Devil | A Solomons

FORTY SEVEN - A CHANGE OF MINDSET

- FIVE MONTHS LATER -

"She's finally sleeping."

Alfie let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his daughter sleeping peacefully in her wicker bassinet. Her tiny yet astoundingly ferocious cries had driven her parents very close to insanity, depriving them of sleep and anything else that they took for granted before becoming parents.

Irina was permanently exhausted. Although Alfie had taken time off work to care for his newborn daughter, Irina felt like she was constantly tied to the child, unable to go further than five feet away from her without her screaming, usually for milk, which only she could provide.

Alfie was sometimes able to calm the baby down, but most of the time it was only Irina's touch or soft voice that would smooth her back into a gentle slumber, being rocked back and forth constantly as Irina stood on her feet for hours on end, unable to sit down in case she awoke again.

Alfie felt painfully guilty. From the moment Irina told him she was pregnant to the second the doctor told them that she had given birth to a baby girl, all he had wanted to do was love and protect both of them. He despised seeing Irina in pain during her labour, feeling utterly helpless at the sight of her screaming and clawing at his wrists in agony. Now, he still couldn't help her, no matter how much he wanted to, how many nappies he offered to change, it was only ever Irina that could relax the child.

"Would you like a glass of wine?" Alfie said, smiling softly at Irina who threw herself down onto the sofa with a huff.

She nodded, grabbing a cushion and placing it over her stomach, resting her arm over the top. He went into the kitchen and poured both of them a large glass of wine and returned to the living room, handing her the glass before sitting down beside her, lifting up her legs and placing them down on his lap.

Irina sipped her wine, the engagement ring on her finger clinking against the glass. They had planned to get married before the birth of their daughter, but Irina had changed her mind last minute. She'd been having doubts about the way she'd look in her wedding dress with a third trimester bump beneath the white fabric, and although Alfie had reassured her that she couldn't possibly look anymore beautiful that how she did growing their child, Irina still refused, and so they postponed the date until the summer time.

They'd gone back and forth over naming their daughter for three whole weeks, trying out different names each day to find out what suited her the most. She was born with jet black hair like her mother and bright blue eyes like her father, a small button nose and thick, pouty lips that made both her parents melt every time they looked at her.

Milena Solomons was by far the most beautiful baby they had ever seen, and that wasn't just a parental bias, either. Everybody that saw her commented on how gorgeous she was, how she looked like a small China doll with perfect olive skin and a resting smile as she slept. Irina hadn't been able to imagine how she could possibly ever love anybody more than she loved Alfie, though when she held her daughter for the first time, she experienced an entirely new meaning of the word.

Irina yawned quietly, blinking slowly as she watched Milena's small chest rise and fall while she slept. Neither of them wanted to take their eyes off her for even a second, completely absorbed by her tiny fists inside her pale pink baby grow, but Alfie found himself unable to stray his gaze away from Irina for too long.

"We don't have to stay up, we can go to bed if you like. I'll watch her if you want to get some sleep."

Irina shook her head and held out her hand, her eyes hazy and tired as she looked at Alfie, though a glimmer of happiness shimmered in them for a split second as he took her hand inside his own, pressing it to his lips.