Huib woke up to Gloria crying that she was hungry. The first thing he thought of was that it was unbelievable that it was only a week ago that she was born, and that he was already so completely used to being a father. He turned to Margreet and kissed her softly on the lips. She immediately opened her eyes, looked at him radiantly and kissed him back.

"Fooled you! I was already awakened by our dear little alarm clock!"

Huib grinned: "The most beautiful sound to wake up with..." and he kissed her again.

"Shall I get our sweetheart, then you can go to the toilet first."

Margreet laughed: "Unbelievable how we are already in that rhythm! But you're right, I'll go quickly, before I leak out!"

"Red sheets are pretty nice too..."

"Yuck!"

Laughing, they got out of bed and went out of the bedroom.

.

A little later Margreet heard Huib chatting to their daughter and went over to them with a broad smile. From the doorway she watched how he changed Gloria's diaper and talked to her. She saw Gloria looking at him with big eyes and drew her attention by waving. Gloria's eyes shot to her side.

Margreet walked over to the dresser: "Hi beautiful girl, did you sleep so well too?"

"Yes mama, and now I'm hungry! Are we going to do something about that?" answered Huib with a childish voice.

"Oh Huib, please let's talk normal and not so childish!" Margreet responded. "I hate it when people talk so childishly to little children."

"Me too," said Huib, "but I wasn't talking to Gloria either, I was talking to you on behalf of Gloria."

"Man, man," grinned Margreet, "your face is on a great naughty mode again!"

"So am I. Say, if you'll just straighten your pillow and sit up in bed, I'll hand you this lady so she can fill her belly."

"Good plan, darling!" Margreet walked back into the bedroom and sat down on the bed against her pillow. Before Huib handed her Gloria, she messed around a bit with her nursing bra to get it off.

"I really need to get more skilled at that," she muttered. "What time is it anyway?"

"It was just half past five when I woke up, so we are early today. So Gloria, snuggle up to Margreet and fill up yourself. I'll refill her nappy bag in the meantime."

"That's not necessary anymore, Huib, I already did that last night."

"Fine, then I'll stay here and enjoy my lovely women."

Huib sat down next to her on the bed, put his head on her shoulder. He saw how Gloria looked at Margreet, as if she pierced her eyes in her mother's eyes. Softly he caressed her over her beautiful soft hair. While she kept on drinking, she looked at Huib for a moment, closed her eyes, stopped drinking for a moment, took a deep sigh and continued.

Huib chuckled: "She has just convinced herself that we are both there and is now quietly enjoying the breastfeeding."

"Yes, it looked like that, funny child," Margreet whispered. "By the way, I find it remarkable how wise she already looks, as if she wants to fathom you completely."

"I'd like to know what she thinks about us... But about something else... it's exactly a year ago today that Erik crashed. I think I'll take Gloria downstairs and sit in your rocking chair or something, then I'll tell her about her one grandfather."

Margreet looked at him questioningly. "Tell her about him?"

"Yeah, you know, I miss him, especially now that Gloria's here. Maybe it will help if I talk to her about him. I'd rather talk to a baby, even if she doesn't understand a thing, than to a wall. You can go back to snuggling under your duvet until the alarm goes off. Now that you have a mother's job to do to it, you can use that extra hour!

Margreet nodded, while she put Gloria to her other breast.

"Shouldn't she burp first?" Huib interrupted her.

"I always thought so too, but she never does. She only burps when she's all done."

"Right she is, first make sure you have everything in!"

Huib gave Margreet a kiss on her cheek: "I'm going to get dressed, then I'll come and pick her up in a minute."

.

When Huib came back to pick up Gloria, he hugged Margreet and urged her to go to sleep for another hour. He took Gloria from her and put her against his shoulder, so she could burp if necessary. He walked downstairs with her. In the kitchen, he laid her on his arm and switched on the coffee machine with his free hand. He felt a jolt go through Gloria from the sound that it made.

"Soon he'll make even more noise, Gloria, when he starts grinding the coffee beans into grit."

And indeed, that noise too caused a jolt. While the machine was working, Huib leaned against the counter and looked at Gloria.

"Smells good, coffee. Wait a while girl, then I will discuss with Margreet if we can mix some of her warm milk with coffee. Then you can enjoy it too. Do you think that's a good idea?"

Gloria looked at him again with big eyes.

"Little darling, I'd like to know what you're thinking now. So, that troublemaker is ready. Come along and we'll sit in the rocking chair."

.

Huib laid Gloria on his legs so that they could keep looking at each other. He picked up his mug from the mantelpiece and took a small sip of the coffee which was actually still too hot.

"Gloria, I want to tell you something... I'm your daddy, and I love you. You are my sweet little girl and I will do everything I can for you to help you grow up to be the girl, the woman you already are inside." For a moment he interrupted himself and gently prodded her chest. "You know, I had a daddy too, Daddy Erik. He did everything for me, too. I was his sweet little boy. Do you know what he liked to do? He liked to pull me close to him, like 'you and me, we belong together'. I always felt that he loved me, that he was fond of me. I often went with him to the big barn. I will show it to you when you are older. I was allowed to join Erik when he was working with wood. Then he would give me a piece of wood and I would decorate it. I liked to do that, with an awl, and later with a gouge. Erik taught me that, working with a gouge. We did not say much, but it was nice, it was good, he and I together. I want that so much with you. Doing things together, being busy together, you with your thing, I with my thing. And I want to do everything for you that is good for you, so that you can discover yourself. I discovered myself thanks to Erik. He let me free, but he knew what was good for me and what suited me, and he led me to that. We both loved working with wood. He was more into carpentry, making things, and I was more into decorating. He always called me his artist. Gloria, I loved that man, I loved him so much. And then suddenly he was gone, dead, a stupid accident with his car. He never came home again. Gloria, and I miss him so..."

Huib did not know what he wanted to tell more. He couldn't anymore, the pain was too much for him. Softly he started to sob. He was aware that Gloria was still lying on his legs, held her with his hands under her shoulders. But otherwise he was no longer occupied with her, he was in his bubble of pain and sorrow and was crying, sobbing.

He did not notice that Margreet had come down and sat on the stairs. She understood that he had to go through it himself, that she had better not disturb him. But how difficult she found it! How she would have liked to put her arms around him to comfort him!

It took more than a quarter of an hour before he calmed down and they both saw that Gloria reacted by waving her arms uncontrollably and putting a bright smile on her face. All this time she had been staring at him, but now she started to move.

Margreet remained seated, in utter amazement. Huib stared open-mouthed at Gloria. "Ah," she said, and Huib laughed.

"Thank you, sweetheart, thank you for pulling me out of pain like that with your sweet smile!"

Margreet stood up, thus drawing Huib's attention. Gloria reacted a bit confused for a moment, because he wasn't looking at her anymore. She turned her head to Margreet and gave her a bright smile too.

"How cool, you can really laugh! Already now? You're a quick lady!"

Gloria waved with her arms as if she tried to catch her mother. Huib encouraged Margreet: "Just grab her, I'll go and freshen up my face." And when he looked at his watch: "We don't have much time left for coffee, shall we skip it and go straight to the guesthouse?"

"No, I'll make some coffee while you freshen up. Just a little coffee together, that's great!"

She put Gloria in the pram, ready for departure, and took care of two mugs of coffee.

.

A little while later, Margreet put Gloria in the kitchen of the guesthouse, with the cradle of the pram in the playpen. She had fallen asleep already at home and now she slept just through the talking of the people in the kitchen. Meanwhile Huib went to Annerieke at the kitchen counter. He hugged her.

"I love you, Mom," he said, and pulled her close to him for a moment, his head on her shoulder. Annerieke understood what he was going through, that he had also figured out what date it was.

"I love you, my boy," she said.

"Go ahead, use Dad's words, pfff..."

Simon, who had just come in, didn't need words to realise what was going on between those two. He walked up to them, and lovingly ran his hand through Huib's wavy hair. He didn't say anything, he knew that wasn't necessary either. They felt each other...

To chapter 3. Real Family

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