The Baby, Part II

Bolting up in his chair, he runs his hands down his face as the doorbell chimes for the third time. Looking at the clock on the mantel, he sighs. He’s been asleep for just over an hour. But it’s late, and he can’t figure out who would be ringing the bell at that hour. Standing up, slightly uneasy and depressed that he’s been ripped from the dream, he yawns as he unlocks the door.

“Darling?”

~

The Baby, Part II

“No sir. It’s me. I’m sorry. I woke you didn’t I?” she questions, her arms wrapped around a brown paper bag. Yawning for the second time, he smiles weakly at her.

“No, not at all. Come in. Let me take that for you.” He says, as he takes the bag out of her arms and steps to the side so she can come in. Closing the door behind her, she follows him into the kitchen. Placing the bag on the table, he turns to look at her. “You’re soaking wet!” he proclaimed, as she looks down at her drenched self.

“Yes, I suppose I am.” She answers quickly, feeling terrible that after all his help that evening, she woke him up. “I’m so sorry I woke you up.” She adds as she feels herself blush slightly. “But once I got home, I couldn’t sleep. That’s when I realized that we hadn’t eaten and I was hungry, so I ran out to get something and figured that perhaps you’d like something too?” she questioned him hesitantly.

“That’s very thoughtful, thanks, but not needed. I told you I was glad to help.” He says, as he watches her begin to pull things out of the bag. “But you’re soaked. Why don’t you give me your things, change into your scrubs or something, and I’ll throw this stuff into the dryer. Your parents would kill me if you got sick because of this.” He says gently, as she nodded her head.

“That would be great. I’ll go grab my scrubs.” She answers as she heads for the office, but after a few moments she walked back into the kitchen empty handed. “I forgot. I wore them home the other night. I don’t have anything to change into. I snagged all my other clothes to switch out with other stuff.” She said, as he smiled at her.

“You’re welcomed to see if there is anything in the girl’s old rooms to borrow. I’m pretty sure you all wear pretty much the same sizes.” He answers her gently, as she nods her head once more. “While you look, what can I do to help?” he asks, nodding his head towards the bag on the table.

“If you’d set the oven to three –fifty, that would help a lot. It’s already been cooked, but I’ve got to reheat it.” She says as she opens the door to the first of the two bedrooms. “I should only be a few moments.” She adds, as he goes over and turns on the oven to the temperature she requested. A few moment later, she returns, but still in her wet clothes. 

"You didn't change." He states as he turns to look at her, but she's shaking her head.

"Nothing to change into." She replies. "But I'm fine. I can stay in what I'm in. It's no big deal." She adds, but he shakes his head.

"Not going to happen. Your parents would kill me if you get sick because of this." He says again, as he scratches his head thinking. "There might be something of her's still in my room if you want to look. Otherwise, we'll come up with something." He says as she looks at him surprised. Out of everything she ever expected to hear from him, that was not one of them.

"Okay then. Where in your room should I look?" she asks hesitantly, still unsure of what is going on. Walking past her, he leads her into his room before he points to a dresser near his bed.

"There might still be something in here of hers. Wear whatever you can find until your clothes are dry." He says before heading back into the kitchen to put what she brought into the oven to heat. 

~

Bustling around the kitchen a few minutes later, she sighs as she turns her back to the doorway and begins pour two glasses of milk to go with the baked macaroni she has in the oven warming. Coming into the kitchen, he sighs before he sees the outfit she was able to find. "That dress." he thinks to himself as he finds himself watching her bustling around. It had been a long time since he had seen her wear that dress and he sighs at the sight of her wearing it. It was lovely. That stunning orange that she looks so wonderful in and he can't help but want to comment about it how wonderful it is to see her wearing that again, but before he got to speak, she turns around to look at him.

"Are you alright sir?" she questions him, as he shakes his head. 

"Huh? Oh yeah. I'm fine. What smells so good?" he asks quickly as he realizes that it's not his wife, but the young girl instead. 

"Baked macaroni. I hope that's alright." She answers as he sits down at the table to watch her pull it out of the oven and set it on the table. "I just had a taste for it and Giant Eagle had some made tonight." She added as he smiled. 

"That sounds wonderful." He says as she dishing out a plate for him and sets it in front him before sitting down. "You know, it's funny that you were able to pick that dress tonight." He says, as she looks up at him.

"Oh? Why is that?" She questions him, as she cuts into her macaroni.

"I was thinking about a time when she wore it earlier. We were having our pictures taken for the church directory. Wonderful day actually. That's when we found out that we were pregnant too." He answered, as she looked down at the dress. It was simple and very pretty. 

"Well, thank you for allowing me to wear it while my clothes dry." She said politely as she took another bite. "I'll make sure it gets hung back up before I leave." She added, as she heard the dryer's time go off upstairs. "I should go change. I like fresh out of the dryer clothes." 

"Oh. Okay." He replied softly, as he watches her stand up and walk past him to head upstairs. After she left the room, he sighed. Perhaps his comment was too embarrassing for her.

~

One Week Later

Walking into the living room of the funeral home, the car seat dangling off her arm, she smiles. It's the happiest she's been all week. "Guess who came back to visit." She says in a sing-song voice as he walks into the kitchen and see's her taking the baby out of his car seat. "Say hi little guy." She playful teases the baby as she waves his little arm towards the boss. 

"Hi there buddy." He says as he turns to look at her. "Are you able to do something for me?" he asks her as she smiles at him, the baby now tight in her arms and being peppered with kisses.

"Yeah, sure." She says as he hands her the paper with what he needs as watches her walk into the office, the baby and her smiling. 

~

"It's that wonderful time of the night." She says about two hours later, as she holds a screaming two month old in her arms. "Would you mind again?" she asks, as he sits down and looks at her, a smile on his face. 

"Not at all." He says as she places the baby in his waiting arms and hands him a warm bottle, but even tonight he has a hard time feeding the baby and so the little one screams most of the night. Handing her the baby about forty-five minutes later, she sits in the rocker he brought up for her and watches as she rocks the baby back and forth with hopes of soothing his cries. As he lulls into sleep, she lays him down on his blanket and lays with him, her hand rubbing his tummy. Soon she finds herself dozing along side the baby, and as she falls asleep, he can't help but notice, and now it is his turn to smile and he knows that his comments about her being a good mother are a hundred percent correct. Waking up a few moments later, she stretches as she looks down at the little one, still asleep next to her. Looking up at him, she smiles.

"How long was I out?" she asks softly, as he smiles at her. 

"Not long. A few minutes." He replies, as he helps her off the floor and onto the couch next to him. "Want some more wine?" he asks, as he hands her her barely touched glass. Taking a few sips she sighs. 

"I have no clue what's gotten into him tonight. Its so weird that even you can't him to drink a bottle tonight. I know he must be hungry, but I'm out of ideas here. Advice?" she asks him, but he merely shakes his head. He too is out of ideas. 

~

"He's teething." He says about an hour later, as she walks into the living room. Sitting down on the couch next to him, she looks at him.

"How can you tell?" she asks, genuinely concerned about this. Smiling, he looks down at the baby.

"He keeps sucking on my finger. I've been slipping him the bottle every few moments, but he doesn't seem to want it. But he likes my finger. I'm telling you, he's most likely teething." He answers, as she looks over at the baby and seeing him happily sucking away. "It's a little early, but if I had to put money down on it, I'd vote teething." He added, as she nodded her head.

"I think he's old enough to start teething." She says, as she walks into the office and pulls a book off her desk. Flipping through it, she finds what's she's looking for. "Everything he's been doing tonight would suggest it." She adds as she silently reads the symptoms of teething. "It may seem a bit early, but I'd have to agree." 

"I'm sure his mother won't appericate that if she's breastfeeding." He says as she begins to smile. 

"I never thought about that." she says, as she sits down on the couch and leans against him to look at the baby. "Whose a little cutie pie?" she cooed at the baby, as he smiles weakly. Realizing how she was sitting, she quickly leans back and smiles weakly at him. "I'm sorry sir. I wasn't thinking." 

"No problem. Really." He answers as she smiles at her gently. "He's too cute to stay away from." He added as her cell phone goes off. Picking it up, she sighs. "Oh, look at your aunt." He says softly to the baby. "All business like. We must break her of that, and I think you'll be the perfect one to do that." 

"It was his mom. They aren't able to pick him up, so she'd like to know if we can take him home. I told her that wasn't a problem." She says as he nods his head and hands her the baby. 

"Not at all.I'll drive though. Don't need you to try and take care of him and drive at the same time." He says quickly as she turns to look at him. She wasn't expecting him to drive them. 

"I appericate that, but it's not needed sir." She says quickly, but he shakes his head. 

"Not an option tonight. It's raining and a crying baby can be detracting. I'm driving. That's final." And his tone of voice says just that. Shaking her head, she sighs and together they head down to take the little one home. 

~

Dropping the baby off about twenty minutes later, she sighs, as she climbs back into the car. "Homeward bound." She says jokingly as he smiles. It sounds like a wonderful plan to him. Pulling up in front of her house about ten minutes later, he sighs. 

"Good night." He says pleasantly, as she smiles at him. 

"Good night. You won't be disappointed if I don't show up tonight with dinner will you?" she asks, referring to the last time they babysat. 

"Not at all. You need some sleep. I'll see you in the morning." He says, as she grabs her books and heads towards her house. As she closes the door, he sighs again before heading off alone into the night.