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“You need a bath. That’s the only answer.”
So he wrapped her up and went out into the hall bathroom. There was no sound coming from the public spaces, so either Roberta had gone back to bed or had started her day and was out and about. His brothers’ rooms were empty, so they must have been at school, one in fire academy and one at paramedic school.
Placing her on the bathroom floor, he decided the safest way to wash her up was to stick her in the sink. But the porcelain was so hard he was afraid he’d drop her. Laying a towel it in it first, then filling it with warm water would work. While the water ran, he undressed her, pulling the dirty onesie over her head and getting poop in her hair. In spite of being hungry, she wasn’t crying yet. That would happen when he lowered her into the water and she started to scream. Then the water immediately turned yellow with baby poop, so he took her out again, put her on a clean towel on the floor, wrung the soaking towel out that he’d lined the sink with, threw it in the tub and started over. He was soaking wet and covered in baby poop, so he stripped down to his underpants.
Finally, she was clean, but wailing. Rather than try dressing her, he wrapped her in another towel and went in search of a bottle. Creeping out to the public part of the house, Leon called for his mother, but there was no answer.
His mother had prepared formula bottles, and they were waiting in the fridge. While one warmed up, he tried to quiet her down, but it wasn’t happening. She wanted food and she wanted it now. Once she calmed down, he was able to get her to eat. In his underpants, he stood in the kitchen, holding her in one arm with the bottle in the same hand, and fixing himself a cup of coffee with the other. New concerns about caring for a baby included spilling hot coffee on her, so he left it on the counter and bent over to sip it. It was while he was in this posture that his mother, his aunt Carol, and Ava Adams burst through the front door.
“Oh Lord,” Roberta sputtered, laughing.
“Yeah, give a guy a heart attack,” he snapped, rushing out of the room.
“Come back! We’ve seen a guy in his underpants before!” his aunt cried, laughing.
Roberta followed him back to his bedroom. “Buddy, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t go in the bathroom, Ma,” he said, heading to his room. “The tub is full of wet towels. She had a major blowout, but I’ll clean it up.”
“I’ll take care of it for you,” she said. “Everything will go right into the washing machine. Come out and have coffee with us. I’ll take her so you can get dressed.”
Rather than argue to try to prove a point that he was self-sufficient, he handed her over with just a slight pause. He’d take all the help he could get.
“Why’s Ava here?” he whispered.
“After spending time with her last week, I discovered I enjoy her company. That’s all. We’re not going to gang up on you.”
“I never said that. It’s just a little weird. I’d think she’d have had enough of the kid for the past three days.”
“She said she’s growing attached to her. You’ll see. Come out when you’re dressed and you can talk to her yourself.”
She left with the baby while he re-dressed. It occurred to him for just a second that he was actually looking forward to sitting around with a group of women who were there to chat about his kid. The scenario was growing on him. The daddy and the baby. He smiled at his reflection while combing his hair.
Before Violet, he always looked at his brothers and other men with wives and families as being in that situation under duress. A man wouldn’t choose to be tied down with one woman and kids for the rest of his life, would he? What was appealing about it? And now, why was he changing? And why was it happening so fast? He felt an overwhelming magnetic pull to his daughter.
“You’re growing up, goofball,” he mumbled to his reflection. “That’s your kid out there.”
It hadn’t occurred to him yet that he was falling in love with Violet.
Following the sound of laughter, he joined the women in the den.
“Hey, Aunt Carol,” he said, bending down to kiss his mother’s sister. She had baby Violet on her lap, and he longed to pick her up but restrained himself. There’d be plenty of time to hold her later.
“Congratulations, Lenny,” she said, smiling up at him. “She sure is a cutie, and a big surprise.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
He turned to Ava next. She was sitting on the corner of the couch with her arms draped across the back and side, looking very much like a glamorous actress. He couldn’t remember the name his father had used; it was someone long before his time.
“Hi, Ava. Hey, Ma.”
Everyone smiled and said hello. “I’m going to order lunch,” Roberta said, going toward the kitchen again. “You hungry, Lenny?”
“Yeah, I’m ready to eat a horse. Those days away from home without mommy’s cooking are not easy.”
“How was work?” Ava asked. “I get the Cal Fire alerts on my phone and could see that it was a busy couple of days.”
“It was okay. Time went fast.”
