Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,
Had another and didn't love her;
Peter learned to read and spell,
And then he loved her very well.

Peter and his wife lived happily. He had provided for his Pumpkin very, very well within their house of pumpkin bricks. His beautiful little wife, she was never without love for his heart was devoted to her and to her happiness with him.

Unfortunately, all blissful things cannot last forever. Pumpkin was pregnant with her Peter's hot pumpkin seed, and it seemed that the more the baby within her belly developed, the more life she lost. All color drained from her skin, her flesh sickly pale. The once energetic woman grew lethargic. She rarely left the comfort of their bed, and she barely ate the pumpkin foods he cooked for her. She rarely even spoke anymore.

One early morning, his little wife went into labor. She cried, but was nearly silent as she gave birth to their infant child. She had not the energy to voice her pains, but the tears flowed naturally, as did her blood once the child was born. Peter aided his wife as best he knew, and held her and his child in his arms the whole day through, but his little Pumpkin did not make it to the night.

As the lay dying within his arms, her warm brown eyes fell to their baby girl. The child had Peter's black eyes and her soft, orange hair. A pretty little girl. More tears fell down Pumpkin's cheeks and she gazed softly up to her Peter, sadness in those deep brown eyes.

"I'm sorry, dear Peter..." She began to whisper, struggling to voice her final words. "I'm sorry, I..."

His eyes glazed over with hot tears at her admitting her regrets. He stopped her from voicing them further, pressing a finger tenderly to her lips, "Shh...It's okay. You're going to be okay, my beautiful Pumpkin. Everything is going to be okay," of course he knew it wouldn't be okay, but he wanted it to be. Every fiber, every inch of his being wanted her to be okay.

"...I..." her eyes fluttered weakly, her body was limp against his. Her eyes drifted to their baby, now asleep in her Peter's arms, "I...l-love yo..u..." her final words spoken in a broken, stuttered speech, his lovely Pumpkin wife passed away in his arms from his loving world into death and Peter held her close. Peter broke into tears, crying into her cold flesh.

"Oh, love..." he cried, "No. No no no no no!" shaking his head, careful with the infant in his one arm, squeezing his dead wife close in the other. She was gone.

Time passed very slowly while passing, but by the time his daughter was five Peter wondered where the time had gone. He named his baby Amber because of the orangey hue of her hair. She was his Amber Pumpkin Princess, and he loved his daughter with all of his heart. He swore, however, that no other would ever share a place within the warm confines of his love but his daughter and his dear Pumpkin love.

Peter's daughter wished to learn, and he desired to see her happy. He desired to give her everything she wished for. Thus, Peter searched out a teacher for his darling daughter. Many were given a chance to be his daughter's private tutor, but there was only this one young woman, only a little younger than his wife would be now had she survived, whom was kind and loving and was accepted by his young child as her teacher.

Peter moved the woman into his home, into a room upstairs, and paid her for her teaching services. He smiled to hear his little girl giggle happily as she spent time with a female. Lily, the fair featured teacher, immediately took on a motherly role, teaching Amber with love and patience.

As Amber learned to read, she enjoyed spending more and more time with her father. She enjoyed reading to him before she went to sleep. One night when Amber was seven years old, she crawled up into her father's bed and rest her book of fairytales in her lap, flipping to one of her favorites. She read to her father about a young girl who lost both her parents at a young age and was forced to live catering to her mean step-relatives. A young woman who, in the end, married her prince and lived happily ever after.

Peter's mind drifted. He thought about his lovely lost wife, Pumpkin, and he missed her dearly. While lost in his thoughts, his daughter gazed up to him with her own pensive stare. After a moment, he stroked her long hair gently and asked softly, "What is it you're thinking, little one?"

"Papa, I...I noticed when you entered the room today that Lady Lily looked up to you with kind eyes. She gazed up to you with love, and turned her head away to blush. Papa, do you think you could ever marry Lady Lily? Do you think she could be a mother to me?"

"Sweetheart..."

"I want a Mama, Papa...I want someone to love me the way I dream my mother would have loved me..."

"Your mother loved you very much, darling..." Peter tried to avoid discussing the thought of marrying Lily. He had noticed the way she looked upon him as well, but he knew he could not love her. His heart belonged to his wife, and his wife alone. He couldn't take another and truly ever hold her in his heart like he did his Pumpkin. Never.

"Papa..."

"Yes, darling?"

"I want a Mama, Papa..." There were tears welling up in the young child's eyes, and Peter could do nothing but sigh. He wanted to make her happy. He wanted to give her what she wanted. "Papa..."

"We'll see, my little one, we'll see. Now go. Rest."

"I love Miss Lily, Papa..."

"I'll talk to Miss Lily, Sweety. Now it's time for bed." He drew his child up into his arms and carried her into her room, tucking her into her bed. "Sleep well, my child, and dream sweetly. We'll discuss this more tomorrow."

"Yes, Papa. Goodnight, Papa. I love you!"

He smiled faintly and kissed her forehead, "I love you, too, my darling little one. Now sleep."

Yawning, Amber nodded and was soon fast asleep. Walking back to his own room, Peter thought over his child's words. She did deserve a mother, and Lily did love his daughter.

He thought it over, and the following day he asked Lily to marry him for his daughter's sake and she was happy to oblidge. She loved Peter and his child very much, and wanted to be an eternal part of his family. She wanted this family to be her family as well.

However, her bliss when she said "I do" would fade quick. She tried her best to keep happy over the following months, but Peter refused her that most intimate of embraces. He barely came to allow her to sleep in his bed with him at night, except that she argued she was his wife now and should be able to sleep besides her husband love. Peter never even kissed his wife past that required kiss following their wedding vows. He loved her naught, and she would often cry without his knowledge.

Lily's sorrow began eating at her, and one night she got up from the dinner table complaining of a stomach ache and was quickly off to bed. Laying down, feeling hollow inside, she turned into the coverlet and buried her face into her pillows, crying streams of quiet tears.

Peter put his daughter to bed early that night without her reading a bedtime story to him. He kissed her forehead and wished her sweet dreams, thinking that she started looking more and more like her mother with each passing day. Well, with the exception of her eyes. Oh, how he missed his wife's warm brown eyes!

Walking to his own bed room, he heard sobbing from outside the door. Peter opened the door softly and gazed in upon his new wife, whom he realized he hadn't even really given much of a chance. She was crying and his instantaneous reaction was the urge to go to her side, sweep her into his arms and comfort her tears.

Peter didn't do exactly as he felt he should, but he did walk over to the bed and draw her softly into his arms. Stroking her soft, straight brown hair tenderly, he asked gently, "What's wrong, Lily?"

She pulled away from him. She turned away because she did not want him to see the sorrow in her eyes. She did not want him comforting her because he did not love her. Couldn't he see? All she ever wanted was for him to love her!

"Lily?"

She didn't respond. She simply crawled up under the covers and forced herself to sleep. Peter lay down beside her, staring at the ceiling for a long while before he found any rest himself. He pondered his wife's unhappiness. Why was she so sad?

He realized how little he had given his wife in the way of feeling. He realized that she wanted his love, which he was very wary about giving to any female after the death of his Pumpkin. Truth was, he had come to cherish the delicate flower that lay beside him. She made his daughter happy, and in turn made him happy. Also, she was very pretty, she had a gentleness to her that he adored. Upon his interspection, Peter came to realize that he did welcome Lily into his heart over the past few months. She was a part of his life he didn't want to lose, and seeing her sad made him realize how much he had come to love her. He did not want to see his pretty, soft little flower wife sad.

Sighing, he turned over and stared at the wall for a while. Thinking it over, he made a decision and then closed his eyes and fell fast asleep with pleasant thoughts and pleasant dreams.

The following day he barely saw Lily at all. She moved to the study early in the morning and did not exit the room at all. She merely sifted through lesson plans and awaited her student's entrance to the room. Amber was late. Lily would have been a little mad at the girl and searched her out if she had not been so terribly sad. So, due to her dismal mood, she merely awaited the arrival of her little pupil.

However, it was not the little girl who entered the room that day. That day, Peter opened the doors and shut them behind him. He waited for Lily's eyes to lift from the desk to see who entered the study. He waited for her to ask her student to come sit down.

Lily looked up and gasped a little, softly, having not expected her husband standing there. He wore his best suit, and smiled to her kindly. He approached her desk.

"Where's Amber?"

"I sent her out to spend time with a neighboring family. She has friends there."

"Oh." Lily started cleaning up the books and papers upon her desk, but Peter's hands found hers, stopping her movements. She looked up to him in silence, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"No, don't clean up the lesson. Teach me, dearest Lily. Teach me to read. Teach me to write." His lips grew ever closer to her own with every word, his tone of voice softening slowly upon each syllable, "Teach me, my darling wife, to love."

His lips pressed to hers in a tender, passionate kiss. He pulled her body in closer to his own, feeling her heart racing beneath his own as they stood there embracing. His hard chest was pressed into her soft, warm one. Again he whispered in hear ear, nipping at her earlobe as he did so, "Teach me."

There in his eyes, Lily finally saw what she had been searching for. His gaze was filled with love and passion. Peter carried her to their bedroom and took her into his complete embrace. He made love to her softly. They rest in each others arms, and she sighed blissfully before falling deep into a more pleasant sleep.

The days that followed would be filled with happiness. They were a true, whole family now. Peter and his wife loved one another, and their daughter. They added many more children to their family like precious little pumpkins in a pumpkin patch, and all lived happily ever after.

The End.