Chapter 55: And Baby Makes Three Part 2
Sitting down in a nearby chair Watson's eagle eyes watched as the baby was transferred into her eager father's arms. The only other times he'd witness such a reaction in the big lug was in connection to Helen's acceptance of his affections. He still didn't know the truth behind what had brought about the violent change in Druitt's personality nor how that had been curbed. And he was still a bit concerned his friend could reverse back to the Jack persona having control. However, for at least two years Druitt had been stable and Helen obviously believed he had resolved his violent tendencies. He gave a tired sigh and relaxed back in the hard vinyl chair. The look of adoration on John's face as he gently rocked his child was worth the hard work they had done over these long years. This was his John, the one he'd formed a lifelong bond with as best friends when they'd attended Oxford in their youth. The extreme pain the new parents had suffered in their youth was behind them and hopefully only happiness lie before them. For the next four years they would know peace and quietly raise their newest offspring. The events to come after that would stressful and dangerous as they worked to save Ashley and the others... including himself. "Hang on, old boy," he told himself. "Live long enough to get to Bhalassam."
He was revived from his internal contemplations when Helen suddenly asked, "Did you stop the nurse?"
Nodding, John replied, "In my pocket. Got it without her ever suspecting. I told her we needed diapers and she offered to return with something called a complimentary care bag."
"She'll come back for another sample within 24 hours," James warned.
"We'll be on our way before then," Helen murmured and tiredly closed her eyes. "Just give us a few hours to make sure she's feeding properly and then we can quietly check out."
Four hours later they were back in Avalon. James had been returned to London before anyone there realized he'd been gone. Helen had been thrilled to get a refreshing quick shower, a clean change of clothing and was now rocking in her oversized leather recliner as she nursed her baby. The baby's father was softly snoring away from the daybed against the wall. His fascination at watching her nurse their offspring had finally given way to exhaustion and he lie on his side, hands tucked under his chin as he slept.
Pulling her nightgown back over her exposed breast, she leaned down to place a sweet kiss on her slumbering baby's forehead. She gently pulled her finger free from Amelia's grasp and gave a soft giggle as the thought that both of her big babies were asleep flittered through her head. John snoring away on the bed and Amelia softly snoring away in her arms. Amelia was quite the little butterball compared to her older sister, who had weighed less than six pounds when she'd been born. Ashley had been more fragile as a newborn and needed phototherapy for the first five days of her life. Those had been hard days for the new mother who had felt far more vulnerable than she had ever felt in her entire life. A child was its parent heart in physical form, something Helen had not fully understood until that moment when the attending doctor had announced the baby was ill and in need of treatment for her jaundice. She'd blamed herself, worried that delaying Ashley's birth so long had caused her to be unwell, and fretted for days while James and her Old Friend tried to reassure her all would be well. And in the end it was.
Cringing in discomfort as she slowly eased herself off the recliner she stood up and carried her little miracle over to the crib. Ideally she would have remained in the hospital a day or two extra to recover from the birth with the aid of attending nurses and doctors but it was too much of a risk for the baby's safety. She was a strong woman who would plod through the discomfort with the aid of a mild pain reliever such as Motrin and other techniques used to recover from child birth such as taking sitz baths and continuing to use a pillow when sitting. Gently placing Amelia in her new bed Helen just stood for a long time staring down at the beautiful creature below her. My sweet little baby she thought to herself and adjusted the baby's clothing away from her face. The infant was wearing a little pink nightgown trimmed with handmade smocking that had tiny embroidered white rabbits. A little matching hat covered the baby's head and pink fuzzy socks kept her little feet warm. John's eyes had zeroed in on the outfit in the central display table as they entered the pricy baby store and he'd been so touched that she'd selected it as their baby's first official outfit that his eyes had watered. Such a big man brought to tears over something so small. This was the John she had fallen in love with and had wanted a family with.
Hearing John mumble in his sleep as he turned over onto his back, she made her way to his side, unfolded the lavender knit blanket and covered him with it. When they had designed the nursery he had insisted on an extra long day bed to fit his tall frame for those times when he would care for their daughter. Nick had easily built the frame for the bed and John had happily painted it moonflower white. Giving his face a stroke she smiled to herself as she reflected on how excited he had been this last month preparing for the baby. He'd insisted on being a part of every decision and activity tied into the nursery. So much so that they'd gotten into several arguments over it. She was used to being the one in charge and the last word on everything. Learning to compromise was part of the challenge of being a couple and they were navigating their way through being in a relationship with a difficult past. Most of the time she had gotten her way and she caved on the other times to allow him to feel as if he'd had input into the process.
She did get quite a few chuckles watching him put the baby furniture together while swearing in multiple languages throughout. The six drawer changing table had been the most difficult to construct and then was a bit wobbly completed. Nick had prevented him from chunking it down the stairs when John had declared it wasn't safe enough for the baby by reinforcing it across the back and leveling the feet to fix the wobble. It now lay to the left of the crib, flush against the wall, and fit the space perfectly. Clear green glass knobs had been installed rather than the boring wooden knobs that came with the dresser.
The entire room was perfect and anything but boring. It could easily be featured in any interior design magazine. Ashley's nursery, done up in vintage English furniture in shades of pinks and rose, was beautiful but Amelia's nursery was nothing short of dreamy. Done up in shades of soft greens, purples and white it was a contemporary nursery inspired by the French cottage and garden Helen had given up to return to the present. Nick, with John's help, had fitted the floor with thick, cream colored carpeting to increase the insulation in the space. Plus it would provide the baby soft padding when she would begin to crawl and walk.
Exhaustion pawing at her too, Helen carefully shuffled back over to the chair and eased herself back down with a few low grunts against the discomfort she felt. She was quite sore. If she weren't nursing she'd take a much stronger pain reliever but that wasn't possible and she didn't have the energy to shove the baby's father off the daybed. He needed sleep as much as she did. The clueless fool was in for quite a shock when the baby's squalling and frequent diaper changes went into full effect. Leaning back, she pressed the button on the side of the recliner to get it to adjust all the way down into a flat sleeping position. The special order chair had cost quite a penny and was easily the most expensive item in the room but it was worth the extra cost. It could adjust to several positions smoothly without disturbing a sleeping baby the product description had promised.
Even though she was spent she couldn't fall asleep immediately. Instead, she looked around the room and admired the lovely space for the millionth time. The walls were a soft, light green with the door and window casings in white. Long white curtains trimmed with purple and green velvet ribbons were hung from near the ceiling. Using her brand new sewing machine, Lucy had made the curtains and matching pillows for the daybed, which was covered in crisp white linens trimmed with eyelet lace. The room was definitely feminine without being nauseatingly princess-y.
A little whine from the crib caught her attention and she held her breath as she waited to see whether the baby would wake up. After another long minute she let out a relieved breath when Amelia continued to sleep peacefully. The white crib was a popular model by Jenny Lind that had a vintage feel to it. Its bedding was white with eyelet lace, similar to that on the daybed. The bed skirt was in light lavender with green velvet ribbon trim, also made by Lucy. Okay, she might have gone a little overboard with the matching color scheme but the space felt wonderful to the new mother and all the white brightened it up. This place was a safe haven for Amelia to grow up in and play to her little heart's content.
Above the changing table was a long white pegboard from which hung three sweet little outfits that Amelia would someday wear. Each dress had been picked out by her father and was in a different size to mark the occasion of Amelia reaching the next three month stage. Two large bundles of dried lavender tied up with white lace and green velvet ribbon hung on the end pegs to finish up the display. Whenever she went near them their pleasant scent filled her nostrils and reminded her garden in Bordeaux. John had brought her a large bundle of lavender for their bedroom but she'd split it in two for the nursery and used the left over lace and ribbon to tie them up.
There had been no room for a closet so Nick had refinished the closet in next small bedroom to a house the newborn's ever expanding wardrobe. He'd removed the rough wooden shelves and fitted it with three wooden rods per Helen's request. Each rod would hold different sizes of clothing with the bottom rod for the newborn through 3 month sized clothing. Numerous outfits already hung from the rods thanks to several purchases by the excited parents. John must have been the giddiest father to be as he happily carried bag after bag from one baby store to the next. His fascination with baby shoes had transferred to baby jumpers with silly or cute sayings. Helen had laughed at him as he purchased onesies with sayings such as "Little Miss Behaving," "I'm not allowed to date," and "My daddy can beat up your daddy." At the last one her mouth had dropped open and she'd said, "Really, John? For a baby?" Grinning at her as he handed it to the cashier he'd smugly commented, "Well, it's true." His favorite had been one that said "I get my drama from my mama." She'd countered by purchasing one that said, "I'm cute… My mommy is cute… My daddy got very lucky." Nick and Lucy had read all of them as they were spread out on the kitchen table, looked at one another afterwards and just burst out laughing. That poor child had a pair of crazy parents.
The second bedroom itself was too small to serve as Ashley's future bedroom so the plan was to eventually turn it into a playroom for Amelia. It would be refinished later, after the rest of the rooms on the floor were completed. For now it would remain in its rough, antiquated appearance with only the closet being serviceable.
Turning her head to the right the drowsy mother stared up at the tall white bookcase that ran from floor to ceiling. It had been Nick's gift to the baby and was handcrafted and secured to the wall. The lad seemed to be able to build or restore just about anything with his strong hands. Whereas his sister seemed a brilliant scholar he seemed to be a brilliant craftsman. A trio of baby blankets were folded up on one shelf beside a stuffed classic Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh books. On the shelf below were a display of numerous little hand knit booties and hats. All the knit blankets, booties and hats had been Lucy's gifts to the baby. She could knit faster than anyone Helen had ever known and seemed thrilled to be able to make miniature little items for Amelia.
Two shelves were already filled with classic children's books that John had purchased in anticipation for reading to his newborn. He had spent a good hour wandering up and down the children's section intently inspecting the books and chatting up the elderly clerk on which were the most popular ones for young children. Seated nearby in a leather chair, Helen had amusedly watched him make his selections and bring them handfuls at a time to pile down next to her chair. Several had been ones that she'd read to Ashley when she was a toddler and she'd startled him when she began sniffling as she looked through the Velveteen Rabbit book. Concerned, he'd knelt down by her side as she explained that this had been Ashley's favorite bedtime story and that she'd made her mother buy her every stuffed rabbit she came across until she was ten in the hopes that one of them would come alive and play with her. That much loved book with its broken binding was still in Ashley's closed off bedroom at her sanctuary Helen sniffled louder as tears began to plop down onto her cheeks. Cupping her face, John had rested his forehead against hers and whispered that they would recover their firstborn in due course. He'd also grabbed a stuffed matching velveteen rabbit to place on top of the pile of books which had taken two trips to get to the cash register. His purchase was probably a week's worth of sales for the little family bookstore located across the corner from the baby store judging from the owner's lit up face. The jovial owner had given them the stuffed rabbit as a gift for the baby. The rabbit now rested on a shelf above the pegboard along with the pair of black suede boots lined with pink fur that had been John's first present to their youngest child.
Giving a loud yawn, Helen stretched out her arms and her right hand brushed against the item resting at the base of the bookshelf. She smiled and ran her hand along its soft fur head. It was the piece de résistance in the room. The one item the baby would probably enjoy the most when she was old enough to stand and grab onto things. James' gift to his goddaughter had been a stuffed rocking horse that matched the image of Ollie the horse in Helen's watercolor which hung centrally framed over the daybed. He had had it made in Scotland by a noted craftsman to look like a miniature version of the beloved gray, spotted horse. It even had the white crescent shape underneath its left eye like Ollie. When James had presented it to her, complete with a big pink bow wrapped around its neck, she had known it was a replica of her old steed and had thrown her arms around his neck and given him a big kiss on the lips. "You are too good to me," she praised and kissed him again. Behind her she'd heard someone clearing their throat and rumble, "Yes, yes, it's lovely. No need to get carried away." The pair had turned to smirk at John as he stood with his hands on his hips shaking his head at them.
"I'm just giving James a proper thank you for the excellent gift," she explained to her jealous partner. "The baby will love riding this. Ashley certainly loved hers."
"And he has been properly thanked. Now hands off the pregnant woman," John said as he separated the pair and clapped Watson firmly on the back. "It's fabulous," he said to his amused friend, "thank you." As he and Nick carried the surprisingly heavy item through the cellar and to the rail car John complained that the least James could have done was add wheels to the thing. "Yes, because we want our young daughter speeding down the hallway on a wheeled rocking horse," Helen had retorted with a laugh. "If she's anything like Ashley she'll find her own way to pursue mischief without the aid of a wheeled child's ride. Heaven help us all."
Helen's hand stroked the horse twice more before her hand slipped down slowly to fall by the recliner's side and her eyes fluttered closed as Morpheus finally came to claim her. Pleasant dreams of her children riding horses in a lavender field filled her head and one of the horses looking awfully familiar as it raced by her. Ashley's laughter as she called to her younger sibling to catch up with her was the last thing the tired mother could remember before all thought left her.
