'Perfect' was perhaps a bit overly optimistic. The initial euphoria of finding their daughter had worn off in twenty-four hours. Elizabeth and Matt had taken Annie back downstairs and explained their intentions to Richard and Margaret. Apparently Margaret had noticed how Matt had taken to the baby right away and shared her suspicions with her husband, so the announcement that they wanted to adopt the baby was not much of a surprise. But Elizabeth could see that her parents were extremely happy for them.
That whole day, rather than going to LACMA or dragging Matt to the La Brea Tar Pits, Elizabeth and Matt followed Margaret around with every question under the sun on what to do to care for a baby. Matt had figured out how to feed her, but they needed to learn how to mix the formula for her. And neither of them had ever changed a diaper before. And forget about the concept of bathing an infant. Reality came crashing down soon enough.
As Elizabeth voraciously absorbed as much information as she could, Matt went to talk to Richard about the adoption process. The men shut themselves in Richard's home office to discuss everything. Elizabeth tried not to be annoyed that she was already taking on the laboring oar of parenting, and the baby wasn't even theirs yet! But there was so much to learn, she didn't have room in her head to be annoyed.
That night, Elizabeth reluctantly put Annie down in the carrier that had taken residence beside the dresser in their bedroom. They would have to figure out how to get some more baby things. Though hopefully Annie Smith, the birth mother, would give them everything she had for the infant she was giving up for adoption.
Elizabeth's mind would not quiet at all once she put Annie to bed and got into bed herself. She couldn't stop thinking about her baby. Couldn't stop wondering if she was alright, couldn't stop wanting to just watch her so she wouldn't miss a single thing.
"You're thinking too loud," Matt whispered beside her.
She laughed lightly. "Sorry. I know she's alright, but I just…"
"I know," he interrupted. "I was stuck with your dad all day, which was fine, but I missed her. I wanted to hold her more and I didn't get to."
His words absolutely melted her heart. Elizabeth moved closer to him in bed. "You can spend more time with her tomorrow. Or if she needs something in the night, you can get up with her."
"Oh god, babies do that, don't they?" Matt lamented.
"This is her first night with us. I don't know how good of a sleeper she is. She might get hungry or need changing or something," Elizabeth noted.
Matt sighed, shifting so he could wrap his arms around his wife. "At least your mother had plenty of nappies and bottles and things at her office for us to use. We'll have to buy more before long."
"Hopefully we've got enough to get through tomorrow. I don't know how many places will be open on Christmas Day."
With everything that had happened, Matt had almost forgotten that it was Christmas. The decorated tree in the living room had completely slipped his mind. They found their daughter on Christmas Eve, and any thought of holiday tradition had gone out the window with that new focus for them all. "Well, we've got our Christmas miracle," he noted.
Elizabeth didn't say anything, just buried her face against his chest like she did when she was upset about something. Matt didn't like that at all.
"What?" he prompted.
She turned so she could speak softly. "She isn't ours yet. Not legally or anything. And I just can't help thinking that something will happen to make things harder. Or it won't work out. I know we said earlier that everything would work out fine, but I kind of feel like my life proves otherwise."
"What do you mean?" he asked, confused at her sudden pessimism. That was usually his arena, his British dark cloud of doom.
"I got into Julliard only to drop out to do a movie that got me another few jobs and then nothing for years. I got nominated for an Oscar only to lose. I have spent twenty years taking small parts in movies that no one has seen. Every time something good happens to me, it sort of falls apart," she explained.
"Am I a good thing that happened to you?" he asked.
"Yes, of course," she scoffed.
"We haven't fallen apart, have we?"
"No," she answered warily.
"Well there you are," he said with satisfaction. "Maybe that has happened in the past with your professional life, but you and me and Annie, that's your personal life. And I like to think that's worked out shockingly well."
Elizabeth leaned up to kiss him gently. "You're right," she murmured against his lips. "You worked out much better than expected."
"Oh thanks," he replied sarcastically.
She giggled and kissed him again, her tongue delving into his mouth. Matt rolled her onto her back to cover her with his body. They obviously wouldn't do anything further, but he liked to hold her and touch her like this, to feel the whole of her beneath him when they kissed.
Sure enough, though, they were interrupted by Annie's fussing. Matt pulled away from his wife and got out of bed as Annie started crying in earnest. He picked her up and then had no idea what to do. Elizabeth got out of bed to help him, and they ended up going downstairs to try and fix her a bottle to see if she was hungry and check if she needed changing or something else.
In the end, they were up half the night with an unhappy baby, and they did not get her to sleep for more than about twenty minutes at a time until nearly four in the morning. They put her back in the carrier and fell into bed, only to be woken by another wailing cry at half five.
Daybreak did not yield much of a difference. Matt and Elizabeth took turns with the baby, trying to learn what she wanted and needed, desperately hoping they could solve whatever it was that made her cry. But then Matt got fixated in wanting to know how to make everything official as soon as possible because Elizabeth had been worried about it, so he was trying to call every attorney that Richard could think of who might know how to do a private adoption. And then Elizabeth was left with a squalling baby in her arms and no sleep and no idea what she was supposed to do.
Margaret tried to help, obviously seeing her daughter struggle. "Liz, honey, why don't you—"
"I've tried that!" she snapped.
"You don't know what I was going to say," Margaret answered, unamused by her daughter's tone.
"Mom, I tried everything! I've rocked her, I've sat with her, I've put her down, I've picked her up. She doesn't need to be changed. She won't take a bottle. I tried to burp her and nothing happened. I don't know what she wants!" Elizabeth said, almost crying herself. Annie had been wailing for hours. Matt was holed up in Dad's study. Dad was keeping out of everyone's way by doing yardwork. Reality of having a baby had definitely set in.
Thankfully, Margaret knew what she was doing better than Elizabeth did. She spoke in a gentle tone, hoping to calm both Elizabeth and Annie. "She can probably tell you're upset. You need to soothe yourself so you can soothe her. Maybe try singing. That always makes you feel better."
It was worth a try. She really had tried everything else she could think of. Elizabeth sat down on the sofa, barely able to stand anymore, and she started singing the first song that came into her head. "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know…" Ironic, really, since she'd come to LA to escape snow and see her family, and she wouldn't want to be in snowy London now anyway. But it was Christmas, at least, and Rosemary Clooney was always a good bet for her to sing to.
As she sang, Elizabeth did feel herself calm down. And before she got to the end of the song, Annie had stopped crying.
"See?" Margaret said triumphantly.
Elizabeth just nodded. A lump had formed in her throat that she didn't trust to not cause her to burst into tears. She had sung to her baby, and Annie had stopped crying. It was almost as if she knew her mother's voice. And Elizabeth was too exhausted and relieved and moved to contemplate much else.