My baby girl (Babies series #1)

12. Dad

After we left the doctors we decided to go get some lunch.

We sat down at a little family restaurant and ordered some drinks but dill must have been getting tired because she was becoming cranky.

I set her in her booster seat that the restaurant gave us but she didn't like that and wanted to sit in my lap.

The server came back with our drinks and then we ordered.

After the server left I handed dill her chocolate milk which she enjoyed for about two minutes then she didn't want it anymore.

Claire and I began talking while dill focused on coloring on the children's menu.

"So do you plan on going to college?" Claire asked me and I shrugged.

"I went to college for a year but I just couldn't handle being a dad and a student at the same time. Then I tried online classes but I would be so exhausted or so busy at a certain time so that didn't work out either. Maybe when dill gets older I'll try it again but right now I have no intentions of returning"

Claire nodded.

"What about you?" I asked and she also shrugged.

"I've gone for a semester but life kind of got in the way and I took a semester off and I just never went back."

I stared at her because she looked sad.

"What were you going for?" I asked her.

"Dance" She responded and her smile was back.

"You're a really good dancer and dill is learning a lot" I told her.

She smiled at dill before looking back at me.

"What about you?" She asked before taking a sip of her iced tea.

"I really wanted to do something with biology" I said.

She nodded with a surprised look on her face.

The server walked up with our food and set it down in front of us so I set dill back in her seat which she didn't like but I wasn't eating over top of her.

I cut up her chicken tenders and placed them back in front of her with some ketchup.

She looked at it and then picked up a piece of chicken and began eating.

I made sure she was okay before I began eating my burger.

Half way through our meal dill picked up a knife that I had set down next to my plate without thinking so I quickly took it away from her but since she wasn't in the best of moods today she immediately burst into tears.

I grabbed her from her seat and brought close to my chest but she wasn't having it and cried harder so I excused myself and took her outside since the entire restaurant was looking at me.

I sat on a bench outside the restaurant and bounced her on my lap but she just cried harder.

It was the cry where she'd sob really loud and then she couldn't breath so she took a couple unsteady breaths and then sobbed again.

Nothing was getting her to stop crying so I did something I haven't done since she was a couple months old.

I laid her down in my arms like a bundled up baby and started rocking her.

She stuck her fingers in her mouth and kept crying but not as hard.

People were walking past us and some were giving me a weird look like men and teenagers but old women and mothers with small children would aw when they walked past.

After ten minutes of rocking she finally fell asleep in my arms so I gently picked her up and laid her head against my shoulder and calmly walked back into the restaurant.

Everyone looked at me when I entered and I just gave a small smile.

I sat back down in my seat and just held dill.

"Is she alright?" Claire asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, she just needs a nap" Claire nodded.

I decided to just get a box for my food and for Delaney's since Claire was already done by the time I came back in.

Once we paid for our meal, Claire and I decided we would take a walk around the city since I had a stroller in my car.

I got the stroller out and set a sleeping Delaney in it before covering her with a light blanket since there was a little bit of wind.

We walked on the sidewalk and just enjoyed Floridas weather.

Half way through our walk I decided to take initiative and I linked my hand with Claire's.

She looked down shocked and then looked at me and when she saw me looking at her she smiled.

I felt happy because she didn't take her hand out of mine.

We made it to a park and we went and sat on a bench and talked.

I checked on dill every now and then, since she should be waking up any moment.

"At the restaurant you said you dropped out of college because life got in the way what did you mean by that?" I asked.

She looked at Delaney for a couple of seconds before looking back at me.

"My dad died"

My eyebrows rose and she had a small sad smile on her face like she was remembering him.

"To answer what you're thinking, he was my real dad. My parents stayed together through the pregnancy and through high school and when they turned eighteen they got married."

I nodded since I actually was thinking that.

"How'd he die?"

I felt like I shouldn't ask that.

"Car accident"

I nodded and before I could say anything else dill whimpered signaling she was waking up.

"Daddy" She whined while reaching her hands out to me.

I reached in the stroller and grabbed her and then grabbed her blanket and draped it over her so she could stay a little warm.

I kissed her cheek as she snuggled into my neck.

"I'm sorry about your dad" I said softly, looking back at Claire.

"Thank you" She said with a sad smile.

"I think it's about time to get going" I said looking at the time on my phone.

Claire nodded while standing up.

I went to put dill back in the stroller but she clung to me.

"It's fine I'll push it" Claire said while grabbing the handle on the stroller.

"Thanks"
~
When we got home dill was back to her energetic self and all she wanted to do was play with Claire which Claire happily did when we got inside.

So a half hour later here I was in the kitchen with my mom watching Claire, dill, and Binkie play in the living room.

"You're going to marry her one day" My mom said with a smirk.

I let out a little laugh but I never took my eyes off of the scene in the living room.

"Maybe"
~
I know I just updated but I was really in the mood to write and I started writing the first chapter to the second book in this series so I figured why not write another chapter for this one!!