Author’s note: This story takes place Dec. 31, 1997/Jan. 1, 1998 in my Musical Madness universe and is my Holiday Group Writing Project submission. Required elements are a holiday song, a holiday gift (not necessarily material), a holiday beverage and a holiday decoration. The girls are juniors, Mart and Dan are seniors and Jim and Brian are sophomores in college. Huge thanks to Mary for editing.
Lullabye and Goodnight
By Yankeegirl (aka Jennie C)
Outside, crowds hurried across the green toward the New Year’s Eve fireworks display. The crisp winter air reddened cheeks and noses, but the Bob-Whites and their families didn’t notice.
Instead, they filled the hospital waiting room, anxious for the news from behind closed doors.
Julie Lynch traced the delicate silver necklace Ed had given her for Christmas absentmindedly as she watched Larry, Terry and Bobby avoid Mandy and Sandy.
"The girls still have cooties, I see," Ed said, slipping one arm around Julie. He held a cup of eggnog in the other hand.
"Of course they do." Julie smiled. "Just wait – in a few years, we’re going to wish for those days."
"Don’t I know it." Ed glanced across the room to where Diana stood next to the boy he’d always assumed would be his son-in-law.
Julie’s gaze followed his. "They’re not happy," she said. "They act it, but they aren’t."
Ed shook his head. "I’d talk to him, but everything I’d say would be taken the wrong way."
They looked toward the doorway as some of the teens came back from a vending machine run. The girls headed for the nursery window to coo over the smiling babies dressed in pink and blue, while the boys joined Regan and Tom in the corner.
Matt Wheeler watched the scene too. "I worry about Honey," he said, sighing.
Madeleine shook her head. "Don’t."
"But…what if…"
Madeleine placed a slim hand on his powerful shoulder. "Don’t think that way. You’re not giving her enough credit, or him." She smiled. "Besides, I would imagine the first time she has to spend a few hours alone with the baby will be enough to cure her of wanting her own for a long while."
The worried expression remained on his face. "But still…what if they think they’re safe? They wouldn’t be the first couple to make that mistake, or we wouldn’t be here tonight." He frowned. "Besides, why should I give him any credit? This is my daughter we’re talking about."
"Because no matter what else he’s done in the past, he would never deliberately hurt Honey, and you know it." Madeleine looked across the room to where Honey and her boyfriend sat on the hard couch. A pink poinsettia left after Christmas drooped on the nearby end table.
Honey twisted a piece of hair between her fingers and looked up at him. "Are you nervous?"
He shrugged, then shook his head. "I should be, but it still doesn’t seem real."
She was about to say something else, but the door to the delivery room opened, and a baby’s cry could be heard.
Dr. Ferris stepped into the hallway, a large smile on his face. "I’m happy to report that a healthy Abigail Helen has her father’s dark hair and her mother’s curls."
Cheers filled the room as Regan pounded Tom on the back and Matt Wheeler and Ed Lynch reached for the cigars they had saved. As the father stepped in front of the window between the nursery and the waiting room, he cradled a tiny pink bundle in his arms. The women let out a collective "Awwwww…" as Peter Belden carried his new daughter off to her bed.
On the television in the hospital waiting room, Dick Clark and the crowds in Times Square counted down the last minutes of the New Year.
As the giant crystal ball dropped, they gathered in a circle, arms linked.
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne?"
The End