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I leaned down and kissed him, my hands on either side of his face.
“I love you, Drake Morgan,” I said in a soft voice.
“I love you, Katherine Morgan,” he replied.
When I kissed him again, he pulled me more tightly against him and I thought he might have misunderstood the kiss as a signal that I wanted to make love, but he didn’t make another move or do anything but hold me.
I sighed and closed my eyes, my head against his shoulder – his strong firm shoulder – once more.
We had a quiet week for the rest of the week, and I started feeling a little bit better once Dave Mills’s aunt Karen came by. A tall strong woman with silver hair and piercing blue eyes, she was formidable looking, but also had this kind expression in her eyes. She reminded me of one of those stolid women you might see working in the fields, pulling a tractor in good old Soviet Russia. A permanent smile on her face and a light green nursing uniform on, she felt good. It felt like she knew what to do and how to do it.
She had so much experi
ence that I felt comfortable letting her take Sophie from me.
We had a nice meeting, she met Sophie and then described what she would do for us – take Sophie for a while each day, cook a meal for us and do some light housework. I liked her a lot and she held Sophie with a sense of comfort that made me relax.
The first afternoon Karen came to work for us, she entered the apartment, checked out our home as if looking for work to do, took Sophie from my arms, checked her out from head to toe, and then smiled at me.
“Go and sleep,” she said and waved at me. “You look like you need a bath and then a nap. I’ll change her, feed her a bottle of breastmilk, and keep her occupied while I fix supper. As for you,” she said and turned to Drake. “Go out and do something manly. Go work out at your club. Play a game of – what was it? Racquetball, Dave said? Call him and get out of the house. The two of you need to get a bit of normalcy back into your daily life.”
Drake glanced at me and chuckled. “What? No bath and nap for me?”
Karen shook her head and plopped Sophie’s pacifier into her mouth. “No. You didn’t merely go through a pregnancy and major life-saving surgery. You need to get back into your regular routine as much as possible. Go. Dave will be glad for a break from work. You’re his boss, so it’s entirely up to you.”
Karen smiled at Drake and fully expected that Drake would comply.
He looked at me again to see my response.
“Go,” I said and nodded. “She’s right. We need to find a new normal.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Who am I to argue?” He kissed my cheek, then stroked Sophie’s cheek before leaving to go to his office . “I’ll call Dave and order him to meet me at the club for a game of racquetball.”
Karen turned to me. “You go and run a nice warm bath with lots of lavender scented Epsom salts. You’ll find them in the bag I brought. It’s over by the door.”
I went to the re-usable cloth bag by the door and sure enough, inside were several objects I didn’t recognize but thought they might be part of a massage therapy kit, and a glass container with a scoop attached. The label had been hand-drawn and said Lavender Epsom Salts. ½ cup to 1 cup added to running water.
I took the container and went upstairs to the bathroom, following her orders, glad that someone else could take over for a while. On my way to the bathroom, I passed Drake, who was pulling on his sweats by our bed.
“Are you okay with this?” he said softly, stopping to kiss me.
“Yes,” I said. “She seems like she knows what she’s doing.”
“Good,” he said and finished dressing. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
Then, I went and ran my bath, pouring in the Epsom salts and enjoying the scent of lavender that filled the room. For the next half hour, I luxuriated in the warm bath, letting my mind drift off while I did absolutely nothing. I heard the stereo turned on and some soft music drift into the bathroom through the heat register. It sounded like something classical, soothing. I could practically see the candles lined up along the mantle and her giving Sophie a massage with baby lotion.
My eyes blinked open. I still couldn’t relax completely. There was a part of my mind that seemed on hyper-alert, listening for Sophie’s lightest sound or cry.
I got out of the bath and wrapped my bath robe around me, then ventured down to the main floor. There I found Karen working away in the kitchen. She had Sophie in her chair on the island, watching her work.
I smelled garlic and onion sautéing in a pan on the stove.
“What are you cooking?” I asked, moving closer.
“Beef Burgundy.” She pointed to a shank of beef and some aromatic herbs. “I brought the ingredients, based on what you indicated you liked for meals. It cooks for hours in the oven, until the meat is fall off the bone tender. It should be ready for seven o’clock. I’ll fix some noodles and sautéed vegetables to go with it.”
“Sounds yummy,” I said with a yawn. “Sophie seems happy.”
