Lyin' Eyes Ch. 07

Cradled in my arms is my youngest daughter. Marissa is only four months old, still a tiny, wriggling bundle of love. I almost always get up for the early morning feedings, loving the time it gives me with my child. She's asleep now, full of her mother's milk I warmed from the refrigerator. She is so precious. There is nothing that can restore a man's faith in humanity quite like holding a sleeping baby in his arms.

It was that way with my son too. Chris was born a year after Laura and I got back together after repairing our broken relationship. He's a healthy three-year-old now, well past the "terrible twos" that never seemed so terrible to me. Alyssa is almost ten and mature beyond her years. I can already see in her the young woman she will be far too quickly for my peace of mind. She's gradually leaving childhood behind, though she'll always be my baby deep in my heart. She helps with Chris and Marissa both and loves them dearly. She cried so happily the first time Laura let her hold baby Marissa.

I love all three so much I almost cannot bear it sometimes. I didn't even know until Chris was born that a father's love isn't a thing that cannot be measured or divided. It is a thing that expands to encompass all of a man's children; certainly none of mine lack for any part of my love. It is there for all of them.

"There you are," I hear Laura say tenderly. There's no need for more words.

She's found me sitting in the dimness, my eyes swimming with the tears I let no one else see. I give up my little daughter to her mother, but only for a moment. Laura sits down on my lap and folds herself against me as she holds our daughter. She kisses me gently, searching out my lips and touching her fingertips to the salty droplets on my cheekbones. In the darkness, my wife and I sit, holding our youngest child...born of a love we almost lost.

End