Waiting
It seemed like the closer Calleigh's due date got the longer time seemed. Eric guessed every expectant couple went through this feeling.
"Hey Delko," Ryan said, walking into the trace lab. "How's Calleigh and the baby?"
Eric smiled.
"Calleigh's exhausted today. Baby girl is quite active during the nocturnal hours. "
For Eric, getting to feel the baby underneath his hand was the best feeling in the world. His wife told him he never had to ask for permission to touch her belly or talk to their unborn child.
"She's yours, too," she told him. "And she likes her daddy's voice."
This was true. Nevaeh Delko definitely seemed to like hearing daddy's voice. Sometimes if she were moving around, keeping mommy awake at night when daddy talked to her she'd settle down.
Calleigh still couldn't believe she was going to be a mommy. She had ceased to have a relationship with her own mother, a cold-hearted women who looked the other way and told her to "suck it up, nothing was broken" when Calleigh's alcoholic father often beat her when she was a little girl in Louisiana, years ago. Till a few years ago Calleigh thought she should never be a mother, that she may not have been abusive but she would be just as detached as with her child as her mother was with her. Thanks to her friends, Calleigh realized she wasn't her mother and would be a loving and doting parent to any children she had.
She had a distant relationship with her father—and only when he was on the wagon—which wasn't often. Kendell 'Duke' Duquesne wasn't going to get be grandpa to her little girl. And her mother, Megan Duquesne wasn't getting within ten feet of her baby if Calleigh had anything to say about it. She really hoped that her in-laws would come around soon because her child deserved at least one set of grandparents.
One thing Calleigh knew for sure, Eric was going to be an incredible father; he already was. He massaged her feet and shoulders at the end of the day, cooked her favorite meals and made sure the pantry was stocked up with her latest food cravings.
