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My daughter is beautiful.

She’s got deep blue eyes like mine but thick, dark lashes like Eric’s. She has his nose and chin, too. There’s super fine blonde fuzz on top of her head but I’m sure it’ll all fall out soon. She’s got all of her fingers and toes and the perfect little pout that is guaranteed to get her whatever she wants from her daddy.

Just like Eric said, I’m in love.

Ella’s footprints are taken for her birth certificate, which both Eric and I sign so it can be filed with the county. The pediatrician comes in to examine Ella, and she’s given a good bill of health. Since she’s a big girl they’re not worried about her being able to maintain her body heat. She’s breathing fine on her own and her first feeding goes well. Breastfeeding is more painful than I thought it would be, but I’m going to keep at it until I can’t handle it or until it’s not working for me anymore.

I hand her over to Eric after her feeding and promptly fall asleep. I’m exhausted and feel like I could sleep for a week. When I wake up it’s hours later and Eric is on the phone. I need to go pee, but it hurts to move. Jury’s still out on whether or not it was smart not to have any pain medication. On the bright side I get to go home sooner because of it, and as nice as the suite is, I’d rather be home in my own bed.

“Eric,” I call out. No way am I getting up alone.

He wraps up his conversation and comes over to me.

“Hey baby,” he smiles.

“Hi. How’s our girl?”

I swing my legs over the side of the bed slowly so he knows I want to get up.

“She’s doing good. She’s already talking about quantum theory.”

“Then we’re fucked because she’s smarter than the two of us combined.”

He chuckles and helps me stand up.

“Bathroom?”

“Yes. What I really want is a shower but I don’t know if I can have one yet or not.”

“I’ll get you on the toilet and then get the nurse. I think she said you could, but we should double check.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Eric holds onto me as I stagger to the bathroom. He helps me sit and then leaves to see about a nurse. Peeing hurts along with everything else in that area, but I remind myself it’ll get better in time. The nurse comes in and thankfully there’s a bench for the shower and one of those shower nozzle deals so I don’t have to stand the whole time. The fun part will be getting clean clothes on without bleeding all over them. I didn’t realize there would be so much blood afterward.

I don’t shower quickly, but I do feel considerably cleaner afterward and at least I’m in my own clothes. When I step out of the bathroom, Eric rushes over to help me back into bed.

“I can’t wait to go home,” I tell him.

“Take all the time you need here while we’re surrounded by people who know what to do with a baby,” he says.

“I know, I just like our house better.” Eric pulls my blanket up for me and then sits on the edge of my bed while I braid my hair.

“I’m pretty fond of it too.” he says. “And I can’t wait to get Ella home.”

“You know it’s weird how my stomach feels now,” I tell him. “I’m so used to her being there now.”

“I’m sure it’s strange. Isn’t it awesome to have her out though?”

“You have no idea,” I smile. “I like it much better this way. Are you bummed out that she’s a she?”

“Not at all. I’m just happy you’re both okay. And I think I already want to give her whatever she wants.”

“I’m not at all surprised. Did you see the onesie I packed for her?”

I never showed it to him so unless he already looked in the bag he hasn’t seen it.

“No, I haven’t.”

“You should look at it,” I smile at him. “I bought it with you in mind.”

He goes over to the bag and rummages through it before pulling out the onsie.

“This is adorable,” he smiles. “I love Dad. I’m a dad.”

“Yes, you are.”

“How’d you know to get it in pink lettering?”

“It was all they had,” I shrug.

To be honest, I’ve been a little afraid that all of this will suddenly become too much for Eric and he’ll change his mind about this parenting/boyfriend combo platter he ended up with. I know this isn’t the life he saw himself having and it’s obvious he loves Ella now, but that’s because it’s still fluffy and new. What about when we’re sleep deprived and she’s screaming her pretty little head off? What about when staying home with a sick or teething baby has to take priority over going out with the boys or maybe even taking a role he would normally take?

Eric may love our daughter but he doesn’t love me. That’s the one thing about our relationship that hasn’t changed and it may never.

Ella starts to fuss in her little bassinet so Eric picks her up and cradles her gently. She looks so tiny and safe in his arms and when he looks down at her beautiful face I see what I think is love there. It’s as it should be, and yet I’m jealous.

He doesn’t look at me that way.

My chest aches and I carefully lay down with my back to him so he doesn’t see me crying. I don’t know if it’s me or the hormones, but I can’t make it stop and even thinking of my daughter’s face doesn’t stop the flow.

“Baby girl needs a diaper change,” Eric coos at her.

I wipe off my face and hope my eyes aren’t all red. “I can do it if you want,” I offer in a normal tone of voice.

“It’s okay. Mama needs her rest,” he says, and I can still tell he’s cooing it at the baby.

I stay there on my side and I can hear him cooing at Ella while he changes her diaper, and then as he walks her around the suite talking nonsense to her. My eyes close and eventually, I fall asleep again.

xXx

The next morning Eric comes up to my room early with Ella’s car seat and a gift bag that he hands to me while I’m feeding the baby.

“Let me guess… Russell and Talbot?” I ask. He had to run home to get a change of clothes and one of Ella’s blankets to cover the car seat in case we come across photographers on the way home.

Also, I’d give my right boob for a latte.

“Yup,” he smiles. “They’re super excited she’s a she.”

“Yeah, I know.” I open the gift and immediately swoon at it a little. It’s a cute little jumper sort of thing with flowers all over it and little ruffled shorts.

“Is there a tiara in there too?”

“No, but it’ll happen,” I laugh.

“And how’s our girl doing today?” he asks.

“She’s got your appetite, that’s for sure. She’s good so far.”

Last night while my complimentary doula was showing me how to give Ella a bath I realized she also has Eric’s long arms and legs. She’s definitely her father’s daughter.

“That’s my girl,” he smiles, and takes a seat in the glider that’s pulled up next to the bed.

“She’s lost a little weight, but that’s normal. The pediatrician came in to check her again and he said we can take her home, so we dodged a bullet. I really didn’t want to have to go home without her.”

Ella’s got a little jaundice, but that’s not uncommon either, especially in preemies. We’ll have to bring her in for evaluation in a few days, and they had her in one of those special blankets last night, but her coloring looks better already.

“That’s good,” he nods, and smiles at Ella. “Channing called while I was out.”

“Oh yeah?” I lift Ella up to burp her a little bit before I switch her to my other breast.

“He wanted to congratulate us, and said he would love to meet Ella when we’re back home again.”

“That was nice of him.”

“He didn’t say if Dell saw the picture or not.”

“I’m not worried about it. Honestly, I have too much else going on in my life to worry about whether or not they approve of my choices anymore. It would be nice to get along with them, but it’s not mandatory for me anymore like it used to be.”

“I guess it’s a little harder for me because they were like parents to me,” he says.

“I know,” I nod. Ella lets out a little burp so I let her resume feeding. It takes her a few seconds to latch on, but she’s pretty quick about it when she’s hungry. No doubt she’ll be in a milk coma when she’s done.

I do feel for Eric and seven months ago I understood their disappointment in both of us, even their anger, but it’s different now. Now Mack Rattray is serving a life sentence for what he did and there is a beautiful baby girl in the world that wouldn’t be here otherwise. She’s just barely a day old and already I can’t remember what my life was like without her. They may not approve, but I don’t care anymore. Ella is what matters to me.

“It’ll be better someday,” he says. “Until then, I’m more than happy knowing I have you two.”

“I’m happy to know I’m able to go home when I’m done feeding the little diva. I signed all the paperwork, so we just need to call for a wheelchair to take me downstairs. The nurse said we should fit the straps in the car seat to Ella while we’re up here and then I’ll bring her down while you get the car seat back in the base,” I tell him.

“Okay,” he nods. “You’re really excited to get home.”

“Aren’t you?”

“I am, but I’m also a little nervous.”

“Oh come on, it’s not so bad,” I smile down at Ella. “We feed her, change her, play with her, snuggle her, bathe her every other day… We can handle it.”

“I just don’t want to screw her up. She’s so perfect right now.”

“We’re going to be fine. Mom will be here in a few days and if we’re having trouble the doula here referred me to an agency that can send someone out to help us,” I tell him. I don’t think we’ll need it, but it’s good to know there’s help available if we need it.

“I’m sure we’ll be alright. You’re kind of amazing and all.”

“You did luck out with me.”

“I know it too,” he grins.

Ten minutes later Ella is in her milk coma and Eric fits the straps in the car seat accordingly. Our daughter is a heavy sleeper like her father. I look around the suite to make sure I have everything and Eric takes the car seat down along with the gifts that were delivered to us over the last twenty-four hours. I arrange to have the flowers taken down to the pediatric floor since I don’t need that many flower arrangements at the house.

An orderly comes up to bring Ella and I downstairs and I make sure to note the names of my nurses and doula so I can send them little thank you gifts because I do appreciate all of their help and patience with Eric and me. Before we leave the room I put a blanket over Ella and then we’re on our way down.

The orderly takes me to a back exit of the hospital that’s closed off to public observers and Eric is waiting for me there. I hand Ella over to him, thank the orderly and get in the backseat to ride home beside the baby.

Once we’re on the road I say, “I wonder if we’ll make it home before her next feeding.”

Traffic is a nightmare despite the fact that it’s Sunday morning.

“I hope so,” Eric says. “How’s she doing back there?”

“Sound asleep.”

“And what about you?”

“I’d be happier if there were fewer bumps on the road since everything hurts, but I’ll survive.”

“At least they didn’t have to stitch you up.”

“Yeah I don’t know what higher power was smiling down at me, but I lucked out there.”

“I didn’t even know it was a thing until the nurse told me about it. Seriously, you’re my hero.”

I smile at his reflection in the rear view mirror and say, “Well, just imagine what it would be like to get hit in the testicles with a wrecking ball and you’ll know how I feel.”

“I’d die if that happened.”

“It’s a good thing everything will go back to the way it was before she was born. I’ll forget how painful this is and someday I’ll probably end up having another baby and wonder why I didn’t remember how much it hurt the first time.”

“That’s the way it should be,” he says.

“I’m sure if it wasn’t women would stop after just one.”

“I would hope so.”

I notice on the drive home that Eric leaves extra space between cars and I hope that he isn’t planning on turning into a granny driver just because we have a baby in the car. Driving too slow is probably even worse than speeding. It takes us just over an hour to get home thanks to an accident on the 10. For the first time I can recall there are photographers outside the house and Eric is not happy.

“How the fuck did they know we were coming home today?” I ask him. I haven’t heard fuckall on TV or seen anything on the web about Ella’s arrival, but obviously someone tipped them off.

“I don’t know,” he growls. “But they’re not getting a picture. We’re going straight into the garage.”

“Good. Fuck them,” I say angrily and put a blanket over the car seat anyway. With the kinds of lenses these assholes have who knows that they might be able to see.

Eric opens the garage door and pulls right in with the paparazzi yelling at us from the curb. He parks, turns off the engine and closes the garage door. While I get out of the backseat he lifts Ella’s car seat out for me. He goes in ahead of me but sets the car seat down on top of the washing machine. I lift the blanket off the car seat to peek in on Ella and she’s still passed out. I unstrap her from her seat and pick her up gently. When I walk out of the laundry room I see that Eric has closed all of the curtains toward the front of the house. If any of them decides to try and go around back they’ll end up getting arrested for trespassing.

“You know it never occurred to me that we might need to put up window treatments in the kitchen,” I say as he pulls the curtains in the dining room.

“We shouldn’t have to,” he says.

“No shit,” I agree.

We set up a swing in the living room for Ella so I put her in it so my hands are free while she’s sleeping. My break is over. It’s time to get back to real life… starting with laundry.

EPOV

The first night at home with Ella is… interesting. Exhausting may be a better word actually. She’s up every two hours on the dot to eat. I feel awful that Sookie’s breastfeeding because she is forced to get up too. We bought a breast pump though, and if she decides to keep breastfeeding then she’s planning to pump so that I can get up at night with her. For the time being, we’re keeping Ella in the co-sleeper in our room. It’s a lot easier than having to roll out of bed and stumble to the nursery to get her. Sookie’s sometimes able to stay laying on her side and just lay Ella down on the bed to feed her.

During the day we’re basically at Ella’s beck and call. Mostly, she sleeps. When she’s not sleeping, she’s usually crying because she needs a new diaper, or she’s hungry. It’s by far the hardest job I’ve ever had, but I don’t think twice about doing it. I love Ella with everything in myself, and I know I’ll do anything for her.

She’s absolutely gorgeous too.

On Wednesday, Sookie’s mom arrives, and I’m so happy to see her. I sent a car service for her again so that we wouldn’t have to leave the house. We had to go back to the hospital yesterday for Ella’s jaundice and there were still photographers outside.

“Hey Grandma!” I smile and pull Michelle into a hug when I answer the door.

“That’s Gran to you, buddy,” she says with a laugh. “How are my girls? How are you?”

“I think it’s safe to say we’re all exhausted,” I say. “But at least they’re both still cute while being exhausted.”

“Then it sounds like I got here just in time.”

“Great timing too,” I say as she steps inside. “Ella’s awake. Sookie’s just upstairs changing her.”

“Oh good,” Michelle grins and sets her bag down in the foyer.

“I’ll take you up there,” I smile, and we start walking upstairs. “I’m really proud of the nursery, by the way. Probably more than I should be.”

“You know in a lot of ways it’s probably good we didn’t know Ella was going to be a girl. It left everything wide open for you two.”

“Yeah, and we didn’t feel forced into doing up a princess theme or anything.”

“That’ll come in time.”

“As long as it’s something she chooses. I know I’ll never be able to say no to her. She’s too cute.”

“Until the boys start sniffing around. Corbett said the same thing about Sookie. He thought Jake was a punk when he first turned up,” Michelle says with a smile.

“Any reputation Jake had for being a punk was all me.”

“Are you kidding? Sookie could have brought the Pope home and Corbett would have said he was a punk.”

“That’s why I’m only going to let Ella date rockstars,” Sookie says from the nursery.

We walk into the nursery and Michelle goes straight for Sookie to hug her.

“Ella isn’t dating. Ever.”

“Only drummers,” Sookie says as she hugs her mother. “Preferably one with lots of tattoos and piercings.”

“You’re delusional if you think a boy like that is getting anywhere near our daughter.”

Sookie rolls her eyes at me and then lets go of her mother. “Mom, this is Ella,” she says as she picks Ella up off the changing table. “Ella Grace, this is your Gran.”

Michelle takes the baby from Sookie and immediately both of them are crying.

“You are just the most precious thing in the whole world,” Michelle says to her granddaughter and cuddles her close.

“I feel a lot of estrogen in this room,” I say.

“Get used to it,” Sookie says with a sniffle.

“Should I go make something chocolate?”

“Not yet. Maybe later.”

“I’m going to get started on lunch so you two can talk,” I say.

“We’ll be down in a minute,” Sookie says, and then the two of them are fawning and cooing all over Ella.

I smile and shake my head, then head downstairs. Michelle is only here until Sunday, so I know I’m going to endure a lot of tears and cooing until she has to go.

xXx

“Sookie,” I whisper, and shake her shoulder a little. “Do you smell that?”

“Mmm what?” she whispers. “Is Ella stinky?”

“No, bacon,” I say. “I think your mom should move in with us if she cooks bacon every morning.”

“You woke me up for bacon?” Sookie cracks an eye open.

“Your mother is making breakfast. It’s important,” I reason.

Sookie grunts and rolls over.

“Fine, stay here and be hungry,” I say. “I’m going to go get breakfast.”

“Okay,” she mumbles.

I roll out of bed and use the bathroom before throwing on some acceptable attire for company. I stop at the co-sleeper on the way out of the room to kiss my baby. She really is the most perfect thing.

“Good morning, Michelle,” I say when I get to the kitchen.

“Good morning,” she greets me with a smile and a cup of coffee. “How’d you sleep last night?”

“As well as can be expected with a newborn,” I say. “I am glad that we’re keeping her in our room though.”

“That does make things much easier,” she nods. “I hope you like French toast. It’s always been Sookie’s favorite.”

“I love it,” I smile as I get some juice out of the fridge. “You’re a saint for making breakfast.”

“It’s what I’m here for. Plus, Sookie needs to eat well since she’s still passing everything on to Ella and she’ll be burning through calories like nothing. She’s got a little grazer on her hands.”

“My baby takes after me.”

“That’s what Sookie said.”

“I feel a little bad about that, yet proud at the same time,” I say, and take a seat at the counter.

“It’ll get easier once Ella’s on a schedule and Sookie can’t let her be attached like that all day long or it’ll cause nothing but problems,” Michelle says and hands me a plate. “There’s bacon, sausage links and French toast warming in the oven. I can make eggs if you’d like some of those too.”

“No, that’s okay. I think you’ve made plenty,” I smile. “I really appreciate it. I woke Sookie up to tell her I smelled breakfast but she seemed more interested in sleeping.”

“I can’t blame her. I’ll wait another hour and if she’s not up yet I’ll bring a plate up to her,” Michelle says and then starts to wash up the dirty dishes.

“You don’t have to wash the dishes,” I say. “My maid has been coming every other day to do that.”

“I don’t mind,” she says. “And then Sookie won’t be tempted to do them in her downtime.”

“That’s why I’m having the maid do them. It’s just easier than letting them get piled up and then getting into fights about it. Though Sookie wanted to fight me on that decision anyway.”

“I’m not surprised. She’s not really one to sit back and let someone else do things for her when she’s capable of doing them herself,” Michelle says, and then turns off the sink. She dries her hands and turns to me. “What you did for her with the mortgage was very sweet and I know she’s grateful for it. I just hope you know what a big deal it was for her to let you do that.”

“I do,” I nod. “It was the right thing to do. And she’s determined to pay me back anyway.”

“That’s my girl.”

I get up and fix myself a plate, and Michelle does the same.

“So what are the chances of getting Corbett out here?”

“I’m sure he’ll come out one of these days. He’s just… he’s more comfortable in small towns.”

“I understand that,” I nod, and take a seat at the table. “We do plan to go back for Christmas.”

“That’s what Sookie said. I can go and air out the house for you before you get there if you want,” she offers.

“That’d be great. And my assistant is going to contact someone to go and set up a Christmas tree in the house to surprise Sookie with.”

“Oh she’ll love that!” Michelle grins. “I’ll make sure her decorations are pulled down from the attic. I’ll get Jason to do it.”

“That would be awesome.”

“Just keep me updated and I’ll do what I can to help out.”

Michelle and I are just taking a seat at the table when I can hear Ella’s cries upstairs.

“Does the crying always break your heart?” I ask.

“You know I think it actually gets worse as they get older,” she warns.

“That’s not cool.”

“No, it’s not. Right now it’s the only way she can communicate with you but as she gets older, she’ll cry for reasons. Sometimes to get her way, sometimes because she doesn’t know how else to express herself and then sometimes for much darker reasons that every parent wants to protect their baby from. It’ll never get easier, I’m sorry to say.”

It sucks, but I know she’s right.

“When she was born and the nurses were cleaning her up, all I could think was that my heart was no longer in my chest,” I tell her.

“That’s what it is to be a parent.”

“It’s scary, but exciting.”

“Yes it is.”

A couple minutes later Sookie comes into the kitchen with Ella, and I hold my hands out for her.

“You’re eating,” Sookie says.

“I can hold her in one arm and eat with the other,” I say.

“It’s okay, I got her. Finish eating and then we can trade.”

I pout, but put my arms down and start eating again.

“Oh calm down, we’ve got her until she’s eighteen,” Sookie says, and pours herself some juice.

Ella’s eyes are wide open and she’s looking around at everything. When Sookie sits down next to me at the table, Ella fixes those pretty blue eyes on me.

“Hey pretty girl,” I coo at her. She’s so unbelievably cute.

“Russell and Talbot are going to come by later,” Sookie informs me. “They have more presents. I think we’re going to need to set a cap on them spoiling her.”

“She’s a baby, sweetheart, she doesn’t know any better,” Michelle says. “Let them have their fun now. It’s when she’s two that it’s a problem.”

“Yeah, well, if I’m not careful they’ll buy her a pony,” Sookie says.

“I’ll buy her a pony,” I say, smiling at my little girl.

“No you will not,” Sookie says firmly.

“If she wants one I will,” I say.

“And I will donate it to the first children’s charity that will take it.”

“Oh come on, you don’t want her to have a pony?”

“And just who do you think is going to end up cleaning up after this pony?” Sookie quirks an eyebrow at me.

“I’ll… hire someone.”

She snorts and says, “No.”

“But it’ll make me happy,” I pout.

“Pudding makes you happy too, but I don’t have to clean it up when it shits all over the place,” she argues and Michelle chuckles across the table.

“I told you I’d hire someone,” I say, and take the last bite of my food. “Okay, I’m done. Gimme my baby.”

Sookie gives her a kiss and says, “Be a good girl and throw up on Daddy for me.”

“Don’t listen to Mommy,” I tell her as I cradle her in my arms.

We haven’t gotten her first smile yet, and I’m dying for it.

Sookie gets up to make herself a plate and then stands at the island to eat instead of sitting down at the table with us.

“If you think it’s safe enough I was hoping we could take Ella out for a walk today,” Michelle says. “It’s such a lovely day and the fresh air might do you some good, sweetie.”

“I think maybe we could, but not in this neighborhood,” Sookie answers. “And I can’t walk very far yet. Mostly I just want to go back to bed.”

“If you want, Michelle and I can take her out so you can sleep.”

“No, I’ll go,” Sookie says.

“I’m trying to think of where we can go that we won’t get papped.”

“Montana,” Sookie says.

“I think that’s a bit far to drive for a walk,” I smile.

“What about one of the state parks?” Michelle asks.

“We could do that. There are some where people are pretty respectful about not taking pictures or bothering me.”

“Works for me,” Sookie says, and takes a bite of her French toast.

“Are you sure you’re ready to go out?” I ask her.

“I think so,” she says. “I just need a shower first.”

“Okay.”

Sookie finishes her breakfast and by then it’s time for Ella to eat again so she takes her upstairs to feed her and Michelle goes along with them.

I go ahead and finish cleaning up the dishes, and go get dressed. I just hope everything goes well because if someone gets a picture of my kid without me knowing, I might commit assault.

xXx

Thankfully the walk went off without a hitch. No one bothered us, but we still kept the thin blanket over the stroller the whole time. It sucked, but neither of us wants anyone to see our baby that isn’t meant to.

Michelle has to leave on Sunday, and there are more tears. But we still plan to come home for Christmas so we’ll see her soon enough. In the meantime, we have little miss bossypants to take care of.

I never thought a baby would pretty much rule my life, but she does. When I have to go do some last minute ADR for my movie I actually dread leaving the house. And when I get home, the first thing I do is pick up my baby. It amazes me how much I can miss her. Slowly, it starts to hit me how much I miss Sookie when I have to leave.

It’s always been there, but I’m realizing just what it is. There’s more than just one girl that rules my life. Sookie does too, and has for a while. I find myself just watching her lately. It doesn’t matter what she’s doing, feeding Ella, writing thank you notes for the baby gifts, laughing with Russell and Talbot, sleeping… I simply love to watch her. She’s such an amazing, strong person, and she loves me.

We’ve started putting Ella in her nursery for her naps during the day. It makes more sense than putting her in the co-sleeper, especially since we’re not always napping when she is. Today we are, and I’m in one of those moods where I just want to watch Sookie sleep when I hear my daughter start to cry over the baby monitor. It’s too soon for her to be ready to eat, so I figure it’s just a wet diaper.

Sookie needs to rest, so I get up and walk down the hall to the nursery. Ella is kicking her little legs and flailing her little arms, which aren’t actually that little. She’s going to be a tall one like me. As soon as she sees me she calms down a little and her cries turn to little whimpers.

“Hey baby girl,” I smile down at her, and gently lift her from her crib.

I take her to the changing table and sure enough, she has a wet diaper.

“Nobody likes a wet tushie,” I say, and try tickling the insides of her thighs. She just gives me a strange look. Still no smiles.

It doesn’t take me long to get a fresh diaper on her, and then I sit with her in the rocking chair so I can get her back to sleep. As I’m sitting with her I start to talk to her. Sookie and I agree that baby talk gets a baby nowhere, so we talk to Ella like she’s an adult, and we try to talk around her a lot. Her brain is like a sponge.

“You’re going to grow up to be so gorgeous like your mama,” I tell her. “I think you’re the best thing I’ve ever done, even if I didn’t know I was doing it at the time.”

Ella stares up at me with her big blue eyes like she’s soaking in every word.

“If I tell you something, do you think you can keep it between us?” I ask her. “I’m in love with your mommy, and she doesn’t know it.”

I’m surprised how good it feels to say out loud what I’m pretty sure I’ve been feeling for quite a while now.

“I want to tell her, but I’m not sure how. I think maybe I should just blurt it out, but something tells me she’ll have a hard time believing it. Your mother is a stubborn woman, Ella. You’ll learn this in your teen years when you’re equally as stubborn. And don’t slam your door, because I’m pretty sure your mama wouldn’t hesitate to take it right out of the frame,” I laugh. “So what do you think? Got any advice on how I should tell her? Of course you don’t, you’re a baby. Maybe I’ll get her some flowers? No, that’s too typical. I could take her out, but that would mean leaving you home and I don’t want to do that yet. She’d be mad at me for buying her anything expensive when I can just tell her the words.

“I guess that’s the answer, isn’t it? I should just tell her I love her,” I say, and Ella lets out a little cooing noise. “You’re right, gorgeous. I’ll tell her soon.”

I lean down and kiss her little cheek, and soon enough she’s back to sleep.

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