He had seen babies before, sure. But not this up-close. He couldn’t help but notice the curve of her cheeks, the soft parting of her lips. A face so like yet so unlike his wife’s.

“It’s okay, you can touch her,” Amanda’s voice sounded behind him.

“I touched her,” Lee replied, “yesterday.”

“Okay, and that was a start and it was good, but Lee, you’re her father--you're going to have to get used to holding her.”

Lee chuckled lightly and followed it with a deep sigh. “I know, Amanda, I know…. I’m just not used to this yet.”

“It’s not a 'this', it’s a baby--her name is Elizabeth, and she’s not just any baby, she's your baby. Yours and mine together. You’re her father. I’m her mother. And we are going to raise her together. But in order to do this you need to learn to pick her up.”

Lee gingerly reached toward the bundle, hesitated, and drew back. “I’m sorry, Amanda, but I just can’t do this.”

This time Amanda sighed, deeply exasperated. This man! Honestly, you’d think he’d never seen a baby before. “Here,” she said in a tone that was meant to sound patient but didn’t quite make it, “I’ll show you again.” Amanda expertly picked up the baby, cuddled her for a moment, and put her back down. “You try it.”

Lee took a deep breath, reached down, and picked up his daughter, who immediately began to cry. “Here,” Lee said quickly, “you take her!” but when he looked up Amanda was gone. He quickly placed the baby back in her crib but she continued to cry.

“Come on now, Bethie,” Lee cajoled his daughter. “Please stop, please stop for Daddy.”

Bethie answered him with increasing sobs which were threatening to turn into a high pitched shriek. Her face was quickly becoming red, and her little arms had worked loose from the blankets and were flailing.

“AMANDA!” Lee called, “I need you, I can’t make her stop!” He waited expectantly for her footsteps but heard nothing. “AMANDA!! PLEASE!!!” Still he heard nothing.

His little daughter was still screaming, and Lee realized it was going to be up to him to quiet her. Once again he tried begging. “Please, Bethie, please, for daddy. Please.” But his words had no effect whatsoever on the tiny baby.

“Okay,” Lee said to himself, “I can handle this. After all, I am trained to deal with anything. Surely I can deal with one little baby.” Lee took a deep breath and exhaled. He realized his palms were sweaty. He took another deep breath, reached down, and picked up the little bundle. The crying continued. “SSHHH,” Lee said softly.

Lee suddenly remembered his mother telling him when he was a very small boy that the baby kitten he was holding around it’s middle needed to be held nicely, that kittens needed to feel secure. “Is that your problem, little Bethie?” Lee asked. “Don’t you feel secure with daddy?” That had to be it. But how could he remedy this? After all, he certainly wasn’t holding the baby around her middle. Well, maybe he could adjust her. He shifted her little body up and held her against his chest. The screaming was replaced with little sobs, and eventually Bethie quieted.

Lee watched in wonderment as her face went back to normal color, her large brown eyes drooped, and her tiny face started to relax. A tiny sound, a baby yawn, escaped her lips and suddenly it seemed to Lee that her head had dropped down even farther against his arms. The baby was sleeping.

Lee stood still for several moments and watched the tiny child, his daughter. He watched her while She was sleeping, making soft movements. She was so relaxed. Just a few moments ago he wouldn’t have thought it possible that she could be so relaxed. After several more minutes Lee sighed again, this time with the thought that he had other things to do and couldn’t, as much as he wanted to, stand in the middle of the nursery holding his child all day. After several more minutes he walked over to the crib and gently placed the baby down in her soft little nest. He turned, ready to leave, but couldn’t resist one last long look.

When he was finally able to tear himself away, he walked out into the hallway and practically ran into his wife. “Lee, you did that beautifully,” she said.

“WHAT?” Lee asked incredulously, all at once angry. “You were out here the whole time watching me?”

“If I had been in there you wouldn’t have tried,” explained Amanda “But I had to watch, I just had to. And you did wonderfully. You, Mr. Stetson, are a natural-born father.”

“Really? You think so?” asked Lee, obviously pleased.

“Absolutely.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lee woke up, not quite remembering what he was supposed to remember for the day. Oh yeah, Bethie’s 5^th birthday party. He was supposed to get her out of the house so Amanda could set things up without interruptions. Sure there was the baby, Matthew, but he still slept much of the time during the day anyway. And there was no way he was taking them both out for the day. Lee could already hear Bethie's excited exclamations coming down the hall as Amanda helped her dress. He hurriedly dressed and and went the back way to the kitchen for the much need cup of coffee to get him through the day.

Moments later, he watched as Bethie skipped down the stairs, her now- darkening hair tied with a red bow, wearing the “Farmer Jones” outfit that Lee hadn’t been able to resist giving her early. Well, he had bought her so many things, just one thing early wouldn’t hurt her. He remembered how Amanda had laughed at his indulgence.

“Daddy-day, Daddy-day,” said Bethie in a singsong voice. “Maffew can't go 'cause he’s too little and I get daddy all to myself, no mommy, no no-one, just Beffie and Daddy.”

She finally reached Lee and held up her hand for him to take. “Daddy-day, Daddy-day,” she repeated for the 100^th time.

Lee looked down at his daughter, remembering how almost 5 years ago he had wondered if he would ever survive fatherhood. “Let’s go Daddy,” said Bethie impatiently. “Daddy-day!”

Lee looked down at his hand, noticing her little fingers entwined with his. His eyes traveled from her hand to her face. He saw those big brown eyes looking up at him with adoration and complete trust. She had a radiant smile on her face.

Lee began to have second thoughts. Sure, he had done things with his daughter, but Amanda or Dotty or one of the boys had always been with them. And yes, he had done things alone with Bethie, but not an all-day outing. There was always someone close by to bail him out just in case something went wrong. “Amanda, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, what if she wants you? What if she starts to cry? What if--?

His words were cut short by Amanda’s sour look and Bethie’s look of disappointment.

“Lee,” Amanda started patiently. “Remember when--?”

“Yes, yes, you're right, Amanda --if I don’t do it now, I never will.” “And,” he continued, “I’m her father and if I’m gonna help raise her I need to start doing things with her all by her myself, but--”

“But nothing--first, you made a commitment and you will keep it. Second, I need you take her out today or I’ll never be ready for her party tomorrow. Third, she’s been looking forward to this all week and you won’t disappoint her.”

Lee left the house, a mixture of eagerness and fear. Bethie followed close behind him, once again singing “Daddy-day, Daddy-day.”

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

It was almost time for Elizabeth’s first date. No longer was she Bethie, nowadays she preferred the more sophisticated Elizabeth. Lee watched her walk down the stairs and was suddenly reminded of the long ago “Daddy-day.” He remembered how unsure he had been about what to do with her all day. Suddenly, though, he wanted her to be 5 again. He wanted the unpredictable little girl that had adored him unconditionally back.

“You look beautiful,” he said, just a trace of tears in his voice.

“Dad! You can't be here when Kevin comes to pick me up! Please go someplace else,” she begged.

Lee sighed, and obliged his only daughter. He wanted to meet the boy, check him out, and scare him to death if he felt it necessary.

He went back into the kitchen where Amanda was waiting. “How can you let her just go?” he asked. “She’s too young, she’s too vulnerable. This Kevin might be a jerk or worse. What will she do if he becomes too much for her?”

“Lee,” Amanda sighed. “She’s a big girl, she can handle herself. She’ll be fine.”

Lee protested, “But she’s my baby. She's too young to be dating. I want to keep her home for a few more decades first. Kevin's a guy. He'll break her heart. I just want her to always be happy."

“I do too,” Amanda said, “but part of her being happy is letting her grow, letting her do things.”

Lee thought back to the day when he had picked her up for the first time. Suddenly he wanted to be able to do that again. He wanted to pick her up and hold her and keep her far away from those fiends disguised as boyfriends. Lee heard the front door open and watched as his “Bethie” went out, using all of his reserve not to run after her and keep her safe in his house and in his arms.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Beth, as she was now known, stood before the mirror dressed in a long lacy white dress. Her long brown hair was swept up just so and tumbled down in all the right places. Her face was radiant. She turned toward the door as Lee entered.

“Hi Daddy,” she said, “I’m ready to go.”

“Are you sure?” Lee asked huskily. “Because it’s not too late to change your mind, you know. You can back out. I won’t mind.”

“Daddy!” said Beth “Be serious!”

“Sorry Bethie, I’m just gonna miss you so much.”

“It’s not like I’m going to another planet you know. I’m just moving across town, and I love Eric and he loves me.” Beth sighed. She walked across the room and gave her father a hug.

The music had started and Lee knew that there was no holding back. They started the oh-so-short walk down the aisle, and before he knew it he was hearing the words “man and wife”. He knew that things would never be the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One year later, he was presented with a squirming bundle of blankets, soft golden-brown fuzz and striking blue eyes. He stood with the baby in his arms, thinking back to that first time, the first time he had held such a bundle. The first time, when he thought he’d never get through the day, let alone the life-time of that squirmy, screaming thing. This time, however, he held the baby like a pro. Little Amanda cooed and wiggled her little arms and legs.

“You should have seen your father the first time he had to pick you up,” laughed Amanda . “I thought he’d never get through it, but he turned out just fine.

“Yes” agreed Beth, “He sure did.”

The End!