Daddy's Girl

(Chapter Two: Blessed)

July 23, 1992.…

Elliot paced the floor in the hallway just outside the delivery room where his young wife laid giving birth to their first child. It was killing him to be on this side of the heavy wooden door while she laid inside going through this alone. But during the delivery some unexpected complications had occurred and the doctors had to ask him to step out into the hall.

He wore a path in the thin carpet up and down the hall. From his right hand dangled a teddy bear he gripped so tight that his knuckles were white and he was afraid the arm would fall off before he could present it to his child.

Elliot leaned against the wall and listened to the sounds of the doctors and nurses from inside the room. He closed his eyes and prayed for God to be with his wife and to protect her and the baby and guide them through this troubled time.

In all of the months he had known he was going to be a father, he had held a fear inside of him. Secretly, part of his wasn't even sure he wanted children. The pregnancy was just something he had accepted and dealt with after Kathy told him about it. He wasn't sure how to be a father or change a diaper or make a bottle. He wasn't even sure how he was going to afford to support this new family of his and often wondered if giving the baby up for adoption wouldn't have been a better solution.

But Kathy wouldn't hear of it and Elliot stepped up the plate taking responsibility for the situation. He bought a little ring at a pawn shop and rented them a tiny two bedroom house on the edge of town. He got a good deal on a crib and a used car and the rest was history.

Kathy wanted a little girl so bad she could taste it and Elliot was secretly hoping for a son. He would never tell his wife this, but he dreamed of coaching little league and playing football with his boy. Doing all of the things his father never took the time to do with him. He would take him fishing and give him advice about girls and….

Elliot paused in thought as he heard the baby cry. He stood still in his place as one of the nurses opened the door and showed him back into the room.

Kathy sat up in the bed holding a little white bundle. She smiled at him with tears in her eyes and looked down at the baby.

"Congratulations daddy," she said softly as he sat down on the edge of the bed to peer down at the infant.

"Is everything alright?" He asked looking up at the doctor.

"Just fine. Healthy baby. Just got turned around and stuck in the birth canal. I thought I was going to have to go in, but somehow….well, she delivered the baby naturally. Congratulations," he said as Elliot brushed his fingertips over the baby's bald head.

"Thank you," Elliot whispered.

"Do you want to hold her?" Kathy asked pushing the bundle into his arms and not really giving him a choice.

"Her?"

"Yeah, it's a girl," she whispered.

"I have a daughter?"

"You do," Kathy agreed closing his hands around the baby and showing how to hold her.

Elliot had been so certain he would have a son, that he really hadn't considered the possibility of the baby being a girl. He gulped and stared down at the little pink infant as she opened her eyes and looked up at hem….and that was it! True love.

Elliot chuckled a little and raised the baby to kiss her forehead. "Hello there sweetheart. I'm your daddy," he said as tears of joy rolled down his face. Elliot had wanted a son, but now looking down at his the little girl in his arms, he couldn't imagine how having a son could have possibly been any greater than this.


Three months later….

Elliot held the baby out away from his body as she screamed.

"Oh, come on Kathy," he said trying to get her to take the baby from him.

"Elliot the poopy ones have to be changed, too."

"She just…she leaked all over me! I have to be at work in fifteen minutes and I have baby goo all over me!"

Kathy laughed at her husband in panic. "Relax, it is just a little on your tie. I'll get you another one. Diapers are in the…"

"I know where they are! I have changed her before!"

"Not when she was poopy. Somehow it always seems to be my turn when those come around."

"Kathy, can you please just take her? I really don't have time for this!"

"You don't have time for your daughter?"

"You know what I meant. I am going to be late for work."

"You're the manager, El. It will be fine," she said pointing toward the nursery.

"You knew that me taking this promotion meant working more hours. I am trying to get through this. I only have a few more weeks then I'm going into the academy. Once I get out of there I will have a little more money and I can quit this job."

Kathy watched as he carried the baby down the hall to change her. She listened as he groaned and growled while changing the diaper.

"What is in that formula? This is really disgusting!"

Kathy smiled as she walked into the nursery to find Elliot wiping up the mess with a roll of toilet paper. "What are you doing?" She laughed as he frantically searched for the wastebasket.

"I have to clean her up before I put the new diaper on. I couldn't find the thingies."

She laughed again. "The wipes?"

Elliot looked up at her as she handed them to him. "I keep them on the shelf in the closet. Beside the diapers. But I thought you knew that."

Elliot shook his head and pulled them from her hand as he finished cleaning his daughter. The baby girl grunted and squirmed around as he fought to close the little tabs on the diaper.

"There!" He said with a look of accomplishment and he held the baby up to inspect his handiwork.

She moved around a bit and started to cry again.

"Now what is wrong with her?"

"She doesn't like being held like that," Kathy pointed out as the diaper fell off of the baby and onto the changing table. "You didn't get the diaper tight enough."

"Damn it!" Elliot said as Maureen peed down both of her legs and all over the table and her father.

Kathy laughed again.

"It isn't funny. It isn't funny!"

"Just a little. Here, give her to me and I will clean her up. You go find another shirt for work."

Kathy took Maureen from her father as she continued to cry. She bounced the baby a bit and walked into the kitchen to run her a warm bath in the sink. Elliot hurried around the house gathering clean clothes as he headed for the bathroom to wash up and change.

Elliot walked back in as Kathy was making a bottle for Maureen. The baby was in her bouncy seat wearing a little pink sleeper and starting to get fussy again. He unbuckled the baby and scooped her up into his arms.

Maureen looked up at her father and grunted and fussed as if she were telling him what was wrong.

"I'll take her," Kathy said reaching for the baby.

"I've got her," Elliot said taking the bottle from his wife and giving it to the baby.

He bounced the little girl in his arms and kissed her forehead as he walked to the sofa and sat down with her.

"I thought you didn't have time?"

"I'm already late. I might as well take the few minutes to give her a bottle. She'll be in bed by the time I get home. Yes, you will," he cooed down to his daughter. "I over reacted, Kathy." Elliot looked up at his wife. "You guys are my family. And family should come first, through the good and the bad. Babies make messes. I should be used to it by now. Besides, I doubt this will be the last time I get baby poop on me."

"True."


Seven Months Later….

Maureen cried and called out for her daddy as she stood up in her crib. Elliot climbed from their nice warm bed and moved into the nursery to tend to their daughter.

"Hey honey," he said picking her up in his arms and bouncing her a bit. "It's okay baby, daddy's here."

"Dada," she whined as she chewed on her little fingers and clung to him.

"It's okay. It's okay. Did you have a bad dream?"

She looked at him with little tears in her eyes and drew a staggered breath.

"You feel a bit warm, baby." Elliot kissed her forehead and carried her into their bedroom. "Kathy, where is the thermometer? I can't find it in the nursery."

"Diaper bag side pocket," she yawned as she sat up to look at him in the dark. "Everything alright?"

"She feels a little warm. And she is biting on her fingers, I think maybe she is cutting more teeth."

"You have to work in the morning, El. Do you want me to take care of it?"

"I got it babe, try to get some sleep. Besides, she wants her daddy."

Kathy smiled as Elliot cradled their little girl in his arms and talked sweetly to her.

"She always has been daddy's girl."

"And she always will be," he said kissing his wife. "I'm gonna take her temperature and probably give her some Tylenol. I'll stay with her until I can get her back to sleep."

"Okay," Kathy whispered as she kissed Maureen's little blonde curls. "If you need me to switch out, just let me know."

"Good night, honey."

Elliot carried Maureen into the living room where he turned on some cartoons for her. He gave the baby some medicine to bring down the slight fever and ease her pain. Elliot changed her diaper and fixed her a bottle, then sat in the rocking chair in the corner of the room and cuddled with his daughter.

When she had finished her bottle, Elliot handed her the pacifier and her favorite blanket. He rocked the baby and sang softly to her as the words of You Are My Sunshine echoed through out their living room. Maureen held her pacifier in one hand and sucked the thumb of the other as she closed her little eyes and drifted back to sleep.

When Elliot's alarm clock went off the next morning, Kathy reached over to shut it off. She looked around the room and realized that he hadn't come back to bed the night before after getting back up with the baby. She slipped on her robe and made her way down the hall to the empty nursery.

She walked into the living room to find Elliot asleep in the rocking chair with little Maureen asleep in his arms. She had dropped her pacifier into the floor beside the chair and rested her little head on his shoulder, firmly clutching her blanket in one hand.

"El," Kathy said softly bumping the rocker on the bottom of the chair.

Elliot began to hum and rub little Maureen's back.

"Elliot," she whispered again and he opened his eyes. "Your alarm went off." She knelt beside him and took the little girl from his arms. "I'm going to go put her in bed. I started the coffee for you. I'll make you some breakfast if you want to get in the shower really quick."

"Thanks, honey." Elliot kissed his wife and headed for the bathroom.

When he returned breakfast was on the table and Kathy was sitting in the rocking chair with Maureen in her arms drinking her bottle.

"Good morning baby girl," Elliot said kissing his daughter.

He finished his breakfast and gathered his things for work. Elliot knelt beside the chair to kiss his daughter goodbye before leaving for work.

"She is so precious," he said combing his fingers through her blonde curls. "I think I could see us with a couple more of these," Elliot said with a smile.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Maybe a little boy."

"I just really wasn't sure you wanted more kids."

"I know I am just getting the hand of this parenting thing, but I wouldn't want her to be an only child forever."

"That's good."

"Why? Because you have decided you want another one too?"

"That. And because I'm pregnant."

"You are?"

"Yup. I took the test this morning. I was hoping you wouldn't be angry."

"Kathy, I'm not angry. A little shocked, maybe. But not angry. You know, I didn't necessarily mean I wanted another baby right now."

Kathy smiled and placed her hand against her stomach. "Well, we wont actually get the baby for about eight more months."

Elliot laughed. "You hear that Maureen? You are going to be a big sister," he said scooping her up in his arms and kissing her.

Maureen smiled at Elliot as he handed her back to Kathy. He grabbed his jacket and headed out the door.

"Tell daddy bye. Say bye-bye," Kathy said waving Maureen's little hand at him as Elliot walked to the car.

"Bye," the little girl cooed and smiled as she waved to her daddy.