Recovery

Chapter 11

No one warned Veronica how fast your first baby's milestones fly by. She feels like she was just born, and now her baby is being baptised. She takes her time dressing Claire, making sure she looks perfect in her little white blessing dress. It's similar to her own from the pictures she's seen, and she looks so much like her Mom, other than her happy smile, which is all Archie.

"Oh, princess, you are just too cute," Veronica lifts the baby into her arms, heading into her room where Archie is freshly showered and starting to get dressed. "Well hello, cute dad alert," Veronica smirks, kissing his cheek. "Look at our little angel."

"Hi, honey," Archie takes the baby, watching her wonder at everything around her. This stage has been so fun for them, seeing Claire start to notice things around her. "We made a cute baby."

"Yes we did, Archiekins," Veronica kisses his cheek. "Now it's Dada's turn to entertain her so I can get dressed myself."

It makes Archie so proud as they step into the church, with coordinating outfits. He carries the empty car seat, but Veronica insists on holding Claire most of the time, keeping her happy. His mom and dad meet them at the church, immediately gushing over their grandbaby. Mary is also excited to see Veronica and her son back together, if nothing else for Claire's sake. Fred insists on taking pictures, so Archie stands closer to Veronica, holding Claire in front of him, and Veronica snuggles into his side and places her left hand on his chest, the diamond ring sparkling. He can't wait to print it off and frame it on his desk, so he can look at it all day and be reminded of what's most important to him in the world.

Claire behaves perfectly throughout the ceremony, and afterwards she's showered with love from her aunts and uncles, and surprisingly to Archie, Veronica's abuelita emerges from one of the back roads to greet them. He's holding the baby, trying to listen in on Veronica's conversation, but he can only manage to decipher Abuelita saying that her parents "wished they could have been there."

He furrows his brow in confusion, but decides he won't interrogate in the middle of their happy day.

They celebrate with close friends and family after the blessing, spending the day sharing stories and basking in the happiness that having a new baby around has brought. Veronica had planned everything out to run smoothly, and it goes mostly according to plan other than a few meltdowns from Claire, which could have been expected. Once Veronica starts to look exhausted, Archie gets the hint and attempts to get the last few guests to leave, including Betty, who Veronica decides to walk down to her car.

When Veronica returns to the empty apartment, she finds Archie gathering up all of the trash and doing a little bit of cleaning up.

"Hey," he smiles, once he sees her step inside. "I finally got her to lay in her crib."

"Oh, good," Veronica walks over to where he's standing, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Today was perfect, you know?"

"It was perfect," Archie wraps his arms around Veronica's waist. "Ronnie, thank you for giving me our daughter. You two are the best things that have ever happened to me."

"You know I feel the same way," Veronica brushes his cheek. He leans in to kiss her and she lets him, smiling the whole time. "I love you, Archie."

"I love you too, so much," Archie smiles. The way things have been going lately, he feels so good and so certain about them. "You made today so perfect for our little girl, and I hope you know I think you're an amazing Mom."

"It wasn't all me," Veronica grins. "You helped, and you're equally responsible for creating our little angel."

"She's an angel, definitely," Archie brushes back Veronica's hair with his fingers. "Like her mom."