Maybe I'm Amazed~Threequel to I Wanna Be Your Man~

Chapter 35

Alice's P.O.V

June 18, 1971

Today was Paul's birthday. Earlier in the week, I had called Maude and Albert and they agreed to fly out here and go on double date for Paul's birthday dinner. I woke up that morning, not waking Paul up. It's his birthday. He should get the chance to sleep in. Besides, I needed to prepare for Maude and Albert's arrival. When I got into the kitchen, I hadn't even noticed my two daughters followed me.

"Hi Ethel. Hi Mary. What do you two need?" I asked

"We want to help make daddy's birthday special. Right, Mary?" Ethel said. Mary nodded in response to her sister.

"I'd love for your help girls. Let's start by making a cake" I said

~

Ethel and Mary were such brilliant helpers. The cake was in the oven so we moved into the living room while we waited. Ethel and Mary sat on either side of me on the couch.

"How old is our brother or sister now?" Ethel asked. I looked at my pregnant belly and placed my hands over it.

"I'm about six months pregnant. That means in about three more months, he or she will be ready to enter this world" I said. Ethel placed her head on my baby bump.

"Mommy! She's talking to me!" Ethel said, sitting up and looking at me.

"How do you know the baby is a she?" I asked

"She told me. What are you going to name our new sister?" Ethel asked

"Stella" I said. Ethel put her head on my stomach again.

"What's Stella saying?" I asked

"Stella says that she loves you, daddy, me, Mary, Helen and Martha very much" Ethel said

"We love Stella very much too, don't we?" I asked

"Yes we do. We all love you Stella" Ethel spoke to my stomach.

"Mary, do you want to say anything to Stella?" I asked. Mary nodded and put her head on my stomach.

"Hi. I love you" Mary said. I smiled and ran my fingers through both of my daughter's hair.

"What's going on in here?" I heard my husband ask. He walked up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Ethel and Mary are talking to Stella" I said.

"So we are having another girl?" Paul asked.

"It seems that is the consensus" I said. I looked over at Paul and gave him a kiss.

"Happy birthday" I said

"Thanks, love" Paul said. Helen joined us.

"Aww. Look! It's such a beautiful family moment" Helen said. I looked at Helen and then back at my girls.

"Girls, do you want to go help Helen in the kitchen?" I asked

"What do you need done in the kitchen?" Helen asked

"The girls will show you" I said.

"Okay. Come on girls" Helen said. Ethel and Mary followed Helen into the kitchen. When the girls left, Paul moved in front of me and crouched down. He placed his hands on my stomach.

"Hi Stella. This is your daddy. I can't wait until your born. I bet your going to be beautiful just like your mum. You're going to have her beautiful blonde hair and her amazing blue eyes. I love you Stella" Paul said. He kissed my stomach.

"You love your girls so much" I said. Paul sat beside me on the couch and brought me into a cuddle.

"Of coarse I do" Paul said

"And they all love you. Especially Ethel" I said

"Ethel turns eight this year" Paul said

"I know. She's growing up so fast" I said

"Does she know yet?" Paul asked

"Know about what?" I asked

"Her real father" Paul said

"Not yet. I'm still waiting for the right time to tell her" I said

"Do you think that maybe this year, is the year you tell her?" Paul said

"I'm not sure" I said

"Why are you scared about telling her?" Paul asked

"Well, it's just that she loves you so much. What if I tell her and then she doesn't see you as her father anymore?" I said

"Love, I've helped you raise Ethel since the day she was born. In a way, that does make me her father. I'm also her father because of how much I love her. Even if she does start calling me Paul after we tell her, in my eyes, she's still my daughter" Paul said

"Alright. On her birthday, we tell her" I said.

"Tell who what?" Helen said as she joined us.

"For Ethel's birthday, we're finally going to tell her who her real father is" I said

"Alice was just having worries that Ethel wouldn't love me anymore. She's crazy for thinking that" Paul said

"Alice, do you see the way Ethel looks at Paul? How she smiles whenever he walks into the room? She loves spending time with him. Don't think that telling her the truth about who her real father is, is going to change that" Helen said

"See? Helen agrees with me" Paul said. I smiled.

"You're both right. I shouldn't have anything to worry about" I said.

"Where are the girls?" Paul asked

"After we finished our task in the kitchen, I got them some breakfast" Helen said. There was the sound of cluttering dishes coming from in the kitchen.

"What's going on in there?" I asked

"I'll go check" Helen said. She went into the kitchen and came out not even a second later.

"You wouldn't believe this" Helen said

"Wouldn't believe what?" Paul asked

"Ethel is doing the dishes" Helen said

"Really?" I said

"Yeah. She's standing on a chair and she's washing, scrubbing and drying the dishes" Helen said.

"She is growing up. She's starting to do chores" Paul said.

"I'll go help her" Helen said. When Helen went back into the kitchen, Ethel came into the living room.

"I did the dishes" Ethel said

"Helen told us that. Thank you sweetie" I said. Ethel smiled and joined us on the couch. She sat in Paul's lap and hugged him.

"Happy birthday daddy" Ethel said. Paul hugged her in return. I smiled at the two. Ethel really did love Paul. When we tell her the truth, I knew she wouldn't love him any less.