The soft, sweet tones of violin music played in the background as she lay soaking in her tub filled with gardenia scented bubbles. She ran her hand slowly over her tender, swollen breasts before stopping on the small bump of baby that rested quietly there. The doctor assured her that she was now entering her second trimester in perfect health and the quiet times would soon be a thing of the past. The baby was not planned but she couldn't help but love the child that was to be. She knew she needed to tell them soon but was afraid of how her father would react.
Her dad would be disappointed in her for getting pregnant without being married but she knew that no matter what he was her greatest supporter. He didn't really approve of her lover. He didn't like him when they met. He didn't like it when she gave up her apartment and moved in with him. Her dad thought he should get a 'real job' not one that relied on his hands, supposed talent and imagination to get him though. She tried to talk to him about her lover, how much he had accomplished, how very much they were alike but understood that, as with dads everywhere, no man anywhere is good enough for his daughter. They had a special relationship even before her mother had died. She was now and always would be daddy's little girl, even if she was no longer a little girl but a grown woman with a child on the way.
Her lover was shocked at the news of the baby but within seconds he face blossomed into smiles and plans of how wonderfully their lives were going to change. She knew that he would love this child and her with all his heart and soul. He reminded her of her dad in that he too gave love with each thought and gesture. If eyes are the window to the soul than the man she had chosen was pure and beautiful from his gorgeous blue eyes to the tips of his elegantly shaped toes. The moment this man smiled a crooked little smile at her, she had been lost. She chalked it up to girlish infatuation for a handsome, artistic man albeit a bit childish at times, but that initial feeling had never died or wilted, just grew stronger as the years past.
She pulled herself from her bath, her thoughts filled with the baby and telling her family. Silently she moisturized her skin paying particular attention to her abdomen and breasts. Her man loved her skin, forever telling her how beautiful it was, how touchable and soft. He was always touching her in some way. Her hand, an arm or even with just his eyes. She adored him from the moment she had seen him but let her dad think that he was just there to do his job then he would be gone. She had almost convinced herself of that. For over three years they shared only small smiles and brushings of fingers until the day her dad had a heart attack.
He was there for her every moment of every day until her dad had recovered enough to tell her that he was getting married again, to the woman he had loved for years but had been afraid of that love. She knew of his devotion to this woman but he said that she was too good for the likes of him. She knew what he meant. They both had the same the problem. They loved quietly, fearing the pain rejection, of failure. She knew her stepmother would calm him and help him accept the inevitable. His first and only grandchild was on the way.
She slipped a multicolored caftan over her head and brushed her hair. It was time to tell them. She would not able to hide it much longer and if she did it would make it seem that she was ashamed of her relationship and the baby. Dabbing on a bit of perfume, she opened the door to the bathroom and walked on onto the landing where her father, stepmother and the love of her life sat talking quietly. They were staying with her parents for the holidays. Calmly, she walked down the stairs. All eyes were on her. She smiled at Dillon and held out her hand to him. He stood and together they faced her Rick Castle.
"Daddy, we have something to tell you." Alexis started before being cut off by Kate.
"I'm too young to be a grandmother!" Kate cried.