All I Ask of You

Chapter 22

Time continued to fly past and soon, I was six months pregnant. My stomach had swollen quite a bit, and it made Erik nervous as he knew the baby would be here soon. I would occasionally wake up in the middle of the night to hear Erik slamming objects around in our home. I would also hear him crying. I didn't know how to fix a problem that I couldn't quite put my finger on. 

One evening, as I had in the past with Erik, I waited until I heard the sobs coming from the sitting room. I slowly crept out of bed, my belly sticking out in front of me. The front of my nightgown was just above my ankles and the back dragged the floor. I watched as Erik fell apart in front of my eyes. Finally, I slowly walked in and sat down next to him. He was startled until our eyes met, "Erik, why are you wearing that silly thing?" I referred to his mask. 

"What are you doing awake?" he asked through tears. 

"I've been hearing you the past few nights... I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to comfort you and be with you."

"I don't know how I married a woman like you... You're so beautiful and I'm-"

"You're my loving husband," I whispered as I took the mask off of his tear-stained face, "Now tell me what this is about."

"What if the baby hates me because of my face? What if the child grows up to wish that they had a normal father?"

"Erik, you will be the most wonderful father... The baby will love you because you will be a wonderful father. I adore you, Erik." He cried harder as he captured my lips in a tender kiss. I moved myself so I could place his hands on my stomach, "We made his beautiful little life, Erik."

"I... I... I have a surprise for you," he stood and reached for my hand to help me off of the couch. Then he led me to the spare bedroom of our home. When he opened the door, I gasped. 

"I've taken all of my stress out on this project... I wanted to build our baby the highest quality nursery possible." 

I looked around the nursery and discovered there were tiny little bears designed throughout the entire nursery. There was a rocking chair, crib, changing table, and everything we needed... "Oh, I love it!" 

Erik took my hands in his and place both of our hands on top of my baby bump, "Caroline, I'm terrified for this child to arrive, but I want you to know that I'm going to do my best to be the father I never had."

"We're in this together, darling."