Chapter Twenty-One
The baby made a sound that Leah could only describe as a half-strangled chipmunk squawking at the top of her squeaky little lungs.
It had been nearly a week and that sound still startled and confused Leah for a second, though she responded to it before she was even fully awake every time.
Brooks rolled over and put the pillow over his head with a groan and Leah laughed.
“I’ll get her,” she said.
Brooks mumbled something half-hearted about getting up, but she ignored him. It had been a very long night. The baby, who usually could run for perfect textbook baby of the year, had decided she’d had enough of behaving and refused to sleep unless being held, fed, or generally coddled. Not that Leah minded. Her little princess had captured her heart from the moment she’d entered the world and pampering her was generally a pleasure. Doing so on just a few hours sleep…not as much fun.
For Brooks…yeah, even less fun. He’d been surprisingly game to help out with everything baby-related. Though he typically needed so much reassuring it was easier to do it herself. And despite his assurances, she knew they were cramping his lifestyle. After he’d left the hospital right after the baby’s birth, Leah hadn’t been at all sure they’d be returning to his apartment. But he’d been there when she’d woken. And when it had been discharge time, he’d gathered them up and brought them home.
Still, things couldn’t go on as they were. They were going to have to figure everything out. Time was up. The peanut had arrived and she needed a stable home. Somewhere. And Leah grew less and less sure that that somewhere should be with Brooks. It had been bad enough having a pregnant woman under his roof, but with the baby there now, and Marcus dropping by almost every day…
Leah sighed and scooped up the baby, taking her out to the couch so she could feed her without disturbing Brooks more than necessary.
The sun shone brightly and Leah blinked sleepily at the clock. Ten in the morning. She stifled a yawn and got the baby settled into nursing. Their hours were completely messed up.
She looked down at the baby. “You need to learn the difference between day and night, my little love,” she said. She ran a hand over the baby’s soft downy hair. “And we really need to find you a name. Lucy…are you a Lucy?”
The baby didn’t react.
“Emma? Charlotte? We could call you Charlie for short.”
The baby kept right on nursing.
“I still say you go with something unusual. Make her stand out in the crowd. Like…Chadwick,” Brooks said, rubbing a hand over his face as he stumbled in the direction of the coffee pot.
Leah chuckled. “I’m not calling her Chadwick.”
“You could go full-on celebrity and call her Rainbow Unicorn Dust. Or Poppyseed Cornbread.”
“Oh, those are lovely,” she said, trying not to laugh too hard or she’d dislodge little Unnamed One. “I’m a terrible mother, aren’t I? I mean, she’s been here almost a week and I still haven’t named her. What kind of mother can’t name her own child?”
Brooks carried his coffee over to her and leaned down to kiss her head. “The kind who loves her child so much she wants to wait until she has the perfect name. Take your time. Her Majesty isn’t going anywhere.”
Leah’s laugh turned to a gasp when Brooks turned to navigate around the couch but got tangled up in the straps of the diaper bag lying near the end. His body went one way, his legs stayed with the diaper bag, and in a move truly worthy of a hero movie, he twisted in time to keep his hot coffee from splattering Leah and the baby, tossing it instead over his other shoulder toward the pale white wall behind him. He went down hard. Let out a grunt of distressed air. And then lay perfectly still.
“Ow.”
Leah put the baby in the bassinet they kept near the couch and hurried to him.
“Are you okay?”
He blinked up at her. “That depends on your definition of okay.”
Her lips twitched. “Anything broken?”
He frowned. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“Need help up?”
He shook his head. The movement brought his newly coffee-splattered wall, and the painting centered on it that now sported a new brown splotch, to his attention.
Leah shrugged. “I kind of like it. It’s like a big abstract mural or something with the coffee adding a new dimension to the painting that carries right off the canvas.”
He snorted. “Yeah. I’m sure the new design will make an original Jackson Pollock worth even more.”
Leah’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my gosh, is it…”
He waved her away. “Don’t worry about it. Hopefully it can be cleaned or restored. The more pressing problem is finding a place for all this stuff,” he said, sitting up and rolling his shoulders. “Or get rid of most of it. Surely something that little,” he said, pointing in the direction of the baby, “doesn’t really need this much.”
Leah glanced around. He wasn’t wrong about the stuff everywhere. The apartment had been redecorated in wall-to-wall baby gear. Brooks’s once seductive bachelor pad had turned into Baby Central and no matter what he said, she could tell he wasn’t all that thrilled with the changes. But he was wrong about whether she needed it all. There were quite a few things she didn’t have that she’d like to but hadn’t gotten because there was nowhere to put it.
And it wasn’t because his apartment wasn’t big enough. The place was huge. But an industrial loft, no matter how jazzed up, wasn’t a great spot for a baby. At least not if they were going to keep the pool table and poker table and bar and gaming center and all the other non-baby-friendly crap he had and refused to get rid of. They were really going to have to bite the bullet and discuss their arrangements. If they were going to make them permanent. Or try to. Or if they were going to start looking for another place. A place where the baby stuff could go in the baby’s room instead of being strewn haphazardly about where anyone could trip and break their neck.
She wouldn’t even think about when the baby became mobile. The entire apartment would transform into a death trap—if they were even there that long.
The baby was born. Technically, their little charade should be coming to an end. Brooks won the marriage pool. He’d stuck it out through Baby Day, but they hadn’t discussed what happened next, and she wasn’t sure what he wanted. He hadn’t asked her to go.
But he hadn’t asked her to stay, either.
The buzzer sounded and Leah jumped and ran for the baby, who immediately began to wail. Brooks hauled himself up from the floor and hurried to answer the intercom.
She bounced the baby who hiccupped a few times and subsided back into sleep.
“It’s Marcus,” he said, opening the door. “I’ll be in the other room.”
He disappeared into the wine room and closed the door before Leah had a chance to say anything.
She took a deep breath, trying to force the hurt and frustration back into its dark little corner. Marcus and Brooks had called a sort of truce for the birth of the baby, but the moment they’d come home, the truce had ended. Now things were deteriorating day by day. It had only been a week and things had gone downhill to the point that Brooks wouldn’t stay in the same room as Marcus if at all possible. How the hell were they supposed to make a functional family unit for the baby if the men couldn’t even be in the same room?
Marcus came in and looked around, relaxing a little when he saw it was only her.
“How are you lovely ladies this morning?” he asked, handing her an iced tea that she gratefully accepted and nearly downed in a couple large sips. Nursing was thirsty work.
“We’re good,” she said, though her gaze flickered to the wine room.
“No Brooks this morning?”
Leah gave him a tight smile. “He’s home, just…busy.”
Marcus sighed and sat down. “I wish you’d let me hire a nanny. Even part time. It would give you a little break, a little extra help. I’d be here more, but with these mergers getting ready to go through…”
“I totally understand. And it’s sweet of you, really. But I’m fine. I promise. We just haven’t found our groove yet.”
“Well, if you change your mind, I’ve got a handful of excellent choices for you to look at. Say the word.”
“I will,” she said. She really did appreciate the offer, but there was no need to hire a nanny, at least not until she went back to work. Until then, she’d manage on her own.
“Okay, I’ve got paperwork for insurance and the trust fund I’ve set up for little Miss Perfect here. But we really have to settle on a name because eventually we’ll need it for the legal documents. Right now we can go with offspring, I suppose, but it’s not ideal.”
Leah spaced out a little as Marcus droned on about very important details she really needed to be paying attention to. But every time he’d make a statement she’d think about how Brooks would react and how she could minimize the antagonism between them. Frankly, the whole damn thing was exhausting.
“Marcus,” she said, holding out a hand to interrupt him. “All this is great, really. But do you mind if we continue later on? The baby just woke up and I haven’t showered yet and—”
“Not a problem. We can do this whenever. Sign these two real quick,” he said, laying a couple documents in front of her. “These will get her insurance going and gives you access to a few funds I’m setting up.”
She didn’t bother protesting any more. Just signed on the dotted line.
“Excellent. All right, my beautiful girls.” He leaned over and gave them both a kiss. “I shall return later.”
Leah smiled and waved as he left, and then slumped back against the couch, cradling her baby and waiting for Brooks to come out and start bitching about Marcus like he always did.
What in the world was she going to do with all the baby daddy drama?