#they end up giving annalise as her middle name. their darling belle annalise… 🥹🫶

[lumiereandcogsworth]

May Sunrise

Maurice/Maria (Belle’s parents)

Word count: 590

Tags: fluff, introspection, fatherhood

on Ao3!

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The early morning sun was just starting to paint the sky with pinks and purples when the house finally quieted down. Maurice sat in a rocking chair made by a friend two doors down. The baby he held, mere hours old, laid sweetly against his thumping heartbeat.

His eyes were heavy with weariness and dried tears, his cheeks hurt from smiling so much. He never thought he could be this happy, never thought his heart could burst with this much love. There in his arms slept his perfect little girl. She was everything they dreamed she would be. Maurice sighed; their dear, sweet child was finally here.

The new father was sure to cry again if he looked at her for too long. But oh, he really couldn’t tear his eyes away. He wanted to remember every little detail of such a precious face: pink squishy cheeks, dark peach fuzz hair, delicate rosebud lips, and those lovely eyes… They were brown, just like her mother’s. Maurice thanked all the stars in the sky for that. She had Maria’s beautiful eyes.

Maria stirred in the bed near him, but she did not wake. Good, he thought, she deserved all the rest in the world for what she did today. Or yesterday, rather. Time was a blur now. Their baby was born at sunset, and now she would know her first sunrise. The sun would shine through the windows soon and they would start their first day as a family of three. Even the thought of it made Maurice smile again.

His daughter scrunched her face and squirmed, then yawned and returned to a peaceful state. Maurice beamed at their darling little sweetheart. Maria kept calling her Belle. Belle, Belle, Belle… That’s all she could say when she was shushing and soothing the wailing newborn. Hush, my darling little Belle…

It was not the name they had planned on giving to this sweet girl of theirs. They both liked the name Annalise. They hardly considered names for a boy, but they loved Annalise. She was supposed to be Annalise. But looking at her now, that really didn’t quite fit. Maria was right, as usual. This dear child of theirs was certainly a Belle.

Maurice couldn’t fathom his good fortune. He couldn’t reconcile what he had done in his uneventful, unimportant, lonely little life… To be worthy of this? A wonderful, brilliant woman to call his wife, and a sweet, perfect girl to call his daughter. Another tear slipped down his cheek as he bent down to kiss the infant’s head again. He had to keep doing that, just to make sure she was real. He had to keep looking around, keep blinking and pinching himself, to make sure it was all quite real. He had to paint this picture in his mind forever, for he was certain he’d never know a more beautiful scene.

The cold May sunshine came glimmering through the windows as Maurice was beginning to doze off himself. His Maria pulled the covers up in her sleep, falling deeper into her well-earned slumber. His Belle twitched and sighed, unsure of this great, big world she had found herself in, but finding just enough comfort in the warmth of her Papa’s arms to snooze the day away. And as for Maurice? He had a peace in his heart like nothing he had known before. He let the gentle rocking lull himself to sleep, taking him away to tender dreams, as the tranquil morning sun bathed their home in golden light.