Authors note: I had majors writers block and didn't finish this story for years, but finally, it is completed and I'm quite proud of it. Please review and absolutely no flames!
"Come on, sweetie, you can do it," Ivy urged her daughter. Both she and Dave were standing by Penelope's bedside. Dave was wiping his wife's forehead while holding her hand. Penelope was about to give birth to their third child.
Penelope had decided that she wanted to give birth to her children in the bed she shared with Dave. Dave of course, hadn't disagreed, but had a doctor standing by, just in case. At home births were quite common nowadays, so it wasn't at all unusual to have children at home. Hospitals were really expensive not that it mattered to him, but still he could understand Penny's point of view. While Penny wasn't going to die in childbirth that didn't mean that things couldn't happen, which is why he had a doctor standing by just in case.
Ivy and Juan, Penelope's parents had been visiting probably in the hope that the child would be born before they had to leave. Ivy especially had been looking forward to it, as she adored her other two grandchildren, a girl and a boy.
Emily and Aaron had had the exact opposite a girl and then two boys.
Penelope pushed as hard as she could and suddenly there was the cry of a baby.
"Oh, she's just lovely," Ivy said, as she picked up her blood covered granddaughter. "Would you cut the umbilical cord?"
Dave, who Ivy had been speaking to, nodded and took the pair of surgical scissors he was handed.
He had done this twice before. Dave cut the umbilical cord expertly.
"Now you need to expel the placenta," Ivy told her daughter.
"I know," Penelope said tiredly.
"You can do it sweetie and then you can sleep like I know you want to," Dave told her gently wiping her damp forehead with a towel once more.
Ivy watched this smiling, as she saw the look of adoration on Dave's face. It was clear even after over 6 years that Dave still adored her daughter, which was a good thing Ivy knew. Her daughter and Dave were still very much in love and that was the way it should be.
Penelope pushed as hard as she could and finally the placenta was expelled.
"Good," Ivy said. "You can sleep now, though before I do are you going to tell me what you named this cutie pie?"
"Of course," Dave chuckled and Penelope grinned tiredly. "We already knew we were having a girl, so we discussed names months ago."
"We decided on Ivory," Penelope said.
"It was as close as we could get to your name, without using the same one," Dave explained his and Penelope's reasoning.
"We wanted to name one of our children after you," Penelope said. "Our first girl we named after Dave's mother Rebecca."
"But Rebecca has many nicknames, while Ivy does not," Dave said.
"I'm honored," Ivy said grinning, kissing Dave on the cheek. "It's nice to know you respect me enough to name your second girl after me."
"I love you mom and Dave loves you too," Penelope told her with a tired smile her brown eyes twinkling happily.
"Yes, I do. I love you just as much as I love my own mother," Dave told her, kissing her cheek in return.
"That's quite a compliment," Ivy said smiling.
"Hey! It's always nice to get along with your in-laws," Dave joked tiredly and Ivy smiled at him.
"Yes, it is," Ivy agreed with a wink.
"Now, you sleep honey. You certainly deserve to, as long as you like. I'm going to go clean this little one up and then introduce her to the rest of the family," Ivy suggested gently to her daughter.
Penelope closed her eyes without protest and Dave kissed her on the forehead.
"You need any help?" Dave asked Ivy quietly so as not to disturb his wife.
"No, I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes," Ivy promised just as quietly. "I'm just going to clean her up and then hold to Penelope's breast so she can have her first meal. I'll probably be about half an hour."
"I'll go tell the others that you'll be down soon," Dave told Ivy giving her gentle hug. "I'm glad you were here to witness the birth of your granddaughter."
"So am I," Ivy grinned at him. "So is this going to be the last or are you going to have anymore?"
"Well, we had a whole new section of the house built, so we could have some more," Dave said. "Emily only needs to have one more child to get her inheritance, though I think she and Aaron are planning on having at least one more after that."
"Well you've had them close together," Ivy said and Dave nodded.
"I know you're trying to say and that is it can be dangerous, to have them so close together, but believe me, we listen to the doctor's advice. Penny wants to have as many children as possible before she gets too old and I certainly have no objection to that so long as it doesn't put her life in danger."
Dave didn't bother to tell Ivy that Penelope would not die in childbirth, because she was now immortal just like he was. He could understand the mother's concern about having too many pregnancies too close to each other since she wasn't in on the big secret.
Ivy was nodding at this and relaxed. She should've known that they would listen to the doctor's advice. If the doctor told them not to get pregnant again then she knew Dave would enforce that rule, no matter what her daughter wanted. Penelope was usually sensible though and would likely listen to sound medical advice, so she probably didn't need to worry.
"I'll be downstairs if you need me," Dave told her quietly. "I'll tell Juan, that he has a beautiful granddaughter."
"I'll see you downstairs," Ivy agreed taking the baby into the attached bathroom, while Dave headed downstairs where everybody was waiting.
~~~The Immortals and the Businessman 3~~~
"Congratulations granddad, you have a lovely granddaughter," Dave told Juan who grinned.
"When can I see her?" Juan asked with an excited gleam in his eyes.
"Your wife is giving her her first bath and then will feed her, at Penny breast while she's asleep. After that, she'll bring her down. It probably won't be more than half an hour or so."
"How's Penny?" Emily asked, as she held her newborn son, that was only about a month older.
"She's fine, just exhausted," Dave reported. "You know how it is when you've just given birth considering you've had three of your own."
"Oh, yeah, I sleep like the dead," Emily agreed smiling.
"You have every right to, because I know giving birth is hard work," Aaron said.
"Still, it's more than worth it," Emily said, as she kissed her son on the forehead.
"Yes, it is," Aaron grinned.
He was finally having the family he'd wanted for a long time ever since his first one had died from an incurable disease many centuries ago. Thanks to him being immortal that meant his children would be immortal to and that they weren't going to die by ordinary means, especially not something like influenza, which was now curable.
"You only have one more child to go before you can claim your inheritance," Dave added.
"What's this about an inheritance?" Juan asked.
"I have to have at least four children to get my inheritance," Emily explained. "It's written into the family statutes. My family is originally from England hundreds of years ago, and having at least four children was written into the statutes by one of the first lords of the family. It was back when children died from so many diseases that had no cures at the time. One of the lords, sometime in the ninth century I believe, added that to the family statutes. I'm not sure why, but I suspect that at least one of his children died for whatever reason. Maybe even most of them."
"And it's still valid?" Juan asked and Emily nodded.
"According to our family lawyer yes, it is," Emily agreed grimacing. "It's not even that I mind having children, it's being forced to have a certain number that annoys me."
"Well, if I was female and I was forced to have a certain number of children it would annoy me too," Juan admitted.
"Don't get me wrong, I love children and I wouldn't mind having many more than four, I just think the family statues is ridiculous and it's not even really about the money, but the principle of the thing. Aaron has plenty of money, so it's not that at all," Emily said.
"It has to do with your childhood," Juan suggested shrewdly.
"Yes," Emily admitted. "While mother and me are getting along better these days we'll never be close. You know some about my childhood, so you know at least a little what it was like. She ruined any chance of being close to any of her children by not treating us as human beings and more like an object. Even if I had objected as a child, she wouldn't have listened."
"Yes, I do," Juan admitted. "Neither of your parents paid you or your brothers the attention you deserved."
"No, they didn't," Aaron snorted, his opinion clear. "I don't voice my opinion in front of Elizabeth Prentiss, but I made it clear, that I think the way she treated her children was deplorable."
"I remember one instance when I was just seven years old," Emily recounted her eyes misty with the memory. "I asked mother to have a friend over and her reaction is stuck in my memory, even after all these years. Let little hooligans lose in my house! Not in this lifetime! She was so harsh and critical that I never dared to ask her to have a friend over again. I also didn't dare ask to spend the night over the other girl's house either. Mother didn't even think about arranging some outings, inviting some of my girlfriends from school along. She reacted like they would deliberately destroy the furniture. Like they were animals, instead of children, ones with claws and fangs that would shred the cushions or the linens. Like she couldn't have afforded to replace them if she'd had too."
Emily's following snort was full of derision and contempt.
"So you would never even allowed to have a friend over," Juan winced.
"No, I wasn't and neither were my brothers. The difference though is, they had each other, while I'm the only girl. Our every breath was regulated, every outing was hardly any fun at all, just educational. It had been ordered that we weren't allowed to go outside without supervision. It was as if mother feared we would ruin our clothes, but there was certainly enough money in the coffers to replace them if necessary. It was like we were in prison instead of being children. Sure, we were fed and given everything moneywise we needed, but that's as far as it went."
"I now understand why you aren't close to your mother," Juan said sympathetically. "I knew you hadn't exactly had a happy childhood, but I didn't realize it was so bad."
"It was just boring a lot of times, especially with no friends to play with, outside of school. Sure there was a TV in the family room and we watched it a lot, because there was nothing else to do," Emily shrugged, "However, it's one reason that Aaron and I as well as the Rossis decided that moving away from New York was the thing to do. Mom tried to get my oldest brother to convince me to stay in New York, but Theo and I are close and he knew there was no way he could, so he didn't bother to try really. Not that he told mother that."
"I don't blame him," Juan said pensively.
"In fact, I heard that he gave mother a lecture, reminding her of everything she had done to me as a child," Emily grinned. "Even birthdays weren't very fun, because not even once did either of our parents wish us a happy birthday and I know very well that the present we got when it was our turn was bought by her secretary and not her personally."
"How do you know know?" Juan asked.
"Because neither one of our parents ever spent anytime with us. They never read us bedtime stories and ordered the nanny not to read us any either. We were just expected the go to sleep, as if an order would make us sleepy, no bedtime story, no glass of warm milk, no nothing. They never even shared dinner with us. We just ate what was put in front of us and went where we were ordered. Not once was there time for mischief or fun. I always got a dress with lots of lace and ruffles, every time. No books, no toys, nothing that would really interest me or would be fun for me at whatever age I happened to be. If there's one thing I discovered is that even though we were allowed access to the TV that got rather boring after awhile if that was all we were allowed to do. Sure we all had our favorite shows, but that only took an hour out of the day maybe two hours, which left a lot of the day with nothing to do."
"You birthday presents is one reasons you hate dresses with lots of lace and ruffles now," Aaron said and Emily nodded empathically.
"Absolutely," Emily agreed empathically. "Our mother showed about as much interest in us as in a dust bunny. She had us, so that my father Alan Prentiss could get his inheritance and for no other reason."
"Some parents are busy making a living," Juan suggested.
"I don't believe that in my parents case for a minute," Emily said shaking her head. "My parents had plenty to live on as their families made sure of that until they had the required four children. From the way I understand it my mother's father gave the Prentisses a large dowry. It was certainly enough to live on back so long ago. Besides, other busy parents make time for their children, so that excuse doesn't wash. No, neither one of them was interested in spending any time with us or they would have done so."
"Personally, I would've gotten a divorce the minute that your grandfather was dead," Dave suggested.
"So would I," Emily agreed. "It seems the sensible thing to do. I'm glad that grandfather was dead before I was born, as we would've been at constant loggerheads. It's clear to me he had no respect for females, since he forced my mother into marrying Alan Prentiss."
"So their marriage was arranged then," Juan said and Emily nodded. "That does make a difference in a marriage."
"Yes, it does," Aaron agreed. "Arranged marriages are very often unhappy and that often extends to the children as such arrangements mean that they don't pay attention to their kids. Look at what happened with Emily's parents after all."
"My father was never home and I know he did so. It was so he could avoid my mother as much as possible. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he had a mistress or even several over the years. I'm actually surprised, they managed to produce four children."
"In doing so though, I bet you, he had also didn't have much contact with his children," Juan said.
"No, he didn't, as I hardly ever saw him and neither did my brothers. I saw him at political parties and that's about it really. Parties I was forced to go to," Emily said with a grimace. "I would've appreciated being left at home with the servants. What really bugs me though, other then being forced to go to all those parties when I was growing up, was mother couldn't even let me choose my own clothes, as she did it for me. I'm sure she feared I would choose something inappropriate, but she didn't even bother to ask my opinion. She steamrolled over all your objections or opinions until you just did things her way so that you could get the torture over with."
"It sounds like she didn't want a daughter with her own personality but a carbon copy of herself," Juan said.
"She did," Emily snorted in contempt. "She's lucky I let her have any contact with her grandchildren. I moved so far away in the first place to get away from her influence. I wouldn't want my children negatively impacted because of mother's attitude. She can be miserable all she wants to, but why give her an audience or a chance to try to turn her grandchildren into what she became, because of her father's attitude.
"She's a lot like grandfather from what I understand, cold, hard, domineering. I bet you, it never even occurred to her just throw out all she learned from him. It probably never even occurred to her that overreacting, just because I asked to have a friend over was not the thing to do, especially not in front of her seven year old daughter. I bet you she never even considered my feelings or my brothers feelings. She was just following the same old very well trodden path, likely never thinking that the way she reacted was wrong."
"So Penny has said," Juan agreed.
"She would know," Emily said. "I've always envied her close relationship with her family."
"You are close to most to your family, just not your mother," Aaron reminded her and Emily nodded.
"That's true and my brothers have been up to visit, several times," Emily said.
"So they approve of Aaron then," Juan said and Emily nodded.
"Yes, they do, because it's clear that he loves me and that he makes me happy. That's all my brothers ever wanted for me. I would've been miserable if I had agreed to that arranged marriage that mother wanted to push on me and I know it. Since I'd already had a miserable childhood I wasn't about to agree with my mother's suggestion, though really it was more of a demand," Emily said grimacing as she remembered.
"So long as I am happy than my brothers won't have any problems with Aaron. Besides, why would I want to do what my mother wanted? She certainly didn't care if I or my brothers were miserable when we were children, so why should any of us do anything she wanted of us? She's damn lucky I didn't run away from home or even commit suicide, because my childhood was so miserable, lonely and boring. If I hadn't had my brothers I might've done just that and I wonder what my mother would have felt if that had happened. I bet, she wouldn't have shed a tear or shown any signs of grief."
"That's because your brothers care about your happiness sweetie," Aaron told her. "Certainly more than your mother seems to at any rate. As for committing suicide, I'm certainly glad you didn't take that option."
"I think both Penny and I can agree with that opinion," Dave said. "I never would've met or known Penny if you had done what you suggested and committed suicide and that would've been tragic."
"Something I definitely agree with," Aaron said, as he put an arm around Emily shoulders and held her close.
"We take the children to New York about once a month," Emily told Juan. "Not only do I get to see my brothers, mother gets to see her grandchildren for a few hours."
"We always stay for a few days, though we stay in a hotel," Aaron said.
"We actually spend more time with my brothers, who get to see their niece and nephews," Emily said.
"Well, that's something anyway," Juan decided. "I can't blame you for your rather rocky relationship with your mother. Some parents just don't realize the damage they do to their children by basically ignoring them."
"No, they don't," Dave said, gravely. "Having every advantage monetarily is no substitute for a parent's love for their child. Me and my siblings might not have had much moneywise, toys and such, but the parents loved us and spent plenty of time with us. Believe me, that made a difference in how all of us turned out."
"Let's not worry about that now this is supposed to be a happy occasion," Aaron said and Dave nodded.
"Yes, Ivy should be down any minute now," Dave agreed.
"So you never did tell me what you named my new granddaughter," Juan said.
"I guess, I forgot," Dave admitted looking abashed. "We named her Ivory, in honor of your wife. It was the closest we could come to Ivy. Our firstborn daughter was named after my mother, but there are plenty of nicknames for Rebecca, that's not true for Ivy though."
"Well, I'm very pleased," Juan said, smiling.
"So was Ivy," Dave grinned. "It was Penny's suggestion, but I certainly didn't mind."
Ivy came down the stairs just then holding her granddaughter gently, in the crook of her arm.
"Everyone I'd like to present Ivory Rossi," Ivy said holding up a small bundle in a pink blanket. Juan walked over and leaned down to peer at the sleeping form of his granddaughter.
"She's just a cutie," Juan pronounced stroking the baby's cheek gently. The little girl opened her cloudy blue eyes and blinked sleepily at Juan then promptly closed her eyes again, going back to sleep.
Emily came over to join him and looked down at the small bundle.
"Well, it looks like she's already getting the start of Penny's blonde hair," Emily said smiling. "Even if it's just fluff at the moment."
"She might even end up having her grandmother's blue eyes," Dave said. "If she does that's going be rather unusual, since both Penny and I have brown eyes, but still possible."
"We'll see," Ivy said. "The blue right now, but that's true for all babies of Caucasian descent. They'll probably change within the next year."
"It's not really important, both Penny and I will adore her no matter what. She could have a wart on the end of her nose and we would still adore her," Dave admitted, as he took his lovely daughter from Ivy's arms and cuddled her gently.
"Welcome to the family little one," Dave said gently kissing his new daughter on her forehead.
"That's the way it should be, son," Juan said, as he watched how Dave gently held his new daughter.
It was clear that Dave had already fallen in love with the newest member of his family and that was definitely the way it should be.
"Now, say hello to your Aunt Emily, sweetie," Dave said, placing the baby into Emily's arms. Emily had put her son in a cradle that was on one side of the room.
"Hello little one," Emily told the little girl smiling. "You and I are going to have a lot of fun together sweetie. My own daughter has been asking for another playmate, preferably another girl."
"So has Becca," Dave said grinning. "Apparently, having one other girl to play with isn't enough for them. She was ecstatic to learn that her mother was having a girl and kept asking when she was going to be here."
"All children are like that," Ivy told Dave who nodded.
"I know, I have plenty of nieces and nephews and I've spent enough time around them to know what children are like at that age, even if I know every child is an individual," Dave said.
"Sweetie, this is your Uncle Aaron," Emily finally introduced Ivory to her husband.
"Welcome to the family little one," Aaron said smiling kissing Ivory's forehead. "You have no idea how much you will be loved and adored by the adults around you. You certainly won't grow up like I did or like Emily did."
"No, she won't," Emily said empathically. "Her parents will adore her and so will her grandparents and her aunt and uncle."
"We're expecting a visit from my parents in a week or so," Dave explained to Ivy and Juan. "I think my mother was hoping to get here before Penny gave birth, but it just didn't work out that way this time. I admit she's a bit early, but not too much, just a couple of weeks."
"That happens sometimes," Ivy told Juan who nodded. "The doctor might have estimated the due date wrong, as it's based on when a woman has their last menstrual and some women just can't remember or are a little off in their estimate. Two weeks isn't too bad actually and is still considered full term."
"I'll go place this little one in her crib, so she can sleep more comfortably," Dave said, taking the baby from Aaron's arms.
"That's probably a good idea," Emily said.
"You'll get plenty of time with her once she wakes up from her nap," Dave told Ivy who nodded reluctantly. "Come along sweetie, it's time to put you to bed."
Dave headed for the stairs and then headed for the nursery. As soon as a child started climbing out of their crib, a bed was bought for them and they were given a room of their own. The new section had been built that was big enough for several guestrooms and it was also where the children's rooms were located. He and Aaron had had another 10 bedrooms put in, as that was supposed to be more than would be needed. Dave doubted they'd have enough children to fill them all, but it was nice to have them as guestrooms, so that their parents or siblings could stay with them for awhile.
"Well, Dave's as happy, as ever seen him," Aaron said amused.
"He has a right to be," Ivy scolded Aaron gently.
"I never said he didn't, but you must remember, we've known each other for a long time," Aaron explained. "I've been happier in the last six, nearly seven years then I was before that and the same can be said of Dave."
"It's probably time that you and I take on newest addition up to visit the family," Emily mentioned.
"It probably is," Aaron agreed smiling. "I'm sure your brothers are anxious to meet the newest addition. Of course, they know they're always welcome to visit us."
"They probably will if we don't take our brood to visit them soon," Emily said smiling.
"Hey! At least you'll get to see your nieces and nephews," Aaron pointed out.
"That's true," Emily agreed smiling. "It's probably time to go tell the nanny that Penelope has given birth. I'm sure Becca will be very excited."
"She'll probably want to play with Ivory though and she's just too small for that right now," Juan said.
"Babies are delicate and they're not that hard to kill, even on accident," Ivy added.
"We know. We're always careful to monitor our children's contact with any infant in the house. We know they won't mean any harm, but they could do something that could hurt someone so small, because they don't realize that what they're doing could do them harm," Emily promised.
Ivy definitely approved of that. It was good to be cautious until children realized that they could harm their brothers and sisters, who were so much smaller than them. Little kids weren't known for being careful with delicate objects and infants definitely fell into that category.
"Our daughter seems to have a knack with babies and adores her younger brother and now her baby brother."
"Well, this just means that she'll be a good mother once she's old enough to have children of her own," Ivy said.
"Yes, it does, but where that knack came from I have no idea. It certainly doesn't come from my mother or myself."
"I think you're underestimating yourself," Aaron told his wife. "You have a knack with them whether or not you realize it. Just because your mother is a hard, uncompromising woman, doesn't mean that, you could not be born being good with children. You have compassion for one thing and that helps. You listen to your children's worries and spend time with them, something your mother failed to do. You learned from your childhood experiences what not to do."
"Sometimes woman that come from such childhood turn out to be excellent mothers, as they learn what not to do, from their parents example," Ivy said. "This is something and I'm very familiar with. I've helped women in the past realize that they could be excellent mothers to their children, ones that have similar past to your own. Just having patience to answer their questions instead of always losing your temper or being impatient will let a child know that you love them."
"Yes, I see that," Emily finally agreed. "So many people treat children as if they're a inconvenience, like my mother, I don't know why they bother to have them at all. Well, I suppose in my parents case, it's obvious why they had them, as turning down the millions of dollars would have been all, but impossible for most people, even if they were already individually wealthy."
"It doesn't matter so long as we don't treat our children like that," Aaron said.
Dave came back downstairs then carrying a baby monitor that he placed near where he was sitting, so he could hear when Ivory woke up.
"Isn't technology a wonderful thing?" Dave asked no one in particular.
"Yes, the one I used wasn't as fancy as they make them now as technology has improved over the decades since Penny and her brother were babies," Ivy admitted.
All of them chatted for awhile before the Garcias headed to the guestroom to rest up, from their trip as they were still jetlagged.
~~~The Immortals and the Businessman 3~~~
