Chapter 12: Little Bundles of Joy


The day of our wedding came. We had already had our bacholer/bacholerette parties, and we were ready for the real deal. I got dressed up neatly in a tux, and couldn't wait to see my bride in her wedding gown. When the music played and Elli's father, who had come down to see the wedding, led her up the aisle, I practically fainted. She looked so beautiful with her white veil and beautiful silk white dress. She had carnation pink flowers in her hair, and she had the most beautiful smile. We said our vows, then we kissed. Doves were let loose over our heads everyone cheered. We walked out of the church under a shower of rose petals and got in a wagon with the words, "Just Married" inscribed on the back. We of course, had our party at the Inn. We had a beautiful wedding cake and the food, which was catered by Ann's dad, was great! We danced the night away, and even sang a duet. Elli and I went to our new home on my farm that night and could barely fall asleep from all the excitement.

I woke up the next day and looked down in the bed next to me. Elli was sleeping peacefully, and I couldn't help but run my fingers through her hair. I got out of bed and made scrambled eggs, and made breakfast ready for her when she awoke. We had a house full of beautiful flowers, and we had new china, silverware, furniture, home appliances and home decorations from gifts. When Elli awoke, we had breakfast together, then we got dressed and went for a walk. We skipped rocks on the lake, and watched squirrels and rabbits run happily around the mountain.

The next few seasons were like this. Elli and I were truly in love, Ann and Cliff also were. I never fought with Elli, and to my knowledge, Cliff and Ann never fought either. Two months after their wedding, Ann and Cliff ran happily to our house and knocked on the door.
"Oh come on, answer the door!" We heard Ann shout.
I opened the door.
"We have very exciting news!" shouted Cliff.
"Yeah, what is it?" asked Elli excitedly.
"We're...we're going to have a baby!" screamed Ann.
"AAAH! That's great!" yelled Elli.
"Yeah I know! Well, we have to go run some tests with the Doctor to make sure the baby's healthy, see you guys soon!" said Ann as she and Cliff skipped away.
"So Jack..." said Elli turning to me. I knew what was coming.
"Yes?" I asked, pretending to be curious.
"Well, I was just wondering, when are we going to have children?" she asked.

I knew Elli would eventually ask this. I had been dreading the day. I wanted children, but they were so expensive and needed so much attention. Elli was still working for the doctor to earn some extra cash, and I was working harder than ever to support just the two of us. I decided to tell Elli this.
"Look, Elli, I really want children, but, they require so much!" I said.
"I know, but whatever they need we can give!" she said.
"We hardly have enough money at the moment to support ourselves, how will we support a baby?" I asked.
"We'll think of something, we always do! Please Jack, I want our child to be the same age as Cliff and Ann's, so that our children can play together..." she said.
"What? Is that what this is about, a competition?" I asked.
"No, not at all! It's just, that would make sense! Stu was so lonely until he met May, I'm afraid our child would end up like that." she explained.
"You have a point," I thought aloud, "I'll think about it."

A few weeks later, I walked into the Clinic to pick up Elli for a walk. Elli ran up to me with a big smile on her face.
"Jack, this is so exciting!" she squealed.
"What?" I asked.
"We're going to have a baby!!!" she said.
"Oh Elli, that's great!" I said, giving her a kiss.
"I know!" she said stepping back, holding my hand, "Oh there's so much to do! We need a baby bed, we need to make sure the baby is healthy, we'll need lots of diapers, bottles..."
"Whoah whoah whoah. Let's just concentrate on you being pregnent now, not a baby." I said to Elli as we walked outside. "I think, that you should quit your job."
"What? But that's not fair, I love my job!" protested Elli.
"Yes I know, but it'd be best for the baby." I stammered.
"Ok ok. So what should I do, housework?" she asked.
"Looks like it," I said grinning, Elli punched my arm.

The next few weeks went by quickly. Elli started out fine, but as the baby started to grow, Elli got extremely tired, and couldn't do much. I was now working very hard trying to make an income. We had 20,000G, but I was hoping to get 50,000 by the baby's birth. I had a hothouse full of pineapples and a field full of Sweet Potatoes to be harvested that day. Ann stopped by our house every day and she and Elli picked out baby cribs, sheets, clothes, bottles, everything a baby needs. Elli had become very sensitive, so I had to watch what I said around her. It happened one morning, 2 seasons after Elli had found out she was pregnent.
"JACK, JACK COME HERE!" I heard her scream as I was watering crops.
I came running, fearing she had fallen or gotten hurt.
"Elli, what's wrong?" I asked, my face covered in sweat from the hot spring sun.
"It's time!" she said.
"Time for wha....Oh, OH!!" I said, wiping my face off.

I grabbed a bag of snacks, change of clothes and water bottle and helped Elli up. We had to walk all the way to the Clinic, and Elli could barely walk. I picked her up and ran to the Clinic. Right as I walked in, I heard the door open and turned around to see Cliff carrying Ann.
"Cliff!" I said, grinning.
"JAAAAAAAAAAACK!" screamed Elli.
"Oh, right!" I said, putting Elli down on a bed.
Cliff ran up and lay Ann down in the bed next to Elli.
"Hi Ann! Never thought we'd actually go through this together!" smiled Elli.
"Yeah......aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah." said Ann, as a contraction came on.
"Just breathe, in and out." said the Doctor to Ann. Cliff was holding Ann's hand, and I could tell by the look on Cliff's face that Ann was squeezing his hand very hard.
"Jack, I'm scared." whimpered Elli.
I was now holding her hand, and I too felt Elli squeeze my hand tightly.
"Just keep breathing," I said, following the Doctor's orders.

This went on for quite a few hours. Every few minutes, Elli would squeeze my hand for a short time, then let go. Cliff and I were exhausted, but kept ourselves busy by talking about what we would name our babies and things. Finally, the time came.
"Ok guys, I think it's time for Elli to have her baby, Jack, if you don't have a strong stomach, you might want to step outside." said the Doctor.

I ran outside with Cliff as quick as my legs would carry me. It was only about 5 minutes before the Doctor called my name, I walked into the room.
"Congratulations Jack, it's a boy!" said the doctor.
The Doctor cleaned the baby off and wrapped it in a light blue blanket, then he handed the small infant to Elli.
"Oh Jack, he's so beautiful!" said Elli, relieved it was finally over.
"Yeah, I agree." I said, "He has your eyes."
"Uh, Jack..." said Cliff, dragging me out of the room. A few minutes later, we again walked in.
"Well Cliff, congratulations, it's a baby boy also!" said the Doctor, repeating the same process he had done with our son.
"Wow, I always wanted a son!" said Cliff.
"Hey Ann, how come you didn't seem in that much pain?" asked Elli.
"Um..." said Ann looking at me, "Let's just say this isn't the first time I've done this."
"Oh, I see," said Elli, continuing to hold and look at her baby.

We let the girls admire their sons for a few minutes, then we got to hold them. The baby was so light and so cute. I was in awe at how innocent he looked. In a few minutes, Elli was up, dressed, and ready to go home. The doctor gave us some bottles and baby formula, and a little shirt for him. We decided to name our son James, and we put him to sleep that night. Besides a few wake up calls where we had to feed James, we slept the whole night through.

When I awoke, I found Elli giving our little James a bottle. I went to hold James, but Elli said I couldn't until I had washed my hands. I washed my hands then held James. He was so small and light, I was afraid I'd drop him. Elli instructed me on how to hold him, so I felt much safer then. I fed James and when he was done, he needed a little diaper change.
"Uh...Elli?" I said.
"Yes Jack, what is it?" she asked sweetly.
"Well..James needs a diaper change." I said.
"Ok, well you know where we keep the diapers." she said, continuing to read a magazine.
"Uh....er...I don't know how." I said, I really didn't want to change it.
"Oh honey, really, come on. It's not that difficult." she sighed.
"Easy for you to say, your born with these skills!" I said.
"Ok ok, I might as well do it, you'd probably do it wrong anyways." she said, standing up.
I knew what she was trying to do..I tried to resist.
"No, honey, I wouldn't! I'll show you!"
I had caved in, she was trying to make me guard my pride, it worked!
"Let's see, uh....this goes here....Stick this here, no, is this tight enough? Huh, what? Oh no!" I said, as I struggled to put his diaper on.
"Oh honey, really! You aren't doing it right!" said Elli, as she pushed me out of the way and expertly put the diaper on.
"Ah, heh heh, thanks Ell." I said, putting my arm around her.

Elli picked up James and nice and clean, and decided to go on a walk. I of course, being the family man I am, decided to go with her. We walked around town with James. All the villagers stopped to see our baby. We decided to go to the Inn and visit Ann and Cliff and their son Jacob.
"Hey Ann!" I said, pushing the stroller into the Inn.
"Hi Jack, hey James!" said Ann, tickling James. She was holding Jacob in one hand.
"Hiya Jacob!" said Elli.
Jacob flailed his arm around, Elli took it as a wife and sighed.
"Hey Jack, how's it goin." said Cliff.
"Hi Cliff, how's fatherhood?" I asked.
"Pretty good," he replied, "Hey, you had to change any diapers yet?"
"Well, I tried." I replied, Cliff chuckled at me.
"So you havn't done any of the dirty work have you." he replied, "I have, Ann expects me to take as much responsibility as she does."
"Oh, yeah, I'm more of the moral support for Elli," I shrugged.
"Well, we have to put Jacob to sleep, so...see you guys later." said Ann.

Elli and I walked off. We walked home and put James to sleep, then went for a walk on the mountain. We walked to the summit and watched the sunset. The sky was filled with deep reds and purples, and glistened with golden streaks. It was a cloudless evening, and there was a slight wind. It was warm and dry, and very comfortable. I held Elli in my arms and we sat there.