Chapter Thirteen
“So how’s it going?” Cole asked.
He and Brooks sat on the couch while the women were on the floor on the other side of the living room watching as the baby lay on her back kicking her feet in the air.
“All right,” Brooks said.
Cole raised his eyebrows and waited.
Brooks didn’t say anything for a second. “I told Leah I’d help her get ahold of the father.”
“So why do you sound so pissed about it?”
“The father is Marcus Cassidy.”
Cole’s eyes widened. “Douchebag Cassidy from college?”
Brooks nodded and Cole gave a low whistle. “Well, shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Does she know about him?”
“What, that the guy is a total dick who made it his mission in life to screw me over? No.”
“Well, maybe she should.”
Brooks waved that off. “It’ll look like I’m jealous of the asshat.”
“So are you still going to try and find him?”
“I already did. I left a message through his secretary that he needed to check his Facebook messages.”
Cole raised a brow. “That’s pretty vague.”
Brooks shrugged. “Maybe, but I said I’d try and find the guy, not that I’d bring him to her wrapped in a neat little bow.”
“You think he’ll respond?”
“My gut reaction is no. Under normal circumstances. But…she told him that she’s married to me.”
Cole sat back. “If he reads those messages he’ll know that the woman carrying his child is married to you.”
“Yeah.”
“Holy shit.”
Brooks sighed. “Yeah.”
“You need to warn her about him.”
“Anything I say is going to come off wrong. What am I supposed to do? Tell her that if the guy does come around, it’s only because he’s got some weird complex about always besting me and stealing my wife would be the epitome of that?”
“Something like that.”
“I can’t do that. Hopefully, he’ll see the word baby and run screaming in the other direction.”
“Yeah, hopefully.” Though Cole didn’t look even slightly convinced that would happen. “So, other than baby daddy drama, how are things? You know…with the whole marriage thing?”
“Fine.”
“Just fine?”
“Put the meddling mother tone away,” Brooks said. “It can’t be going much more than fine until the doctor says everything’s good to go. And even then I’d be terrified to touch her.”
“Man,” Cole said, slapping him on the knee, “don’t worry about it. It happens. It’s really common.”
“Really? Did it happen when Kiersten was pregnant?”
“Well no, but it’s in all the baby books. The doctor said everything is good, right?”
“Yeah. I don’t know, though, and to be honest it’s something I’ve been trying hard not to think about.”
“I can understand that. In the meantime, are you sure you’re up to this?” Cole nodded his head at his offspring.
“Sure. I mean, how hard can it be?”
Cole looked at him and laughed.
“Way to be ominous, bro.”
That only made Cole laugh harder.
Kiersten and Leah came over to join them, Kiersten jostling the baby on her hip. “What’s so funny over here?”
Cole stood up and kissed her on the cheek. “Brooks said he thinks this will be a piece of cake.”
Kiersten looked over at him and grinned. “Just like the cow would be a piece of cake.”
“Hey. Vow,” Brooks said.
Leah looked back and forth between them all. “Okay, I’m definitely being left out of an inside joke here.”
Brooks sighed. “It peed on me. And that’s all I’m saying about it.”
Leah’s jaw dropped and Brooks shook his head, not wanting to relive the memory.
“And on that note,” Kiersten said, “we’ve got to get going.”
She handed him the baby, startling Brooks too much to do anything but take her, though he had assumed Leah would be doing most of the baby work. He held the baby under her arms, letting her legs dangle in the air, but he didn’t know how long he could keep that up. She squirmed much more than he’d anticipated.
“She’s not a bomb, Brooks,” Kiersten said. “Hold her back against your body.”
He’d seen it done in movies and in the park, but he hadn’t had any younger siblings to practice on, and he hadn’t been around babies much. He did what Kiersten said, tucking his arms under the baby’s legs and holding her back against his chest. It still didn’t feel comfortable but he did have a better grip on her.
“Okay, we’ll be back in a few hours,” Kiersten said. “Have fun, you two.”
She glanced at Leah and they shared a look. Leah grinned and walked them to the elevator. Piper started squirming again and arching back against him. He didn’t want to put her on the floor so he sat her up on the couch, but she promptly slid to her side. She didn’t seem uncomfortable, though, so he left her lying there while he went to get her blanket. He spun around when he heard Leah gasp.
“What? What is it? What’s wrong?”
She took two giant steps toward the couch, arms out, catching the baby before she rolled off.
“You can’t leave babies unattended like that,” she said.
“But she wasn’t unattended. I was right here. I turned around for a second.”
“That’s all it takes.”
“I didn’t know she could roll like that. I thought she’d stay put.”
Leah laughed. “Babies never stay put. You can’t leave them someplace where they might roll off. Either build a barrier with pillows or strap her in her bouncy chair or something. Or just lay her on the floor. She’ll be fine.”
Brooks took a deep breath trying to keep his heart from pounding straight out of his chest. He’d been in charge for less than a minute and he’d already almost killed the baby. Her parents probably weren’t even out of the elevator yet.
“I think this was a bad idea,” he said.
Leah laughed again. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.” She handed Piper back to him. “I have to use the restroom. Will you be okay on your own for a minute?”
Brooks looked at the squirming bundle smiling up at him. “Sure, but…hurry back, okay?”
She grinned at him and shook her head. “Don’t leave her alone on any high surfaces.”
“No high surfaces. Got it.”
He sat on the couch, but Piper kept wriggling in his arms. “Are you bored? Do you want to lie down? What do you want?”
She blinked up at him with her big blue eyes and shoved her little fist in her mouth. A line of drool leaked from between her chubby fingers as she chewed on it…heading straight for his shirt. He glanced around trying to find something to catch the mess. Her diaper bag sat a few feet away at the end of the couch. He went to put her down and then remembered rule number one: no leaving the baby alone on high surfaces. So he carried her with him, taking care to keep her face away from his shirt.
He rummaged through the diaper bag unearthing diapers, wipes, assorted bottles of powders and ointments, toys, bottles, formula mix, extra outfits, changing pads…there had to be something in there to catch the… Oh there it was!
He grabbed a square of cloth and wiped the baby’s chin and fist, but his shirt was already a goner, smeared with baby drool. He sighed and smiled down at her.
“Looks like your daddy’s footing the dry-cleaning bill this month,” he said. Piper grinned back up at him. Cute little thing, he had to admit that.
He held her up a little higher. “You know, I’ve always wondered why people get so goofy over babies.” He held her out so she could see his face. She giggled and swatted at him.
He laughed. “You guys are kind of cute, though, aren’t you? Aren’t you?” he said again, his voice changing an octave. “Yes, you are. I don’t know why I’m talking like this. But I can’t seem to stop. It’s contagious, I think. Baby-itis. Are you contaminated? I think you are. I’m going to talk like this forever, aren’t I? Yes, I am. You’re just adorable. Definitely take after your mummy. Not smelly Daddy. No, we don’t like him.”
He held her over his head, jostling her around to make her laugh. She giggled harder so he continued to do it, even when he heard the bathroom door open. Sure, there was a slight sense of embarrassment, but that was overshadowed by the adorable sounds coming out of the little creature in his hands.
“Brooks, you might want to be careful,” Leah said.
“Careful of what? She’s just adorable. Couldn’t hurt a fly. No, she couldn’t,” he said in that annoying baby voice that people get around anything younger than a teenager, that he seriously couldn’t stop doing.
“Aren’t you? You’re a tiny little thing. What could you possibly do—”
There was no warning, no sign of distress. No scrunched-up face. No cry. The baby went from an adorable giggling machine to an Exorcist-worthy vomit fountain in under a second. It happened so fast he didn’t even know how to react, just stood there blinking the warm liquid from his eyes as Piper began to fuss.
Oh, sure. Now she cries.
Leah hurried over and took her from him, handing him a towel.
“Would now be a bad time to say I told you so?” she asked, blinking at him with her best angelic face.
“Yep,” he said. “Going to have to take a rain check on that, if it’s all the same to you.”
“Gotcha. I’ll pencil that in for later. Though, to avoid a repeat, it’s good to be a little careful when the baby has just eaten. Kiersten fed her right before they left.”
“Ah,” he said, dabbing at his face. “Good to know. Though really…how does something so tiny produce such a large volume of something so disgusting?”
Leah laughed and the baby followed along with her.
“Oh sure,” he said. “I bet you two are getting a kick out of this, aren’t you?” he said, the baby voice popping out again.
Leah pulled out her phone and took a quick snapshot. Brooks held out his hands to block his face, but it was too late.
“Oh, this is so going to be my new profile picture,” she said.
“Don’t you dare. I’m more than happy to share it with you.” He took a threatening step toward her and she flung out a hand to keep him away.
“No, no, okay, you win!” She nodded him in the direction of the bathroom. “Go get cleaned up. I’ll take care of the baby.”
“Okay. Just be careful of that,” he said, pointing at the baby’s little mouth, “and that.” He pointed to the diaper region. “I’ve heard things can get pretty bad down there too.”
Leah laughed again and shooed him away. “Don’t worry, I can handle it.”
He walked out, glancing back once to watch her as she cradled the baby. The scene was so domestic, something he had never expected to see in his living room. Not in his lifetime. But somehow it felt incredibly right. Surreal beyond a doubt. But right. For the first time, a profound sense of regret filled him that the happy little scene couldn’t last. A small part of him whispered why can’t it? He shook his head and pushed that back into the deep, dark box from which it had crawled. He and Leah hadn’t known each other very long, not long enough for him to screw it up, but he had no doubt he would remedy that soon enough.
He always did.
…
Leah finished burping the baby and looked over at Brooks who sat in an armchair scrolling through his tablet. It was crazy how normal it all felt, how much like a family they seemed. For a few hours, she’d forgotten that everything was fake and had even allowed herself to imagine that they were home with their own baby. She needed to nip that kind of thinking in the bud. It would only make things harder down the road.
“Can you take Piper for a minute?” she asked, bringing her over. “I need to get dinner started.”
He blinked up at her in surprise. “We could order something.”
She smiled. He couldn’t fool her. His desire for takeout had more to do with his fear of being left alone with the baby again than it did with any culinary preferences.
“Hold her for a minute. She’s almost asleep.”
Brooks reluctantly held out his arms and she laid the sleepy baby in them, leaning down to give Piper’s head a kiss.
“There, see,” she said. “She likes you.” Brooks glanced down at the baby uncertainly, but nodded at Leah when she gave him a questioning look.
“Don’t go too far.”
“I’ll be in the kitchen right behind you.”
She busied herself in the kitchen getting things ready, quickly chopping vegetables and dicing chicken for a stir-fry. Every now and then she glanced up to make sure Brooks hadn’t exploded in a shower of baby-induced panic. He seemed to be handling things okay.
She got everything ready and dished out, and turned to call him to the table, but the sight that met her stopped her in her tracks. Quiet fussing noises came from the baby. Brooks had her tucked against his chest while he gently rocked her and the faint sound of his singing floated to her. The sight of him singing about sunshine and rainbows, the tiny bundle cradled in his muscular arms, sent a wave of emotion through Leah so strong she had to grip the chair. She didn’t even know how to process the chaos tumbling around inside her. It was beyond adorable, incredibly sweet, and if she wasn’t already pregnant this probably would have knocked her up on the spot.
What was it about a big strong man cradling a tiny baby that was so damn sexy?
He glanced up at her and saw her watching him, but instead of getting embarrassed like she thought he would, he smiled. Not his usual over-the-top goofy grin, but a tender, happy smile that, at once, looked so out of place and yet right at home on his face.
“Dinner’s ready,” she said to him, speaking quietly so as not to disturb the newly settled baby.
He glanced down. “What do I do with her?”
Leah waved him over to where she’d set up a playpen.
“Set her down in there so she can nap while we eat.”
He gently deposited the precious bundle into the playpen and then stood at the side, gazing down. “They’re really cute when they’re sleeping, aren’t they?”
She laughed quietly. “Pretty cute when they’re awake, too.”
Brooks nodded. “Well, except for when she’s doing her Exorcist imitation. But other than that, yeah, sure.”
They laughed again and she took his hand to draw him into the kitchen. “Sit. Eat.”
He picked up a fork and stared down at the food.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, putting a napkin in her lap. “You don’t like stir-fry?”
“No, I love it. It’s not that. It’s…I don’t think I’ve had an actual home-cooked meal since the last time my mom came to visit.”
“Don’t you cook?”
He snorted. “I’ve attempted it a few times. It didn’t go well.”
“Oh, come on. I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”
“Freshman year of college. I wanted to impress this girl I liked. So I invited her to my dorm room for a home-cooked meal.”
“To your dorm room?”
He nodded. “I had one of those hot plate things. And a microwave. I figured I was set.”
“And?”
“Well, I had her in bed by nine.”
Leah raised her eyebrows, waiting for the punch line.
“Except it wasn’t the bed I’d covered in black silk sheets, it was a bed in the ER and she was puking her guts out with food poisoning. The ER doc said it was the worst case he’d ever seen.”
He shook his head, his eyes focused on the long-ago past. “I’d never felt so bad about anything in my life. I’d tried really hard, too. Found some fancy recipe in one of those Martha Stewart magazines. Blew a whole paycheck and an entire day sweating over that stupid little hot plate. I don’t think it got quite hot enough, though.”
“I’m sure she appreciated the effort.”
He laughed, though there was no amusement in the sound. “Naw, she’d wanted me to take her to some fancy restaurant that had just opened because that’s where her roommate’s boyfriend had taken her. But that guy had a rich daddy and a big allowance. I had a hard-working dad who was barely making ends meet himself and a job delivering pizzas at night to help pay for college. So I borrowed some of those little white Christmas lights from a friend in the Theater Club and strung them all over my room, cleaned it up real nice. You know, tried to make it all romantic.”
“It sounds wonderful,” Leah said, her heart aching for him. He told the story with a smile, but his eyes held a lingering pain that she wished she could erase.
“You’d have thought I’d taken her to some back alley and tried to feed her dumpster drippings. She choked down a couple bites and finally spit it out and asked what kind of a cheapskate moron would try to cook an edible meal in a dorm room.”
“That’s horrible!”
He shrugged. “She wasn’t wrong. I mean, she did end up in the ER.”
Leah’s heart cracked a little more. She had half a mind to find out who that girl was so she could go defend his honor or something. What a despicable way to treat someone.
“She was wrong. Whether it met her expectations or not, you went to a lot of trouble and she was nothing but a…a…bitch.”
That startled a genuine laugh out of him. “I didn’t know you had such a potty mouth, Little Miss Schoolteacher.”
“I only use it on special occasions.”
“Good to know you have a naughty side,” he said with a wink.
Oh, she had a very naughty side. But letting it out to play would be incredibly ill-advised so she ignored that remark. “If it’s any consolation, I know how you must have felt.”
“You’ve given someone food poisoning, too?”
She laughed. “No. But I’ve gone to extreme effort only to have it thrown back in my face. A guy I’d been dating for over a year ended up moving so we tried the long-distance thing for a while. He had to fly into a city that was about an hour or so from me for a business meeting. We were supposed to meet up when he was done, but I knew the meeting wasn’t going well and I wanted to surprise him. I went and bought all his favorite candies, wrote out a bunch of notes about the things I loved about him, and placed them all around his hotel room so he’d find them when he got out of his meeting.”
“And he didn’t like it?”
She frowned at the unwelcome memory. “I didn’t hear from him for two days. I’d been supposed to meet him at the hotel. It’s why I had the key for his room. But since he didn’t call me to tell me when he got back, I assumed…well, I didn’t know what to think. He wouldn’t return any of my messages. He finally answered the phone two days later. Didn’t mention his hotel room at all so when I brought it up, he said he thought it was kind of stalkery and it had made him uncomfortable so he’d left and gone back home.”
“He thought it was stalkery for a woman he’d been dating for a year to go into a hotel room to which she’d been invited to spread around some love notes and candy to cheer him up when he’d had a bad day?”
“Yeah.”
Brooks shook his head. “I think some people are determined to be miserable. You can shower me with love notes and candy anytime you want.”
She laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind. Now eat before it gets cold. I hope you like it,” she said, squirming at the sudden shyness that flooded her.
“I’m sure it’ll be amazing.”
He gave her a smile that warmed her down to her very core, and she turned her attention to her dinner to break the connection. He was certainly turning out to be more than she’d expected, which was going to be a problem when it came time to say good-bye.
She pushed that thought away. For the moment, she would enjoy the time they had.
By the time Kiersten and Cole came to pick up Piper, Brooks had exhausted himself in a tornado of baby care. Leah met them at the door with her finger to her lips and gestured them over to the couch where she pointed down at the cutest sight ever. Kiersten put her hand over her mouth and smiled and then whipped out her phone. Cole shook his head while his wife snapped several pictures, but even he was smiling.
Brooks had fallen asleep on the couch with the baby tucked in one arm, a burp cloth over his shoulder, three teddy bears tucked in around them, and a bottle in his hand. And one of those horseshoe-shaped baby pillows on his head that he had been wearing as a crown to try and get the baby to laugh.
“So it went well then?” Kiersten asked.
“Surprisingly well. I mean, there is obviously a bit of a learning curve,” she said, gesturing to the destroyed apartment. “But he started to get the hang of everything. He might not have all the mechanics down of changing diapers and stuff, but he has a way with babies that is pretty cute. He had her smiling and gurgling at him the whole time.”
Kiersten beamed. “I’m glad it wasn’t too horrible for you guys.”
Leah shook her head. “We had fun.”
Cole had finished gathering up their things so Kiersten went to collect the baby from Brooks. He startled awake when she took the baby, but quickly settled back down to sleep when he saw that it was her.
Leah walked them to the door and said her good-byes. Then she went back over to the couch and stared down at Brooks for a few moments. He wasn’t remotely what she’d expected. In any given situation, he always found some way to surprise her.
Life with him, while it lasted, would never be boring, that was for sure.
The door buzzer sounded and Brooks jumped. Leah laughed. “It’s just the door.”
“Oh,” he said, rubbing his hand over his face.
“I’ll see who it is.” Leah turned to check the intercom but Brooks stood and stretched.
“It’s probably Cole,” he said, holding up the baby blanket he’d been snuggling with. “Can’t put the princess to bed without her favorite blanket, which I apparently stole from her. You sit. I’ll check the door.”
He’d popped off the couch and was already at the door checking the video monitor before Leah could respond. She shrugged. She sank onto the couch and leaned her head against the back, glad to get her increasing weight off her feet. Her little peanut was starting to kill her back and feet. She rubbed her hands over her belly, over and over. Feeling the hard mound beneath her fingertips, its wiggling inhabitant safe and snug, had become a soothing gesture for her.
The door buzzer sounded again and Brooks cursed under his breath but buzzed in whoever it was and came back over to her. She glanced at him and at the sight of his face, immediately sat up, her heart thudding in concern.
“Brooks? What’s the matter? Who is it?”
He gave her a tight smile. “You have a visitor.”