you while you were doped up after surgery. I can’t think of a better time than our goddaughter’s birth day, or a better place than this, surrounded by the people who love us, to ask you this question again.”

  Piper bit hard at her lip and Jedda could see the tremble in her hands. The more time he’d spent around them all, the more he heard about the journey Piper had been on. She’d suffered greatly, faced bleak loneliness, but she’d endured, and here she was. Someone loved her. Actually lots of people loved her. Her life went from empty to full, and maybe his could, too.

  He glanced over at Crystal, who had her hands clamped tightly together in nervous anticipation of Piper’s answer, and he wanted to go to her. To lace his fingers with hers and experience this moment together.

  “Piper Anderson, will you still marry me?” Bobby asked as he slipped the ring onto her finger.

  Piper swallowed hard and pulled Bobby up to his feet. “Yes.” With a passionate kiss they sealed their future as everyone in the room applauded, then instantly stopped as Frankie let out a loud cry in protest to the noise.

  “I think it might be time for her to sleep,” Jules said as she handed her back to Betty for some soothing rocking and quiet songs. Everyone began saying their goodbyes and headed for the door.

  Before Piper stepped out she looked over at her friend, the new mom who looked perfectly suited for the job. “Do you think it says something about us that we were both proposed to in a hospital room?” Piper asked, leaning in and hugging Jules. “Do you think it’s an omen?”

  “Yes,” Jules giggled, kissing Piper’s cheek. “It means we’re going to have exciting times, and that we’re meant to be in each
other’s lives.”

  Michael slapped Bobby’s shoulder in congratulations. “Let’s make sure we make up a good story for Frankie though. I want her to think we got engaged in a hot air balloon on Valentine’s Day,” he joked as he waved his goodbye to everyone who was heading for the door.

  Jedda caught Crystal’s arm and pulled her away from the group and around the corner.

  “Ask me again,” Jedda said as he stood with his feet planted firmly, his hands rooted on her shoulders.

  Crystal’s shock turned to a smile, that amazing smile of hers as she began to speak. “Can we go back to the way things were? Can we be friends again?”

  “No,” Jedda answered, dropping his hands to his side and shaking his head. “We can’t.”

  “So I should go?” Crystal asked, the excitement draining from her body.

  “No. You should stay. I don’t want to just be your friend. I think I’m in love with you. I was watching you in there and I see the eagerness you have for life and I can’t picture not having that around. You’re such a positive energy in this world and I naively assumed that was because you hadn’t ever been through anything difficult. I figured maybe life hadn’t put you through the ringer. Now that I know it has, that you’ve suffered, but still find a way to shine your light over everyone and everything, it makes me see how incredible you are. I’m much better with you than without you. I want to watch you watch life, because just seeing your openhearted reaction to everything makes me happy.”

  “I’m so sorry Jedda. I regret terribly what I did.” Crystal gulped back her emotions as she brushed fresh tears off her cheeks.

  “I forgive you,” he said, crouching slightly to align his eyes with hers. “I know what it feels like to want to save someone so badly that you lose yourself in it. You’ve looked beyond my past and given me a chance. I want to be able to do the same thing with your mistakes. I want you to stay here. Betty’s going to offer you a job managing the books at the restaurant. I hope you take it.”