Abe's Memories
Memory #4: Long Nights
Janine had spent many a night awake due to all of Rose's kicking. Abe, however, had not. He had woken in the middle of the night on multiple occasssions, to Rose's relentless screams and wails. But, upon hearing Janine's groaning, he rose from the bed he shared with her.
"I'll get her. You sleep." He said to her before kissing her forehead. He could already hear her light snores by the time he had turned to face a baby Rose. Chuckling, he crossed the room to lift Rose from her crib, where she lay, red faced and crying.
Abe spent a moment, just looking down at his daughter, who was kicking, screaming, and causing quiet the fuss, and Abe smiled to himself. "Just like her mother..." Abe thoguht to himself. Janine had been right when she said that Rose would look like him. His beautifully breath-taking daughter had, indeed, inherited many of his traits through genetics. His dark coffee bean brown eyes. His exotic Turkish complexion. The captivatingly dark brown (almost black) hair. But, he could also see where Janine showed through. Her tiny button nose. The almond-shaped eyes. Her small lips that would one day be full as a ripened grape. Even her tiny feet.
He bent over and picked her up, lifting her out of the crib and into his arms. Upon seeing her father, Rose's screams had died down to quiet whimpers and gasping breaths.
"What's wrong with my little kizim? Hm?" He spoke to her as if she could reply. After he released a jaw-popping yawn, he checked Rose's diaper and could smell the odor radiating from her diaper. He then held her close and walked over to the changing station they had fashioned into their room. Abe laid a now wailing Rose on the changing station's top, and removed the dirty diaper before reaching down for the wipes, baby powder, and a crisply fresh diaper. He spent the next few moments tending to his daughter, from wiping away the nasty poopy and applying a layer of baby power to prevent a rash, to strapping the diaper on. During the whole process, Rose had kicked and made it troublesome for Abe, but that didn't bother him one bit. If anything, it reminded him of the stories his mother once told Janine about himself as a baby, toddling around in diapers so many years ago.
So, when all was done, Abe once more lifted her into his arms and walked to the kitchen. Rose released a large jaw-popping yawn, along with her father. He got one of the premade bottles and heated it in the microwave. When he tested it on his wrist, it seemed too hot for her. So, he set it in the freezer for 10 seconds. When he removed it from the freezer, and tested on his wrist again, it was just right for her tiny taste buds. He positioned Rose so she laid in his arms and tilted the nipple of the bottle toward her little lips. As he walked to the rocking chair in her nursery, he lowered himself into it and made himself comfortable. When he was settled, he finally relaxed and looked down at his precious çiçek. She whimpered around her bottle as she let herself drift off, still suckling away. When she was full, Abe got a towel to cover his shoulders and he burped a baby Rose. Luckily, she didn't have much to spit up, seeing as she had ingested it all. After her burping, she began to suck on her thumb, and she rolled over so she laid face up on her father's arms. When she did, Abe reached up to gently stroke her face. As he did, Rose unconciously curled herself around her daddy's arm. Abe clutched her closer, cradling her over his heart.
As the weeks went on, it became a regular routine for Abe and Janine to go to bed together, but when Janine would wake the next morning, Abe would be in the rocking chair. Holding Rose over his heart. Eventually, it came to the point that Rose would only go to sleep if her father held her. She would fight tooth and nail to avoid going to bed unless her daddy held her tightly. On the rare night, Janine would come and sing to Rose. But, if she didn't, you would surely find Rose curled up to Abe's chest. So, that's what Abe did every night, for months. He curled up in the uncomfortable rocking chair with his baby, and he lulled her to sleep, until that horrible night when Janine took Rose... And disappeared.
çiçek- Flower in Turkish