CHAPTER 20: A WONDERFUL LIFE

Christian woke up with the sound of Abbey's cry over the baby monitor, he jumped up and turned the volume down before Anastasia could wake up. He watched her for a second, she looked tired but still pretty. He sighed and went to get Abbey for the nightly feeding. He saw Ron was already there when he entered the room. He watched as the young boy took her from the crib carefully and shushed her, quietly talking.

"Hey Abbey! I thought we agreed not to wake people up in the middle of the night?" Another cry. "I see, you are right, you didn't promise." Another. "Okay, okay. I see you are hungry, we'll go and get your bottle, calm down." He gently swayed and her cries quieted down a little bit, they were more like whimpers. Christian smiled when he turned to the threshold.

"You sit down, I'll go and get her bottle." Ron nodded, relieved. He's been helping them take care of Abbey for the past 4 months but he was still worried about going downstairs with her. She was so fragile, that he was afraid to trip and drop her. Anastasia had a blast when she saw that he was sitting down on the stairs and going down while sitting. They assured her that he was a strong boy and they knew how careful he was, but he was still worried about accidentally hurting her.

Christian went downstairs and took a bottle of breastmilk from the fridge, putting the kettle on. Anastasia pumped for the night feedings, she was recovering but it was a slow progress so Ron and he tried to help as much as they could. Taking care of his own child wasn't "helping Anastasia". He corrected himself in his head. His family was very traditional in gender roles, sometimes he found himself thinking of "helping" or "babysitting" when it came to Abbey and he was working on fixing his inner monologue by correcting it. Anastasia didn't mind but his therapist said that seeing childcare as the wife's job might create bigger problems in the future and she was right.

He put the bottle into hot water for a few minutes and checked the temperature inside his wrist. They somehow perfected the correct way to prepare her bottle, since Abbey seemed like she was going to be a picky eater, she sometimes refused the bottle and he'd have no choice but to wake Ana up.

Ron was still standing up when he went back to her room, pointing out some of the decorations on the wall to keep her occupied. But she was restless, wriggling and Christian knew her daughter. So he rushed inside and took her, sat down in the rocking chair next to her crib, and let her feed. She sighed and latched on immediately, gulping. Ron rolled his eyes.

"She acts like you didn't feed her for days every time." Christian smiled.

"Anastasia already explained it to you, she needs frequent feedings because she needs lots of energy and a very small body to hold it for a long time."

"I know, I just want her to grow up so that we can play."

"She already grows so fast. It's been 4 months, I still can't believe that I'm a father." Ronald frowned, he didn't see any obvious growth since they brought her from the hospital. The only difference seemed like she cried less frequently during the night -the second month was awful, nobody got interrupted sleep for more than 2 hours- and she could hold stuff to play with. But he didn't voice his thoughts, he knew how protective they were of their daughter, and he didn't mean to make him angry. Christian smiled at her little face, she was pale, like Ana, but she had his hair and nose, according to her. It was always a wonder to look at this tiny human and see the parts of him and his love combined. He looked back at Ronald. "You can go back to sleep, thank you. You have school tomorrow."

"Or I can just stay and help you guys?" He said hopefully, getting a glare from Christian. "Ugh. Okay. Good night."

"Good night." He stumped out of the room but tried to do it quietly. Christian sighed and saw that Abbey pushed the bottle with her tongue, which meant she was full. He pulled the bottle and stood up, putting a washcloth on his shoulder before putting her to his shoulder, gently rubbing her back. More often than not, she puked a little bit of the milk after feedings. He wiped her face and threw the cloth to the bin, sat down again, and watched her curious face. Her tiny hands reached up and she played with his face. Fascinated with his stubble again.

"Hey, baby girl." He got a smile. "Are you angry that I'm sending Ron to the school? I know he is." He sighed. "He didn't want us to send him to a private high school but I put my foot down. I know a lot of the other kids there are snobby rich kids but he needs a good diploma and a good education." She slapped his cheek a few times, he kissed her hand when she got to his mouth. "Okay, I'll admit I'm also worried that he'll feel bad again. This school has an amazing counselor. He needs all the help he can get." He reached out and held her directly in front of his face, which earned him a toothless smile, a squeal and hands reaching to his face again. "Sue me." He hugged her back to his chest, rocking on the chair a little bit, and let the momentum lull them both to sleep.

Abbey Grey said her first word in her 11th month on earth.

They were all at the breakfast, just talking about anything or everything until Anastasia started to mash the carrots in the bowl to give her. They were trying to follow baby-led-weaning, allowing Abbey to play and eat her food on her own, however, she wanted. She put the mashed carrots in front of Abbey, her hand was in her mouth. Lately, it was her favorite thing to put her feet or hands to her mouth. She looked down at the carrots, which she usually preferred to eat cut in sticks and raw. Christian watched her tiny face scrunch in dissatisfaction, she frowned. She looked back at her mother with an angry expression on her face, which looked exactly like Anastasia's angry face.

"No!" She looked back at her daughter, shocked at the sudden word and her angry little face.

"No?" She repeated, not quite understanding. Abbey pushed the tiny cup down from her high chair and repeated with more authority.

"NO!" Anastasia looked at Christian, who seemed equally surprised. She stood up and got another carrot from the fridge, washing and slicing it into thick sticks. Abbey's hands opened and closed in a "gimme gimme" movement, as her mother gave her the carrot sticks she was obviously craving and she munched on happily with her 2 up and 2 down teeth. The couple looked at each other before laughing quietly.

"After all the time we tried to make her say, Mommy or Daddy, we got a 'No' first." Christian smiled and kissed his wife. "Abbey Grey got your smart mouth, I'd say." Anastasia was beaming as she looked at her husband.

When she didn't start walking until 15th month, her parents were worried. They were less worried when she stood up and started running right after walking at 18th months.

"Ronald Heathrone!" The whole family started to clap as loudly as they could when the principal announced his name. Elliot was whistling and shouting, Anastasia had tears in her eyes as they watched the tall boy walk up the stage to take his high school diploma. He grew taller during the past years, he was now taller than Anastasia. Abbey Grey, a whole two years old -and a half was standing on top of her father's knees and she started to clap and shout when she saw him on the stage.

" 'ON! 'ON!" She couldn't pronounce everything correctly yet, so it was 'on for Ron. He looked at the crowd, hearing his name and waving at the little girl in a bright red dress. She got even more excited, wanting to be put down. Christian stood up with her to get closer to the stage but didn't let her go, worried that someone might take her. They waited until he walked to where they were, Abbey shouting his name again. The young man smiled brightly, proud of himself and happy to see the family that became his came to support him. He took Abbey from Christian, and she immediately wrapped her tiny arms around his neck, squeezing. He hugged her tightly and laughed.

"Congratulations," Christian said quietly but proudly. It was always amazing to see the young man Ronald turned into. Before he could accept it, he found himself wrapped in a second set of arms as Anastasia hugged his other side tightly.

"Mama, NO!" Abbey pushed her mother's face away with her hand. " 'On, mine."

"That wasn't very nice, was it?" Ronald said, trying to be gentle. Abbey has grown to be very possessive of him, they have been trying to decrease her dependency little by little for some time now. She had been his best friend since she was born but he was going away for college soon and he didn't want her to be affected too much. She looked at him with bright blue eyes, an exact copy of her mother's, and pouted. Ron raised an eyebrow and she looked back at her Anastasia, reaching out and muttering a quiet sorry.

The rest of the family came to hug and congratulate him as well, everyone was proud of him and that made his whole face stay red during the celebratory lunch. Abbey insisted on sitting next to him and eating from his plate, he didn't mind. It was his family and he was proud to be a part of it.

"Mmmm! This tea is delicious Miss Grey, thank you!" Ron's "girl" voice was coming out of the room as Anastasia walked inside her room to find Christian and Ron seated on the floor, with bright plastic rings on their hands, and tiaras on their heads. She was in her "princess dress" as she called it, pink and fluffy. She put on her tiara as well and she was wearing lots of plastic necklaces as she served them "tea" aka. Colored water Gail prepared for her as always. Jason's 11-year-old daughter, Sofia, was also seated in a pink plastic chair and she was trying not to laugh at the way Christian and Ron were looking.

"That's not tea," Abbey said. "It's coffee."

"Oh, it's still delicious, thank you."

"You're welcome. Take some coffee, you." She poured more water into Christian's tiny cup as well.

"Thank you, Miss Grey, your house is very beautiful."

"It's a castle!" She objected, pouring herself and Sofia and sitting down. Everyone tried not to laugh as she raised her cup to drink with her pinky stretched out. Christian blamed Mia for showing her this gesture. "My daddy built it for me." She looked at Christian with beaming bright eyes, making him smile broadly and Anastasia felt a flutter on her chest. Fatherhood was becoming Christian and Abbey was really his joy. She couldn't deny how handsome he looked, even in tiaras and fake princess rings. She gently closed the door so as to not interrupt their tea time.

"Looks like it's tea time again." She said to Gail when she went to sit down next to her in the sitting room. Gail smiled, Abbey Grey was the boss of the Grey household, everyone knew that fact. "I wonder how Jason got out this time." They both laughed, as Anastasia remembered the bright pink nail polish her daughter forced on the poor man. They told him that he could say no, that he didn't need to do everything she asked but how could he resist when she looked up at him with puppy eyes? Besides he felt his heart melting every time she pointed out their nails excitedly and screamed "Look, Tay! We match!"

"I sometimes worry that we are spoiling her too much." She said. "You know how long it took for Mia to take responsibility for her life when the whole family stopped paying for her stuff." Gail frowned, she didn't think that they were spoiling her a lot. She got most of the things she wanted but her father was one of the richest men in the world, and that was normal. She had routines, every morning and night. She knew how to take a "no", even her terrible two's weren't that terrible, since the Greys handled her tantrums with open arms but no compromises and she learned that when her parents said no to something it was no.

"I don't think she'll turn out like that, Ana," Gail assured her. "She already has her interests, the things she says yes and no, the food she likes and doesn't, etc. Her tantrums get less violent and less frequent each day. I think she's just a happy child." Anastasia smiled.

"Thank you, I really hope, so, too. I don't want to 'spoil' her but it also seems cruel to not do something she wants when it's within our means to do so. I mean, she probably didn't need those rainboots with the ladybugs on them we got yesterday but she wanted them and she looked so cute in them." She rolled her eyes at herself. "I'm turning into a trophy wife, I'm afraid."

"You are an author, did you forget?" She smiled, her children's books were something she felt very proud of. It all started when Abbey was 1.5 years old, she was a very active child, running all around all the time. The only time they could both sit down was when they read together. Which gave her an idea to write children's books and she added a few of her drawings. Jean saw one lying around the house and took it to her publisher friend, and Anastasia Grey suddenly found her story and drawings come to life. She used a pen name, to avoid getting extra attention but her close circle knew, of course. So far she has published 4 books and they all sold very well. Abbey still liked to read with her mama a lot, it was their favorite thing to do together. Working from home helped her feel not so dependent on Christian but also be there to see her daughter grow up. She loved her life, and she tried to let go of that crippling anxiety that came with motherhood, the tendency to question if she was raising her child correctly at every turn.

She tried to relax. All was well.