The following day he had a little problem. You see, Starr cried a lot at night and in the morning. No matter what Wonka did, she would not calm down for him. However, as soon as mommy came to the rescue, she would lie in my arms and slowly calm down. This irritated him beyond belief.
"Aw, look at how cute she is!"
"She doesn't like me."
"Oh, stop it. A lot of babies act this way at first. She needs to get used to you, that's all."
"And how is she so used to you?"
"I feed her."
"So what are you saying? I need to become a human milk machine in order to get her to like me?"
"Come on, honey. After a little while she will be comfortable around you. Here, hold her now that she's calm."
"I don't wanna."
His childishness was more annoying than his stubbornness.
"Yes you do, now hold her. She won't hurt you. If she starts to cry, just go 'shhh' and she will quiet down."
"Fine."
He did finally take her from me, and as soon as he did she started to smile at him. A little giggle came out of her small mouth as she did so, and he got more comfortable with her.
"Aw, look! Yes, Starr, that funny-looking man is your daddy!"
He smiled at first, but then looked at me awkwardly. He then replaced his attention on Starr and looked her over.
"She's so beautiful. Just look at her. I'm glad we decided to have her."
"Well, as I recall, we didn't really decide. You just got a little caught up in the moment and now, here we are with a daughter. There was no decision except how to keep the sand out of my dress."
"Ok, ok. Well then, I'm glad that we did have her. I'm not worried anymore, Bridget. I think that we can really make this all work out."
Little Starr began to cry because she was tired. We put her back down and she fell asleep a second later. We stood over her crib and watched her sleep peacefully. Wonka seemed to be getting quite emotional now.
"I can't believe we made this. I mean, that's a little person right there. She is going to grow up and have a real job and be a real woman. I can't believe we brought another life into the world. It's just so amazing."
"I know. It's really amazing. It really changes a person when they become a parent, don't you think? I mean, look at how we started out. I was a poor bum off the street and you took me in. From there I became Miss Wonka, and then Mrs. Now look at what we have. We have come a long way since then."
"We sure have. And it has got nothing but better since. All the changes have been for the better. We are very lucky."
"Yes we are."
We left the nursery and just took a walk around the factory together. Years before, I had never imagined marrying and having a child with this man, let alone even staying with him. My life was changed drastically, and it was all good changes. I thought of all the good times we had had together so far, and then turned my attention to the future. Many more good memories we're still to come, and I wasn't going to miss a single one.