The Best Summer Job Ever Ch. 05

"She's so beautiful," I said kissing her gently again. "I know I promised I'd never love another woman again or find one as beautiful as you, but I hope you're not mad if there's a tie now."

"There's no tie," she said with an adoring smile for the baby and then me. "She's much more beautiful than me."

"I love you Ellie. More than ever before I love you both," I said hugging and kissing her while taking great care not to hurt our baby.

They took our daughter away from us to be weighted and cleaned up. Neither of us wanted to let her go but it was only for few minutes. I knew I was supposed to go tell everyone the good news but I couldn't leave my two special girls even for a moment. Rita brought Penelope back to us and laid her at Ellen's breast. I knew from the books that it was good for the mother to try nursing the baby as soon as possible and that it could take a while, but I still worried when the baby didn't take to it right away. She soon fell asleep in Ellen's arms but Ellen didn't want to let her go. Giving birth had been draining on her though and soon she was yawning. She motioned for me to take the baby from her and I felt my heart flutter. Cradling her in my arms I was petrified that I'd hurt her if I held her too hard and might drop her if my grip was too loose. Ellen's tired, but assuring smile told me that I was doing fine and allowed me to relax and enjoy the feeling of our precious little girl in my arms.

When Ellen fell asleep I sat there holding our sleeping baby knowing I had to go tell everyone who was waiting that she was here. I didn't want to put her down. Ellen had them place a bed for the baby right in our room so we wouldn't need to be separated at all. Rising from my chair, I set her down in the crib and kissed her waiting to see if she might wake up before rushing away to spread the good news.

I announced that we had a little girl and was swarmed by people wanting to congratulate me. Everyone wanted to know how baby and mother were doing and I told them they were both sleeping. When they asked I told them we were naming her Penelope and everyone agreed that it was a beautiful name. They all wanted to see her so I allowed them to come for a look two at a time, starting with my parents, as long as they promised to be quiet. When I got back to the room they were still sleeping. I watched with a wide smile as my mother looked down at her granddaughter and reached down to touch her as my father stood at her side looking like he was ready to cry. After everyone has seen the baby they left the hospital with plans to come by our house tomorrow to welcome us home.

Ellen was released from hospital the next day as expected and we took our baby home. Everything in my life was perfect now. I had an incredible wife I was madly in love with and now we had a beautiful baby girl to share our lives. The baby slept in a crib in our room for the first few weeks and we adjusted to life with an infant. Ellen had all but given up her work with the business since the baby came home and refused to take any calls related to work unless I or another family member was there to look after Penelope in her stead. For a long time I'd been unsure of how to live with Ellen's remarkable wealth, but now that it allowed us to devote as much time as we wanted to our little girl I finally accepted it for the incredible blessing it was. I knew that any parent who faced coming home from work to find out they had missed their child's first steps or words would envy me.

There are so many things to look forward to now. Ellen talks about piano lessons and has already decided to build a dance studio at the house so she can start teaching Penelope as soon as she's ready which is all fine with me. I've picked out a nice flat place to turn into a mini soccer pitch for daddy's little girl. I played midfield throughout high school and college but I'll teach her to be a striker so she can play up front where all the goals and glory lie. Maybe she'll hate piano, dancing, and soccer but we'll be fine with that too. We're going to love her forever no matter what and she can do anything her heart desires. One of our favorite things to do is to take our daughter on our walks through the garden that brought us together. We're certain she'll love the garden as much as we do and planted a new stand of trees shortly after she was born to make her own special place in our little piece of paradise.

***

The end at last. I had a lot of fun writing this story and hope anyone who kept reading to the end enjoyed it too. The one part of this final chapter I wasn't happy with was skimming over their honeymoon so quickly. It was already getting long at that point and the honeymoon could have been it's own lengthy installment. Maybe someday I can go back and write that story but for now there are a handful of ideas I've been putting off for a long time as I worked on this story.

I didn't plan on five long chapters, just a simple story based on a fantasy I've been refining for years inside my head. I started with the idea of a torrid summer fling where the young guy became attached and had his heart broken by his older lover who was afraid to love him back. If you read just the first four chapters it still tells that story. Originally, Ellen was going to talk about her inability to have a child with Dan in her goodbye letter at the end of part four. After deciding to write one last chapter with a happy ending I changed the letter to hint at that problem while centering it around her fear of losing him in the future. It made her reasons for sending him away seem a little weaker, but allowed the final chapter without revealing one of the keys to the plot.

I was worried about writing things like a cancer scare for Ellen and the miscarriages into the story. I hope no one who has experienced those horrors in their life was put off by me using them to add drama. Writers use plots like that all the time, but using them in what is essentially pornography left me with some real anxiety. All I can say it that I've seen family members suffer through it and in no way meant to cheapen their pain or the pain of my readers by including them in this story. I'm always a little nervous when I post a story that it won't be well received so the mostly positive response to this series has been overwhelming.

Finally, I'd like to extend a sincere thank you to anyone who took the time to post a comment. The votes are nice but your kind words are far more rewarding.