PROLOGUE

The last 6 months of 2010 were among the most exciting of Betty and Matt's lives. Reuniting in London just after Matt completed his volunteer tour in Botswana, they surprisingly learned that Betty was over 6 months pregnant. Pregnancy related high blood pressure resulted in an extended stay in NYC. Betty, Matt, and their families joyfully welcomed the arrival of healthy Rosalina Suarez-Hartley on 9-15-10 along with Betty and Matt getting married by her family priest on the same, special date. The first 3-plus months of Rosalina's life have been tiring, yet extremely rewarding, with a brief return to England in late November 2010 for Betty to continue her work at Dunne Publishing. They start 2011 eagerly anticipating their wedding celebration, debut of their Good Works magazine, and many more firsts for Rosalina, themselves, and those that they care about.

CHAPTER 1

2010 ended on several high notes for Betty and Matt, with the last two weeks spent in NYC celebrating the holidays with family and friends as well as successful lasik surgery for Betty and wedding related planning. They are both exhausted from such events and their own, much more personal New Years celebration that led them to not go to sleep until nearly 1:30am on 1-1-11. They are hoping that Rosalina will sleep until at least 7am, with plans on napping when she does during the day prior to their Sunday evening flight to London.

Awakening suddenly and with alarm from a sound sleep when he hears voices in their home, Matt opens his eyes and glances at the clock, which reads 2:08am. While letting out a sigh of relief when he recognizes the voices, he still quickly grabs the sheet and pulls it over both he and his wife given that he is uncertain if he will be able to reach the master bedroom door to lock it before the visitors can open it. Betty and Matt had fallen asleep wearing minimal clothing, namely he without any at all and hers limited to her bra given that she is breastfeeding, since they were not expecting any visitors and are without live-in childcare help given that it is the weekend.

Meanwhile, in the hallway are Daniel, Jennifer, Tyler, and Amanda, with Tyler having the easiest time using a quiet voice since he was the only one who did not drink alcohol at the New Years Party they had all attended.

"I am beginning to think this might not be the best idea," comments Jennifer. They have a young baby and have an international trip ahead of them, perhaps we should just leave and let them rest."

"Maybe," responds Daniel as he kisses her, "but I am in agreement with Amanda that we can't let them become old fuddy duddies just because they have a baby and are married. We are already here and just saw that her Royal Princess is sound asleep, so we should at least see if they are awake."

"I hope we aren't interrupting anything," states Tyler as Daniel prepares to knock on the door.

"If we were, I think we would be hearing some moans and groans already," jokes Amanda, which results in Tyler rolling his eyes while Daniel and Jennifer cover their mouths to muffle their laughter.

"Hello, we've come to see if you are awake and hopefully prevent you from become boring, married people too quickly," calls Daniel softly as he opens the door.

Matt, who has decided to pretend that he is still asleep, doesn't respond to Daniel's statement.

Glancing at the floor of the room and seeing the various articles of clothing, Amanda announces, "Apparently, Matt has already welcomed in 2011 by entering Betty."

Tyler chastises Amanda by saying, "That is a crude even for you."

"Well, its true, but I guess I could have phrased it somewhat differently," acknowledges Amanda.

"Yes, you could have been more tactful given that you have come into our home in the middle of the night unannounced when we weren't expecting guests," comments Matt as he opens his eyes.

"We didn't mean to intrude and we are sorry if we woke you," says Daniel.

"You gave me quite a scare before I recognized your voices. Luckily Betty, who continues to try to make up for Rosalina related nighttime sleep disruption, is still asleep herself," replies Matt quietly.

Matt's shifting his body slightly to speak to their unexpected visitors results in Betty murmuring his name, rolling on top of him, and announcing, as she kisses him and presses her body against him, "I'll take a middle of the night wake up call from you most any time."

After making sure that they both continue to be covered by the sheet, Matt informs Betty, "I'm extremely pleased and happy to know that, but right now we actually have some guests in our room who were concerned that we were becoming boring."

"Oh," replies a blushing Betty, "Then we'll have to wait until later. Please tell me that they didn't see anything."

Amanda answers, "Matt has managed to keep the sheet over both of you the entire time we've been in here, so no unintentional shows for us."

"Good," retorts Betty, "That might be your style, but it isn't mine. Please give us about 10 minutes and we'll meet you downstairs since we are both now awake."

"Point taken and deserved," says Daniel as he and Tyler glare slightly at Amanda. "We'll see you in a few and sorry again for intruding."

"Apology accepted," responds Matt, "You could not have known your visit would have unintentionally created an awkward situation. Please grab some food while you wait if you are hungry."

"We just might, if Marc and Cliff haven't already cleaned you out, that is," indicates Jennifer.

"Just the 6 of you-correct?" asks Betty somewhat worriedly.

"Yes, "just" the 6 of us, but that is more than enough, I'm sure. We'll see you downstairs," answers Tyler as they leave the room.

Emitting a sigh of relief when the door closes, Betty comments as she continues to snuggle against Matt, "I will be investing some of my marital money in door locks, enough is enough. Remind me to get that key back from Amanda or who knows what we'll find the next time we return from London. I wouldn't put it past her to try to use our home as another place for her and Tyler to have personal time."

"Yes, we definitely need our key. The image of them in our bed just came to my mind and we are the only people who should be making such pleasurable use of our bedroom," replies Matt as he gives Betty an intense, sweet kiss.

They sit up and both burst out laughing, recognizing how close they came to giving their guests an R-rated movie moment. They get dressed, putting on garments with considerably more material than they had selected just a few hours earlier for themselves. They descend the stairs holding hands and proceed to the kitchen, where Betty sits down while Matt gets both of them cold water to drink.

"So the Meade party was a more casual one this year?" asks Betty as she glances at the business rather than formal attire worn by their guests.

"Yes, it was, but I think it was actually more relaxing than the fancier ones since everyone was less worried about messing up their clothes and better able to enjoy themselves," responds Daniel.

"It was formal enough for me, since I wear a tie only under protest," adds Tyler as he loosens it.

"I get to remove the rest of your clothes later, remember that," announces Amanda, making several of those present roll their eyes and blush.

"Did you all do anything for New Years?" asks Jennifer, with a warning look to Amanda to keep her lewd comments to herself.

"We had a "new parents with children" New Years," answers Betty. "Hilda, Bobby, Rosemarie, Dana, Gio, and Rachel joined us for dinner, which Marc and Cliff just finished off, followed by watching the festivities on television."

"Sounds quaint, but from what these guys just told me about your bedroom floor suggests you spiced things up a bit once they left," remarks Marc.

Daniel says, "Enough with the comments about their sex lives, please. They are married and can do whatever they choose in their own home. Or perhaps you all want to talk about your bedroom plans for the weekend."

Giving Matt a sultry kiss which makes even Amanda blush, Betty states, "Well put, Daniel, Thank you."

"So when do you go back to London?" asks Tyler, who decides to change the subject.

"The Hartley jet leaves at 8pm tomorrow night and we hope it will work out as well as our flight in, with everyone sleeping for most of it," responds Matt.

Betty tells them, "With Rosalina now sleeping through the night most of the time, Zoe and Joyce both feel that their particular talents are no longer needed. Luckily, my assistant, Kelly, has an older sister, Kristin, who has agreed to be our nanny. She is looking forward to spending some time in the US, which most of the other families are not able to offer."

"It sounds like a win-win situation then," comments Jennifer, "It must be nice to not have to expose Rosalina to group care at such a young age."

"Yes, having money in this case is a good thing and Betty seems to be adjusting to that just fine," answers Matt with a grin.

"Well, I think we'd all agree that I am reasonably intelligent and spending money without over thinking it doesn't take too much brain power in the first place," retorts Betty.

"Reasonably intelligent? I'd say brilliant, but I am a bit biased," says Matt as he embraces her.

"I think our worries about Betty and Matt becoming boring now that they are married and have a child are unfounded," teases Amanda as she watches their loving interactions.

Matt informs them as he continues to hold Betty in his arms and kisses her, "Glad we can so easily eliminate those concerns. When you've found the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, marriage and a baby make things better although admittedly not necessarily easier."

"Speaking of babies being a welcome challenge, I believe our conversations have woken Rosalina. Please excuse me for about 20 minutes or so," states Betty as she reluctantly gets off of Matt's lap.

"Do you need any help?" Matt asks her.

"Actually, you can change her diaper. If I am not back down here in a half-hour or so come and check on us please," responds Betty as she gently grabs Matt's hand.

"I see no one is jumping at the chance for diaper duty," jokes Matt as they leave the room to go upstairs.

"That is one aspect of being a parent that I don't care to practice," calls Marc after them.

With the baby monitor on, those in the kitchen get to hear Matt and Betty speaking sweetly with Rosalina, who calms down immediately when they enter the nursery.

"We are sorry if we woke you, sweetie. We have some unexpected visitors which apparently means that you will have an additional meal after I change this full diaper," remarks Matt.

"Meal, more like a feast," comments Betty as Rosalina eagerly nurses, with their guests having trouble restraining their laughter as they can hear Rosalina's happy nursing sounds through the monitor.

After kissing Betty on her forehead, Matt leaves the nursery and returns to the kitchen, where he has trouble stifling a yawn. Betty, with a bright-eyed Rosalina, joins everyone about 15 minutes later.

"Wow!" remarks Tyler, "I hadn't seen her since before Thanksgiving, and she has changed a lot."

"Yes, she has lost that newborn look, but is also a lot more interactive and fun. Here, hold your niece," states Matt as he puts Rosalina in Tyler's arms.

Rosalina stares at Tyler for a moment and proceeds to pull at his loosened tie, which results in smiles all around as he tells her, "I agree, ties are not my thing either."

The guests all take turns holding Rosalina, who grabs for any jewelry, clothing, or hair that is within her reach, with Matt and Betty having to rescue several of them from her strong grasp.

"I don't mean to be rude, but we should really try to get back to bed since I don't want Rosalina to get off her schedule and get in the habit of middle of the night eating and socializing," indicates Betty.

"Sure, we understand that your sleep is more important than our friendship," responds Amanda with a smirk.

"Since we'll be lucky if she sleeps until 8, even with her recent stop at the Mommy store, we can call you when she wakes up to continue talking if you would like," retorts Matt.

"That's OK, we'll contact you when we get up, sometime in the afternoon," states Marc as the guests rise quickly from the table and head to the front door.

Daniel remarks, "Keep in touch and let us know if there is any way we can help related to the wedding from this side of the ocean."

"Be careful what you offer since you will have to primarily deal with Victoria," announces Betty, which results in laughter from most everyone.

"Our key please," continues Betty as she holds out her hand.

"Here you go," replies Amanda, "I take it you don't want us to play at your home while you are away."

"Definitely not," answers Matt, "The only playing here will be done by our daughter and us."

Shutting the door behind them, Betty and Matt glance at each other, shrug their shoulders, and then head back upstairs. Rosalina fusses for a few minutes before dozing off. Betty and Matt cuddle in bed and are quickly sound asleep themselves.