Bursting With Love
When Pippin was his own tiny baby, Merry liked to tickle his feet, giggling along with the baby while Pippin kicked his legs with delight. The hair on the baby's feet was soft and downy, his toes a chubby row of tender pink. Merry was enthralled with the baby, and wished he could take him home, to be there for every fascinating minute. He didn't dare to ask his parents for a baby sibling of his own, because that seemed too much joy for any one hobbit to have, and instead contented himself with adoring his Pippin at every opportunity. When Faramir was born, Merry was reluctant to hold the baby Pippin proudly presented, because he could feel in his heart that deep, sad longing for a son of his own that grew with each passing year. He wanted to be happy for Pippin, he was happy for Pippin, but the sight of the tiny bundled form still made him want to weep. He couldn't refuse though, and accepted the bundle, and peered down into a wrinkled little face and saw it in his own beloved baby of long ago. "Oh, Faramir," Merry said, and all he felt was love. When Periadoc finally arrived, Merry had difficulty believing he was real, and would get up in the middle of the night to lean over the cradle and confirm that there was, indeed, a baby inside of it. With Estella asleep, he was free to gaze at that tiny face for as long as he wished, seeing himself and his father and countless other Brandybucks. If Periadoc caught him at this silliness, he would give Merry a stern reprimanding look that clearly said, "Silly Da, of course I am real. I just had to come to you in my own time." Merry's sweet Eowyn had faintly gold hair and flawless, creamy skin, as if gifted to her from the Lady she was named for. She was not the beauty that Elanor Gamgee was, but Merry personally thought he had never seen such a lovely hobbit-lass. Estella had never been one for primping and preening, so she watched with great amusement as Merry decorated his wee lass-baby with ribbons and flowers and sweet little ruffled frocks. "She'll grow up vain," Estella chided gently, but she had not the heart to stop him, not when her dear little Eowyn looked so very lovely. "Well, would you look at that," Merry said the first time he held Estel, and saw that Tookish little face. He looked more Faramir's brother than Periadoc and Eowyn's, and for Merry, it was as if his baby Pippin had returned. He had thought that the thrill of fatherhood would have lessened by the third time around, but it had not, and Merry found himself enthralled. He remembered, then, thinking as a lad that having a baby all his own would be too much joy for one hobbit, and wondered that he did not burst with love for his children.