Alan

While preparing dinner, I heard Nat's footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

"She must have gone shopping" I thought and reminded myself to keep things civil in front of Rach.

Nat, with Rach on one arm, and bags on the other, sullenly came into the kitchen. As soon as she saw me, Rach squealed with delight, squirmed until Nat let her go, and came running to me. With a grunt I picked her up. Damn! she was getting heavy.

"Hey.." Nat said neutrally, putting the bags down.

"I see you went to the store..." I remarked

"I see you started dinner" she said.

With the baby on one arm, I started to take things out of the bags.

I took out a carton of milk and remarked "We had a coupon for this" I don't clip and save them for the hell of it. " And why didn't you get the store brand cereal?"

Nat ignored me and announced flatly "I'm gonna get the rest of the stuff from the car."

I kept an eye on dinner, while, as much as I could with one hand, put stuff away.

"What is this?" I asked my daughter, holding a cat toy, which consisted of a bell and feather being tied to a fake fish pole.. "Looks like mommy didn't buy you anything!"

In a few minutes, my wife returned with the rest of the groceries .

"I'm gonna gave Rach her bath while you finish dinner." she took the baby from me gently.

"It's better to do it just before bedtime" I protested.

"She falls asleep on the couch sometimes..." Nat left the kitchen.

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Nat brought up the subject again,, when Rach was put down for the night, in the living room. She had made tea for the two of us.

"What if she gets overwhelmed at the party?" my wife projected yet again. Rach loves attention.

"Our daughter will be fine!" I assured her firmly.

"But..."

"And I'm not arranging this party out of guilt and ego!" I cut her off.

"Fine...ignore my opinion! I'm only the mother!" she got up in a huff. "I'm going to take a shower"

Nat really needed to get out of her shell! Especially for Rachael's sake!

That night, my wife slept on the sofa bed.

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A week passed, and the ice between us, softened and melted a bit. Nat had started to accept, no resighn herself to the party. She had even bought a pretty pink dress for Rach!

"I was thinking we could do professional photos" she suggested over dinner one night. "There's this one photographer nearby, who does vintage photographs."

"Vintage photographs?" I served myself some mashed potatoes.

The subjects put on old fashioned clothing, and the photo is taken in black and white" She explained. " I went in to check out the prices and choices. The photographer had some cute little dresses that would fit Rach."

"I want her to be photographed in the birthday dress you bought." I told her.

"She will be ,at the party..." Nat said. "Come on. She'll look so cute!"

"okay..." I agreed if only to keep the ice from reforming.

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Five days before the party, her parents arrived to help out and spend time with their newest grandchild. They gave her toys and lots of attention.

"So uh…..Nat tells us that you turned Charlie's backyard into a large fairyland?" Hannah asked as we read menus at a restaurant. Rach sat in a high chair.

"We've started to." I said. "And there will be people pretending to be pixies..." Work had been started, and so far, it looked good. I often came over to inspect to make sure that it was completely safe for toddlers. Also, I had Charlie put temporary fences around the Koi pond.

"It seems like yesterday she was just a tiny bundle" my mother in law remarked.

"Yeah.." Nat agreed and stroked the baby's head.

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Finally, the day of the party came, we all got up early to go to the house and get things ready for the guests. Don helped us as well.

Around eleven in the morning, the doorbell announced the arrival of our first guest.

I thought, "It's showtime!"

TBC

Will the party go well? Or will something go wrong? Stay tuned!