Meet Me Halfway

Chapter 28

Charles' cries wake Alice up, conveniently at 1am on the dot, something she had been dreading since she brought him home. She valued her sleep and it hadn't quite hit her just how much of it she was about to give up.

She yawns as she rises from her mattress and swings her weakened legs over the bed and slowly strolls over to the crib, still aching from labour and her stitches.

Peering into the crib with her tired squinting eyes, she found Charles crying his little lungs out and flailing his little arms about. She couldn't help but think about how peaceful he looked when she put him down in the first place.

"What's all that crying for baby?" She cooed was she delicately picked him up out of the crib and placed him over her shoulder.

"Shh, shh." She whispered as she rubbed the newborn infants back, knowing he was most likely hungry but wanting to settle him down first. "You're gonna wake Grandpa, and he's real grumpy when he hasn't had his sleep. Him and your Mommy have that in common, but I'll never get grumpy with you."

Hearing him finally calm down a little, Alice slowly settled him into a new position, taking him from over her shoulder and cradling him in her arms.

It amazed her how her heart still fluttered at the sight of him. It was a powerful and overwhelming sense of pretentious and love that felt exactly how many mothers had described to her throughout her pregnancy, she finally understood all of their sappy sounding ramblings relating to what it feels like to be a mother because the very sight of Charles comfortably rested into her arms made her heart melt, and his tiny movements and squinting face brought a tear to her eye.

•••

The sound of the Smith households doorbell ringing interrupted the somewhat peaceful atmosphere as Alice and her father sat down in their cluttered living room drowning in baby items.

"I'll get it." Alice said slowly rising from the couch with Charles adjusted into her chest, wincing in pain as she walked to the front door. Her stitching made it a little more difficult than usual but it was something she'd have to deal with for now.

She shushed Charles as he began to fuss and slowly reached for the door handle, pulling it wide open to find a rather excited looking FP on the other side. He came bearing a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a small blue teddy bear in the other.

"Hey!" Alice greeted with widened but polite and welcoming eyes. She knew he would pop around some time today but she wasn't expecting him this early. She stepped aside for him to casually enter.

"Hi. I know it's kinda early, I just wanted to check in, see how you were holding up." He confirmed as he turned to her. He averted his gaze towards Roger over in the corner before giving him a warm wave. "Morning Mr Smith."

"You know what son?" Roger prompted with a smirk as he rose from his armchair and began to approach the young man. "We're practically family now, you can call me Roger."

FP pulls a tight smile before nodding slowly in slight discomfort. "Right, Roger." He never thought he'd be on a first name basis with Alice's father. He always saw Roger as the grumpy old no nonsense blue collar father of the girl next door who saw him as trouble and didn't want him anywhere near his little girl, and for years FP settled with that, so having Roger refer to him as family was a overwhelming but huge step.

"Are these for me?" Alice interrupts gesturing towards the flowers, sensing the awkward tension between the two immediately and wanting it to simmer down by any means.

"Yeah, they are." FP responds, darting his attention down at the lavender iris flowers. Making the decision at the florist wasn't easy as he hoped but he wanted to pick the perfect set for her. Peonies definitely weren't an option as he recalled her mentioning being allergic to them, so despite how pretty they were, he had to go a different route.