Emma

She's home

So I wrote this story for rabbit_thorne, and it's going to be just a quick detailing of a good life.  Starting from the very beginning.

It was a slow drive home for Carter; the headlights barely shined a few feet in front of the car . . . but it was just enough to see the road and oncoming traffic through the streets.  Nestled in the arms of a very joyful woman was a little girl.  Not a girl who had grown enough to be tormented with having pigtail braids and bad clothing choices from her parents . . . not yet anyway.  Not a girl who had grown up enough to drive the car herself . . . once again, that was much too far away.  But it was a little girl with sleepy eyes shut tight.  

Marie thought to herself, How could something be so small?  How could this little thing grow up to be her size at least.  She then thought, Well I was that tiny once and look how tall I am.  She stopped to think about it for a second while wrapping the pink blanket loosely around her newborn daughter.

When she held that baby for the first time, it was like a new door had opened, and when she walked through it, she made a vow that she'd protect this beautiful baby girl for as long as she lived.  She was such a joy to her father though.  

Carter remembered laying eyes upon his baby girl and thinking to himself, We're a family now, me, the beautiful woman in the bed, and my baby girl, he thought more, when he reached out to hold her hand for the first time, she wrapped her entire hand around his finger.  She cried for a little while, until the doctor handed her to Marie.  And while she was carrying on like newborns do, Carter thought about all the great things the future would hold.  

Six months earlier, he started preparing for a baby boy to enter their lives.  Someone he'd play catch with in the future, someone he'd sign up for sports and talk about fixing cars with.  He thought about attending little league games with his son and watching his son walk out of an all-stars team holding a first place trophy.

He argued with Marie for awhile on whether the baby was a boy or not, and now he'd been proven wrong, but he didn't mind.  It was a healthy, beautiful, and darling baby girl.  The trouble was naming her.  They hadn't agreed on anything for girls names - in the nine months they had to agree on anything for this baby they'd chosen one boys name, and continuously went back and forth on the subject of a girls name.

They'd bicker about whether the name was original, or whether they had prior relatives with the same/similar name, and they constantly tried to avoid names that belonged to sour high school classmates in the past.

After careful consideration, they decided to choose the name, something they'd remember - Emma.  It was a name that held simple beauty, a name that perfectly fit someone of their family.  At the hospital, they were rushed to chose a name, and after an hour, little baby Emma left with them and came home. 

The car rolled into the driveway and Carter set up his umbrella, asking Marie to wait until he opened the door to move anywhere.  In this rain he was so worried the baby would catch a cold.  There was a very loud pounding on the umbrella as they walked to the door.  They huddled close together to keep from getting out from under it.  The rain was so loud it seemed to break the sound barrier for a minute, and Emma was showing her disdain for it in the form of funny faces.

"Don't cry, please don't cry," Carter whispered, trying to coax the baby into being calmer.  "It's just the rain.  You don't like the rain do you?"  He thought to himself, I must be an idiot, because I can hear myself talk and I'm doing the worst baby voice I could possibly do.  Does she think I'm mocking her?  I hope not.  He put his hand on the door and watched Marie carry Emma inside with a smile on her face.

He thought to himself, this is it, my life is all set.  I have the perfect wife, the perfect daughter, and the perfect home.  We'll always be here for each other, we'll be a family.  All his life, he wanted a complete family.  He wanted to sit at the table with his mother and father, and he wanted to have lively, normal, and meaningful conversations with every member of his family.  Not just a few.  Now he had a chance, a good chance, to do something he'd only dreamed of doing before - he was going to try and be the perfect father.

Marie set herself down on the couch, her blue eyes filled with tears of joy and amazement.  Words couldn't express how she felt about this newborn child.  She wanted a happy life for Emma, she wanted Emma to grow up and be whatever she wanted to be.  No matter what.  

Carter loosened his tie and sat down on the couch next to his wife, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek and watching her with admiration as she held their daughter in her arms.  She sang to the baby, "You're home now, little angel, you're home at last," she sang proudly, like already she could tell this baby was going to do many great things in life.

"Honey, I think it's time for us to get to bed okay.  We've set up the crib, we've read all the books.  It's time to get Emma to bed."  

They set her down in her own room, and put a baby monitor by her crib.  They hoped she wouldn't cry or wake up unexpectedly.  Even when she did, they didn't mind it.  They were still awestruck from a newborn that would no doubt change their lives.

So time will move on quickly through chapters, because this is a short run through of all the many things that I'm certain a kid may face in the future for a normal perfect everyday family.

There's more on the way.