My Father's Ring

Chapter Eleven

In the doorway stands Rachel sipping on a cup of coffee along with a very content look as she watches her husband. He sits in the center of the room feeding little Candice as he rocks in the chair her mother had given to them, in fact, it was the very chair her mother had used with Rachel when she was a baby. He sits there humming a tune of his own making which was, " Baby, baby, bye promise that you won't cry, baby, baby, bye oh bye, bye, bye." Looking into her beautiful blue eyes seem to be mesmerizing to him, as she drank from her bottle of formula. Rachel seems to be lost in the moment as she watched this big burly man turn into a big old teddy bear.  During this time her life seems to be everything she had ever wanted if not more. She looks up and thanks God for all the blessings he had brought into their life which was a dream come true. Bart continued to rock her with great pleasure even though he did not feel like a father yet, but in time he would become a great and loving father toward his little angel. Candice had finished her bottle of formula as he still continues to rock her. Rachel sits her empty cup down on the kitchen table and says to Bart, " now you need to be her or she will get sick on you. She places Candice on his shoulder and instructs him how hard to pat her back until she berbs.  In a few minutes, a sound comes out of the child's mouth that would have put her daddy to shame. He hands her to Rachel as he prepares to go back to work and it was as he turned around that Rachel discovered a big white stream on the back of his work shirt where Candice had spit upon him. Bart was a bit grossed out over the incident but changes his shirt and heads back to work. He jumps into his car and heads toward town. He seems to be one of the happiest men and was evident by the smile on his face. While he was driving he began to praise God for all of the blessings in his life and especially his loving wife Rachel and their bundle of joy. It seems as if it was overnight that Candice was starting to crawl all around the floor and getting into everything that was available to her. Rachel had become like a big kid herself as she would play with Candice almost non-stop. It seems like the days are turning into weeks and weeks into months as she continues to grow by leaps and bounds. One day almost by chance as Rachel sits on the front porch swing with her daughter, Bart pulls into the driveway and hops out of the car. Candice sees her daddy and begins to scream in a very high pitch voice, " Da, Da, Da, Da, Da." Rachel becomes so excited she says to Bart, " did you hear her first words were da, da, da." They were overjoyed at the sound of her first words and they were "Daddy."
It seems that every day was about their precious little angel that was until the night she had the inability to sleep Rachel had spent the entire day doing anything and everything possible to elevate the problem which seems to be fruitless. She would continue to cry so Rachel decided to take her to her mother who was the more experienced due to her age. Her grandmother tried every trick in her book, but nothing seemed to work and by now Rachel and her mother's nerves were worn to a frazzle. It was somewhere in the evening when Bart arrived home and Rachel and the baby were both on the sofa crying with no end in sight. He walks through the door and says, " what is wrong with my little angel?" Please! Take your child before something bad happens because she has been crying the entire day non-stop! I can't take anymore, not one more second." He takes the child for the next several hours with little success and he knew she just needed some rest. In the bedroom, Rachel is fast asleep for the first time in almost twenty-four hours. He decides to take her for a ride on the backroads to see if that helps. She is strapped to the front seat in her carrier as the car leaves the driveway. He begins to sing the song he had sung a hundred times when he would rock her to sleep. " Baby, baby, bye oh baby, baby, bye..." The car travels down a bumpy road and Candice instantly stops her crying. Bart returns home about midnight and ready for a good nights sleep, he pulls in the driveway, stops the car, and it couldn't have been more than five minutes when Candice starts crying once again. He starts the car up and once again hits the road. It is the same scenario she goes back to sleep and not a word from her. It was probably about seven in the morning as his eyes are drifting off to sleep. He pulls in the driveway and there stood Rachel on the front porch sipping on a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Bart looks at her and she gives him an encouraging smile that seems not to have as much effect as it did the day before the drive. He takes the baby out of the carrier and hands her to Rachel and says, " She slept almost the whole night, I love you but now I need to go back to work. " He gets back into his car and drives back to work with literally not one wink of sleep. Bart arrives at work but can verily keep his eyes open during an annual  training class when the instructor stops that class and says, " Bart was not keeping you up are we?" He sits up straight in his chair and responds, " not at all sir just a family thing and I was up the entire night." The instructor laughs and says, " let me guess? Driving the baby around all night so she can sleep. I have been there and done that, welcome to fatherhood."  In the meantime, Rachel is sitting at home with Candice sound asleep while she watches some game shows which she had a great fondness for ever since she was a child. There is a knock on the door and there stood her mother. It was just then Candice is awakened and all rested up for playtime and something to eat. Her mother was not like a politician who would beat around the bush, but rather she would come straight to the point. 
" daddy and I were talking and we both wondered what his Aunt Joann meant when she said Candice's eyes look just like Davids. What do you think she meant or was she trying in infer something?" Rachel this is for a minute and says, " honestly I hadn't given it another thought, but like grandpa would say that is just water under the bridge, but if you really want to know what she meant it would be best to ask her?" Her mother sits there for a minute and was about to say something when Candice began to cry for her mother. Her grandmother says, " you sit still and let Nanny take care of her for a while." She picks the baby up and walks back into the front room and says, " now where were we? Hmm... There I go again another senior moment, anyway I love those beautiful blue eyes." They play with her until lunchtime and that was when she says, " well, I need to get back home and fix lunch for Mr. Grumpy Pants but call me later and Nanny wuvs her little candy girl." Rachel sits there feeding Candice and remembers what her mother had said earlier which was only planting the seed of concern in her mind about Aunt Joann and her son David minus any form of a father. It was later that Bart arrived home and kissed Rachel and the baby and fell dead away on the bed sound asleep. Rachel peeks through the door, looks at him laying there sound asleep. She goes into the bedroom removes his shoes, covers him with a blanket, and closes the door.

The End of Chapter Eleven