I almost moaned with delight because I could have my fix again. I lifted my mug and drank down half the cup of coffee with one gulp. After so many months of being denied coffee, it was nice to be able to get my caffeine on. When I heard Jay crying over the monitor, I downed the rest of the cup and went to the sink to rinse it and set it aside before dashing upstairs to check on him.

When I walked into the nursery that Austin had set up halfway between our rooms, I found that he was already there, lifting Jay from the crib. I stopped in the doorway, watching quietly as Austin fondly nuzzled the crook of Jay's neck and laid him on the changing table.

"You ever wonder how something so tiny can take up so much of our time?" I asked honestly as I walked into the room. "It seems like if he's not sleeping, he's either fussy, gassy, puking, or crapping out all of the nasty things that need not be mentioned. Are all babies like this, or is ours defective?" When Austin looked up in horror, I flashed him a wink to let him know I was teasing.

He rolled his eyes and did the adorable baby talk thing he'd adopted over the past couple of weeks. "Don't listen to your papa, pumpkin. He doesn't have a lot of experience with babies. We can forgive him for even insinuating that you might not be the most perfect and precious little angel ever born, can't we?"

As he removed the diaper, Austin glanced up at me in concern, the baby talk dropping. "This rash is getting worse, Owen. I don't think that cream is working. Would you mind going into my bathroom and getting mine? In the medicine cabinet you'll find a tube of diaper rash cream that contains a much higher percentage of zinc oxide. Maybe it’ll work better than the one we've been using. I’m just irritated with myself that I didn’t think of it sooner. I don't think that pediatrician knows what she's talking about, by the way. We should maybe try another doctor."

I smiled at his overprotective statement, but focused on the diaper rash cream. "Wait, do I want to know why you’d have diaper cream in your medicine cabinet?"

Austin blushed and shrugged a shoulder. "It works great on razor burn—you should try it sometime."

"Whatever you say." I chuckled as I left the room and went down the hall to the master bedroom. I looked around cautiously as I made my way to the bathroom. In the entire four months that we'd been married, this was the first time I'd entered Austin's private domain.

I wanted to take a moment and look around, but I knew that he’d be getting antsy for the cream. Instead, I satisfied myself with a quick glance around the unsurprisingly well-appointed room. Where my room had been made to look like a beach cottage, his was a study of different shades of brown. From tans to chocolates, it definitely had a more masculine vibe.

The bathroom had the same brown colors prominent throughout the room. From the caramel-colored tiled floor and chocolate-colored towels that hung against the light beige walls to the accessories that decorated the counter, it was all very masculine. I opened the medicine cabinet and tried not to laugh when I found the contents were alphabetized as I plucked the diaper cream off the shelf.

Before I left the bedroom, I took one last look around, intrigued to see a Himalayan salt crystal lamp on the nightstand. Maybe the so-called tin man wasn't quite as stiff as people believed.

"There you go, one tube of Desitin rapid relief cream." I handed him the tube and went to the dresser to get a fresh outfit for Jay while Austin began gently dabbing cream on the rash.

When I came back with the clothes, Austin had Jay's ankles lifted in one hand while he applied cream in between his butt cheeks. Right as he spread the cheeks apart to get in there better, Jay farted—loudly. I started to giggle, until I glanced at Austin and froze in horror. There was a speck of baby crap that must’ve flown out with the fart and landed right in the center of the dimple at the edge of Austin's mouth.

Austin glanced my way, then stiffened. "Why do I have a feeling there's something on my face that I don't want to know about?"

I gulped. "Do you want me to answer that or not? Help me out here, because I have no idea how to proceed right now."

"Judging by the smell that's hitting my nose, I'm assuming there was a little more behind that fart than I want to know about. If you'd be so kind, maybe you could grab a wipe and take care of the situation for me? Just do me a favor, don't ever speak of it or let me know. I love this little pumpkin, and I really don't want to shiver in revulsion every time I cuddle him."

"I can do that," I said with a straight face, biting hard on the inside of my cheek so as not to laugh. I deftly grabbed a wipe out of the pop-up container and stood on tiptoe as Austin leaned forward and closed his eyes so I could wipe his face.

After I was done, I pulled my hand back and looked closer to make sure that I hadn't missed anything. Austin opened his eyes before I could hide the wipe. His gaze latched onto the dark spot on the white wipe and he immediately gagged.

"Are you okay?" I asked, but Austin just held a finger up, his lips pinched tight, cheeks bulging out like a hamster’s as he gagged again. I took a step closer, forgetting about the wipe I still held in my hand. Austin took one more look at the wipe and lost it.

When he gagged again, this time he actually spewed vomit—right on the baby. Puke puddled all over his tummy and into the clean, open diaper. I put a hand to my mouth and tried not to sympathy vomit. Austin looked at Jay in dismay while I stood there torn somewhere between being grossed out by the puke and horrified that it was on my baby.

When I saw Jay lying there happily kicking his feet and cooing as though nothing had happened, I lost it. I couldn't help it—I started giggling. It was the kind of nervous giggling that started in my gut and bubbled up into full-blown, rollicking laughter. The entire thing was so utterly absurd that I couldn't help but laugh. And the more I laughed, the funnier it got.

Austin grabbed several wipes out of the container and went to start cleaning the vomit off Jay. The minute he touched his belly, Austin screeched and jerked back, accidentally dropping the wipes onto the rubber mat under the changing table. "It's still warm," he groaned, then gagged again. This time, he managed to turn around and grab the diaper pail before he started puking again.

My laughter subsided when I realized that Jay was just lying there covered in vomit while his dads acted like a pair of buffoons. I set the outfit I still held down and walked over to the changing table and grabbed a handful of wipes, quickly clearing away the worst of the—yep, still warm—puke off his belly and private bits and pieces, then tossed the wipes down onto the mat with the others before picking Jay up and holding him out at arm’s length.

"Come on, buddy. This situation calls for a bath." I carried him into the en suite—because every nursery requires its own bathroom if you're rich enough—and gently bathed him.

After we’d finished, I wrapped him in his ducky towel and went back into the nursery to find a chagrined Austin had already cleaned up the mess and was scouring the changing table. I grabbed a diaper, the rash cream, and the outfit I'd chosen and laid Jay in the crib to dry, diaper, and dress him. After I’d finished, I carried him downstairs for a bottle.

We were sitting in the living room, and Jay was just finishing his bottle when he began spitting up. I quickly set the bottle aside and laid him across my shoulder, patting his back to try and help him burp, but he just puked everything up. Thankfully, this time it was just milk being vomited and it was confined to the burping cloth.

Austin happened to walk in right as Jay was spitting up. He gagged, but simply held a fist to his mouth and took a few breaths until it passed this time. Once he'd recovered, Austin pulled his phone out. "I'm calling that doctor. This isn't normal, and Jay's going to get dehydrated if he's not holding anything down."

*****

"See? Our baby isn't defective, it was the pediatrician that needed an upgrade," Austin said as we returned home a few hours later.

"For the record, I didn't really think that our son is defective. I was just frustrated," I said, needing to clarify that before it became a thing. Speaking of which… "Oh, and by the way, Mr. Pukey-McPukes-a-Lot—you cannot give me any shit after you literally threw up all over our infant."

"That's fair." Austin groaned, shaking his head as he remembered the horror that was our afternoon. He went to work unloading the bag of groceries we'd stopped to pick up on our way home from the doctor. "I'm just glad the normal quack wasn't in today and we got to visit a different doctor in the practice. If it's okay with you, I'd like to switch over to that one. She was much better with Jay for one thing, and she picked up on the milk allergy the other jerk missed. We’re lucky Jay didn't get dehydrated. He's too young to have to suffer with that bullshit. When we called the doctor after the last visit and told her that Jay was still overly fussy and not holding down his bottles, she should have suspected something like this."

I smiled at Austin's protective indignation on Jay's behalf. "Calm down, Daddy. We’re still learning, and you made the right call today. And now we have the soy formula to try. But more importantly, we were able to get to the bottom of things before it got any worse." I cradled our fussy baby against my chest, bouncing slightly on my feet to try and calm him while Austin fixed a bottle.

"Shall we try it again?" Austin smiled as he held up the bottle.

"I have a good feeling about it this time; the pediatrician did recommend this formula, after all," I said with a nod.

Austin followed me into the living room, waiting till I got settled in the recliner before handing me the bottle. I smiled gratefully when he grabbed a small cushion and motioned for me to lift my arm so he could wedge it beneath Jay to make us both more comfortable. "Is there anything you don't think of, Austin?"

The doorbell rang right then, and Austin slowly winked. "Saved by the bell, because I'm not sure I had an answer to that question."

He came back a few minutes later with Brenda and Bradford, leaving them to get settled while he disappeared into the kitchen. Brenda was carrying several large gift bags, while Bradford was lugging a teddy bear that was probably bigger than me.

Brenda set the bags down on the table beside me and sat down in a neighboring chair. "Austin was just telling us about Jay. It seems I owe you another apology, Owen. I can't believe I didn't think to warn you that both of my boys had milk allergies."

"To be fair, dear, it's been thirty years since we had to deal with things like milk allergies." Bradford chuckled, setting the bear down on the couch and adjusting it so it looked as though the bear was joining us for tea or something. Bradford sat down beside it and playfully leaned against the bear’s shoulder, crossing his arms and making a silly face as though he were mugging for a camera. "What do you think, young man? Will this win me the grandfather of the year award?"

I grinned, already liking the pair so much better than I ever had. I turned to Brenda, tipping my head toward Bradford. "Is he always like this?"

"Not at all, my dear." She held a hand to the side of her mouth as she spoke in a stage whisper. "He's usually much worse."

As I shared a laugh with her, I couldn't help but be glad that I'd welcomed them into our lives. Austin came in a few minutes later and set a cup of coffee on the table beside me. "Just cream, right? I haven't noticed you put sugar in it, but I can go back and add some, if you'd like."

My heart skipped a beat at the idea that Austin had been thoughtful enough to bring me a cup of coffee, let alone the fact that he'd been watching me enough to know how I took it. "No, you have it exactly right. Just cream, no sugar."

"Can I offer either of you a cup of tea or coffee?" Austin offered, waiting expectantly as he looked back and forth between the two of them.

"I'd love a cup of tea, if you wouldn't mind," Bradford said, sitting up and looking more like his usual self.

"Yes, a cup of tea sounds lovely," Brenda agreed.

"Three cups of tea, coming right up." Austin smiled.

Brenda smiled as Austin excused himself to get tea for the three of them. "It's nice to see you settled, dear. I'm glad you're not deeply in mourning over my son and that you gave this young man of yours a chance. I can’t help but notice that the two of you seem to be really good together. I think my grandson is going to grow up in a happy home."

I was stunned by her words, but as I thought about it, I realized she was right. We really did seem to be good together. When had that happened? I smiled down at Jay before glancing back up at Brenda. "We really are happy here, aren't we? Thank you for noticing. I'll always miss Josh, but he and I were always just best friends. It's different having a husband, you know? There's just a certain level of security there, I suppose. " As I said that, I realized how true those words were.

But then again, how much of my security came from having a husband, and how much of it was because of who I'd married? We may have gotten married a lot sooner than the norm, but I didn't think I would've found a more stable man if I'd actually been looking for one.

I smiled to myself as I heard Josh's voice in my head. Hmm, maybe that's the secret. Didn't I tell you that things always work out the way they're meant to in the end?