Entry 08 : Edith Adelaide Lelouey
Title: "Edith Adelaide Lelouey"
Entry Number: 08
Author: saraste_impi
Original: Before Dawn
Rating: G
Genre: fluff, family, romance
Spoiler Warnings: none
Word Count: 1084
After the many painful hours of delivery, going through what every mother must, Gwen was finally meeting her child for the first time. She had been cleaned up and changed and was laying on the bed, waiting to hold her daughter, whom she had held to her heart for as long as she had been allowed before the midwife had told her the tiny bundle of joy really must be cleaned up, as should herself, too. As Amelié had helped Gwen with her ablutions, the mid-wife had wrapped up Gwen's tiny girl in blankets and gave then given the precious bundle into Gwen's eagerly waiting arms.
She couldn't have been more ecstatic.
”You're perfect, my love,” Gwen whispered, her hands feeling the weight of her child.
In that moment, as she held her child, there was nothing wrong in the world for Gwen. Her thoughts were all for her daughter, even when anxiety hovered nearby.
“She's beautiful, cherié,” Nicholas' mother Amelié, Gwen's mother-in-law in all but name, said to Gwen. She was smiling at the young woman, her face years younger because of the happiness lighting it up.
Amelié Lelouey had been there for Gwen during the birth, helping her through it alongside Celine, the midwife. Gwen would most ardently have wanted her own mother there but... it was not to be. She banished the sad thought before it even had a proper chance to surface. They had not allowed Nicholas in, so Gwen's beloved husband had been somewhere with the men of his family. But Arianwen had been there, and for that Gwen was glad. She had reconnected with her elder sister once more after she had come to Paris for her art, her Paris where she had met Nicholas and fallen passionately in love.
She had maybe given Nicholas more than she ought to have, at least before marriage. But Gwen had not cared. Because Nicholas loved her so much.
“Isn't she?” she said to Amelié Lelouey. Gwen was very fond of the woman and was grateful of the reserve the elder woman had shown towards her. For Gwen's liaison with Amerié's son was far from the norm. Amelié had helped Gwen make best of a difficult situation and she had not judged her. For Amelié had seen how much her son loved the young English-woman who had suddenly turned hers Nicholas' life upside down. “She's perfect...”
Gwen smiled as she looked down at her daughter. The baby's face was wrinkly and red, scrunched up, her head covered in dark fuzz, her tiny body wrapped in a crocheted blanket and a sheet. Her daugther was the most beautiful and magical thing that Gwen had ever seen. She ran her finger over one tiny cheek, marvelling at the softness of her skin. The tiny face wrinkled up even more and the precious bundle in her arms fussed a little.
“Should I fetch Nicholas?” Arianwen asked.
Gwen looked up at her sister, noticing that she had come over and sat on the edge of her bed. The bed where she had given birth to her first-born daughter. She had been so in awe of her daughter that she had completely and utterly forgotten Nicholas' existence for a moment. Gwen smiled at her sister, wondering how Arianwen had managed to do what she herself had done three times already. Now Gwen knew the enormity of what every mother went through in bringing a child into the world. She was a mother and no-one could ever take that away from her for as long as she lived.
“Yes, he should come see her!” Gwen said, looking back down at her daughter again. “She looks quite like him, don't you agree?” She asked.
Amelié smiled at her, indulging Gwen, and Arianwen smiled too, a little amused by her younger sister's antics, and then went to fetch Nicholas.
She was overcome with love for her.
While Arianwen was gone, Amelié helped Gwen into a more comfortable position while Celine held the baby for her, cooing at the little darling who was awake. Somehow the miracle of birth had never grown old for the middle-aged woman who had delivered babies all her adult life. They had already changed the sheets after Gwen's daughter had been brought into the world and made sure the new mother was comfortable and as primped as she could be.
Soon enough Nicholas entered the room, walking as if on eggshells. He edged near the bed where Gwen lay, Arianwen keeping her distance, Amelié and Celine also retreating to give them little family their moment together. Nicholas sat on the edge of Gwen's bed and bent to kiss her forehead.
“I love you, mon amour...” he whispered, his voice choked.
Gwen looked at him with such love it threatened to overwhelm her completely. “Meet your daughter, dearest...” she said, her tone hushed, as the little bundle of joy in her arms was slumbering. But her voice was also the result of the love and awe she felt. They had made this baby together, Nicholas had given her the daughter she had not even known that she had craved so much, not until she had finally held her in her arms and fallen irrevocably and utterly in love.
Nicholas dared not take the bundle in his arms, in fear of breaking her. But he looked down at her and felt the same love Gwen did. Their daughter was simply perfect.
“Bonjour, ma petite chérie, je suis ton père...” He simpered to her.
“That's your papa, sweetling,” Gwen cooed, sniffling.
Nicholas leaned in to place a soft kiss on her lips, pouring out all his love for her into the simple yet meaningful kiss. “Will you marry me?” he asked, his lips a hairs breadth away from hers.
Gwen gasped. She had waited for that question. But neither of them had wanted the scandal of her marrying Nicholas with an ill-fitting gown, clearly showing off her altered figure, harbouring the illegitimate fruit of their love. They had both wanted to spare their respective families. Yet, Gwen was sure, that even with having found a man to love, having bore him a child, that her parents would not approve. But Nicholas' family had taken her into their fold. Gwen was glad for that.
“Bien sûr, chéri. We'll never be apart.” She answered with her smile never wavering. “We'll be a family. A proper family.”