Gen 3 Ch 3: Dolores Had Other Plans

To celebrate, Bloom and Matilda went to the new club that had recently opened in town, The Fountain of Youth. There they met Broccoli, who also had reason for celebration.

He had recently married a young woman named Francisca Vanderburg and they were expecting a child! Bloom once again wondered why his brother had been able to conceive children the "normal" way, not having to plant seeds in soil like Bloom had done himself. He was sure that this would have been highly interesting to Kaitlin, their scientist mother, had she still been alive.

Back at home, Bloom still tended to his little garden every day, growing new and exotic plants from seeds that Darwin brought home. He had never seen their like outside of Hidden Springs.

Little Dusty enjoyed his comfortable luxury dog bed.

Clover and Darwin were out and about every day. She would jam on her guitar, sometimes joined by others such as her cousin Sedrick, while Darwin would roam around, unearthing rare minerals and gems.

One day, Clover was just trying to learn a new song in front of the bookstore, when a sudden pain caused her to drop her guitar.

The baby was coming!

Darwin quickly helped Clover into the car and raced off toward the hospital.

Hours later, they emerged with they new baby daughter, Dolores. Clover had named her after the song she had just been learning when she went into labor.

Bloom was SO excited to become a grandfather.

But as soon as her grandparents approached to fuss over her, Dolores burst into ear-splitting screams.

Clover tried to calm the writhing bundle by feeding her with a bottle, while Bloom and Matilda went upstairs to make sure that everything in the new nursery was ready.

"It's like she did that on purpose just now", Darwin observed.
"Oh don't be silly!", Clover replied as she struggled to have the baby actually drink from the bottle. Little Dolores kept spitting out the milk all over herself and Clover. "You're just being cranky, Darwin, love. I think we all need some rest."

In her new lovingly decorated nursery, Dolores quieted down immediately, apparently fascinated by the space-themed mobile.

"See?", Clover whispered. "She's falling asleep already. Let's get some sleep too."

But there wasn't much rest to be had that night.

Or the next night.

Or the one after that.
Darwin felt like every time they closed their eyes just for a second, the baby would scream.

Darwin and Clover divided up the late-night baby duty between each other, not wanting to burden the elderly grandparents.

They felt that Bloom and Matilda had thoroughly earned the free time they had together in Hidden Springs now.

With all the stress of the surprise pregnancy and the newborn baby, the wedding had been postponed for much longer than Clover and Darwin would have liked. But finally, the big day arrived.

The whole extended family was in attendance. Tyree sat next to his uncles Bloom and Broccoli.

Sedrick, Beryllium and a party crasher in a zebra-print gown bawled their eyes out, while Broccoli's new wife Francesca Vanderburg-Kim, Citrus and Bismuth watched in silence.

The couple exchanged vows and rings, with the lake and mountains in the background. They would have loved to have their ceremony outdoors, but the weather did not allow for it. At this moment, however, the two of them did not care where they were.

All the while, Matilda did her best to keep Dolores quiet, who, amazingly, did not cry for once.

The crowd cheered. Even Darwin's mother Hannah, with whom he had had no contact since she left his step-father, had come from Bridgeport to attend the wedding. The only relative not in attendance was Cypress.

According to Citrus, Cypress' girlfriend had just broken up with him and he was crushed. Bloom decided not to tell Clover about it for now, not wanting to spoil her big day.

Darwin's mother Hannah had a few kind words for him before leaving.

"I hope you're not mad at me for inviting her", Clover smiled. "I thought the two of you needed to talk."

"We did", Darwin replied. "Thanks, love. You know what I need better than I do, apparently."

"I think I know exactly what you need", she purred seductively.

Back home, the newlyweds quickly moved on to their bedroom.

They shared a few tender moments, taking it slow even though they were both full of anticipation for their wedding night.

But Dolores had other plans.