The New Arrival

Two weeks flew by quickly, and on October 18th, Baby Abigail became a part of Eugene and Rapunzel's family.  Beast'sbelle let the rest of us know ahead of time so that we could give Eugene and Rapunzel some time alone to meet their little one.  Beast'sbelle gave them some privacy as well, and then returned later to take these sweet photos of them:

As you can imagine, we were all very excited to meet Abigail ourselves.  When we'd given them enough time alone, Robby, Ben and I came back to congratulate our friends.  Marguerite and Raoul decided that they would meet the newest addition later, so that we didn't all swarm in on them at once.

I can't even describe how incredibly happy Rapunzel looked with that little baby in her arms.  Finally, after months of longing and waiting, her dream had come true.  Eugene was really cute, too.  He looked like he might burst with pride.

It's funny, I've always thought and dreamed about having children someday, but it had always been a dream that seemed a long way off.  On this day, as I watched my glowing friend, I suddenly found myself thinking that maybe children wouldn't have to be as distant of a dream as I'd always thought.  The three of them made such a lovely picture.  It gave me an instant longing to be loved and be part of a family.  Instantly, my thoughts wandered to Ben.  I tried to picture him beaming over me the same way Eugene was beaming over Rapunzel.  Somehow, I just couldn't completely picture it, but the attempt made me feel all mushy and dreamy.  I tried to get ahold of myself before someone read the expression on my face!

Later that evening, after Marguerite and Raoul had come and paid their respects, Baby Abigail settled down for the night.  Beast'sbelle had provided Eugene and Rapunzel with a pretty little box lined with tissue that made a perfect crib. 

Rapunzel couldn't keep her eyes off of her baby.  She kept softly stroking her little legs and feet, long after she'd fallen asleep. 

Abigail was the perfect baby.  I never heard her cry at all that first day, and she went right to sleep when Rapunzel put her in the crib.  Nevertheless, Rapunzel had a hard time sleeping that night.  She kept drifting off and then starting awake, checking to see if Abigail was still okay. 

Eugene, on the other hand, was exhausted, and fell asleep almost immediately. 

Ben, Robby and I stayed up for a while.  We didn't want to disturb the new family, so we all stayed on the other side of the curio.  

 

Ben stood silently off to the side. I wondered what his thoughts were on all of this.  He wasn't into sharing his feelings (as you all know by now), so all I could do was guess what might possibly be running through his mind. 

 I knew that Robby was thrilled for them. He seemed to be almost as happy as Eugene.  But that was just the type of friend he was.  Seeing his friends happy made Robby happy too.  He knew how much Eugene and Rapunzel had waited for this day, and he was overjoyed that it had finally come.

As I watched the peaceful little scene before me, I wondered how the next few weeks would go.  Was parenthood really this easy?  It seemed so wonderful!  Maybe I'd been overly concerned about Rapunzel.  If all babies were this sweet and serene, I wouldn't mind becoming a parent shortly after marriage either!  

And boy, Robby had sure been wrong about Rapunzel needing me!  She seemed to have everything under control!  At least so far...I guess I'd just have to wait and see how things went in the next few weeks.  But for tonight, I was happy for my friend.  She finally had what she'd always wanted.