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“Remember, we all had to learn,” Roberta said. “If you really need help, send me a text.”
So like they were swallowed up, his parents disappeared, leaving him alone with a tiny baby, who was awake in her crib. Taking one of the prepared bottles into his bedroom, he shut the door on the world, and it was just him and Violet. She wasn’t crying, so he left her alone, taking his computer into bed. He’d research baby care.
Overwhelmed with everything, one item of interest caught his attention. They made premixed formula in disposable bottles. If she would take it at room temperature, that might work. In the meantime, he searched for nannies in his location. A site devoted to childcare was more scary than helpful.
After midnight, Violet started to cry. He got her out of the crib and took her to bed to feed. She latched onto the bottle and then made a face, pushing the nipple out of her mouth with her tongue.
“Oh, you need it warmed up, is that the story?” he whispered.
When he tried putting her back down, she wailed, so he scooped her back up before she waked everyone else up, dreading his mother’s unsolicited advice if she heard the noise.
With Violet in the crook of his arm, he grabbed his laptop and the cold bottle and went into the kitchen. He’d bring the bottle-heating device back with him next time. While waiting for the bottle to heat, he scrolled through the candidates. He didn’t trust the looks of any of the characters who had posted profiles, wondering if he hadn’t accidentally clicked on a dating website.
A series of beeps meant the bottle warming had completed. Shaking it upside down, a drop landed on his wrist. He put it to his lips, and although it tasted nasty and he grimaced, it wasn’t too hot, and when he offered the nipple to her, she greedily sucked on it. Holding the bottle under his chin, he stashed his computer under his arm and grabbed the bottle warmer, forgetting he’d have to come back for another bottle anyway.
He got back into bed with the baby and her bottle and his computer. The next thing he knew, daylight was peeking across the tops of the drapes. He’d fallen asleep leaning against the headboard of his bed with the tiny baby on his lap, his computer having slid off his legs and onto the bed.
Carefully moving her to the side and surrounding her with pillows, he got out of bed to use the bathroom. Checking the time on his phone, he was shocked to see it was six thirty. After he took care of himself, he tiptoed into the kitchen to get another bottle so he’d be ready when she woke up.
It was obvious her mother had been obsessed with buying baby clothes. Digging through the bag of clothes, he chose only the clothing that caught his eye, tossing aside the things he didn’t care for. The way he’d dress her from that moment forward would be in little-girl clothing of pink or white or lavender—no unisex yellow and green and definitely no blue.
He wouldn’t attempt to bathe her alone yet, and made do with a wet washcloth, which she hated, yodeling her lungs out until Roberta came in to see what the racket was all about.
Later that day when the entire family converged upon the house to meet her, his mother and sisters-in-law would tell him that for a baby to go six hours straight was considered sleeping through the night, and either her mother had already got her on a schedule, or he was really lucky. Instead of resenting their input like he normally would, he listened to their advice, making mental notes of what they’d offered.
Everyone took turns holding her, but when it was time for her to eat, Leon wanted to do it, sitting at the huge kitchen table with everyone around him, his little nieces and nephews curious about the new baby.
“What are you going to do when you have to work on Tuesday?” his sister-in-law Bridget, Tony’s wife and an EMT at the firehouse, said. Her parents babysat for her, but she had considered using a childcare nursery in town that had come well recommended.
In twenty-four hours, he’d grown attached to her, and it was unthinkable to leave her with a stranger for three days.
“I looked online last night, and the profile pictures all looked like mug shots,” he said, frowning. “Ma, I guess I can’t ask you to keep her for me.”
“No, I’m sorry, son. I’ll keep her at night, but you need to find someone to care for her during the day. I already raised six boys, and I’m still recovering from that.”
“You know, I just thought of someone,” sister-in-law Candy said. She looked up at Joey, her husband. “Do you know who I’m thinking of?”
Smiling, he nodded. “I sure do. She’d be perfect for Violet.”
“Who is it?” Roberta asked. “Not…”
“Yes! Don’t you agree? She’s not a kid, she doesn’t need to work, but she wants to work, and she’s great with kids.”
“Okay, who are you talking about?” they chorused.
“Our neighbor,” Joey replied.
“That’s a plus right there,” Roberta said. “Someone close by.”
Joey and Candy lived in the next block, son Tony and his family just a block away from them.
“You have lots of neighbors,” Big Mike said.
“You know who they mean, Mike. Don’t play dumb.”
A wave of giggles went around the room. The neighbor had a reputation for sunbathing in a very small bikini, albeit in the privacy of her own backyard. However, her curious next-door neighbor had crept out on his balcony to take a picture of her, which he shared in the local social media chat room, and when it got back to the subject, she sued him and won the case. Most men in the community had taken a peek at her image, although few admitted it.
“So what’s her name? Do you have her phone number? I’ve got one day to pin someone down.”
