Some storms strike from the sea. Others arrive in hospital rooms. When Samuel is born with a severe birth defect, his first breath comes with a scar—one that will shape every choice his family makes. The doctors speak in cautions and probabilities. The future becomes a waiting room, measured in appointments, surgeries, and speech therapy milestones. But the Simms family has weathered storms before. Set against the rugged coast of Newfoundland in the 1970s, Birth Defects & Determination: Resilient Tides Two follows Matthew and Violet Simms as they learn that strength is not always loud. Sometimes it is the quiet persistence of a mother’s hands guiding a spoon. Sometimes it is a father whispering promises into salt wind from the deck of a herring seiner. And sometimes it is a little boy, standing in front of a mirror, shaping one small sound at a time until it becomes a word. In a community stitched together by neighbors, shortbread, and borrowed courage, the Simms family discovers that resilience isn’t defined by outcomes—it’s defined by love. This novel is a tribute to children who fight their way into the world, to parents who refuse to stop hoping, and to the belief that even the smallest voice can change everything.