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“How do I do that?” I stared at the stroller and then Alex.
He chuckled. “You are clueless, aren’t you? Just lay him down on his back but hold his neck while you do because he’s not strong enough to do that yet, and then cover him with the blanket that is in there.”
I moved slowly, trying not to jostle him too much and trying to figure out the best way to handle him so that his head didn’t flop around. He began to tense in my hands and stretched his back like a cat while he pulled his legs up.
“What is he doing?”
“He’s just stretching. It’s okay; lay him down.”
I got him down and covered him with the small blanket in the stroller, stepping back slowly and staring at him the entire time. He was so small, so fragile-looking. He had a light dusting of dark hair on top of his head, and his face was round, his nose slightly turned up at the end.
I’m pretty sure his nose came from Carol. I remember she had a cute little nose like a ski slope. I frowned as I thought about Carol. How could she decide to keep her pregnancy when she knew that it would probably kill her? How could anyone do that?
As I stared at the child sleeping, I had to wonder if her decision was worth it.
Chapter Four
Davina
Ialmost fell asleep on the bus on the way home. I was that tired, and the only thing I wanted to do was curl up in bed and cry myself to sleep. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. Luckily, it had stopped raining, and after getting off the bus, I had to walk three blocks to the mechanic’s shop where they had been working on my car all day. It would have been so much easier to drop Devon off and take some of his stuff to Trevor if I’d had the car, but the alternator went out, and I didn’t have a choice but to take the bus.
Now my car was done, and I drove it the three miles home and rushed up the stairs to my apartment on the second floor. I booted up my desktop computer and my laptop, made myself a pot of coffee, and tried to focus on what was in front of me.
Thirty minutes later, I couldn’t hold my head up, and I finally decided that I needed a short nap. I’d close my eyes for thirty minutes, an hour tops, and then get back to work. I crawled onto my bed and collapsed, my gaze landing on the bassinet that Devon had been sleeping in, and tears crowded my eyes. One slipped from between my lids and ran down the length of my nose as I drifted off.
* * *
The tinkling sound of my cellphone notifications drifted through my subconscious, and I began to rouse. I rolled to my back, groaning slightly as I moved. I blinked, and then blinked again. Was it dark in here, or was I still sleeping?
I glanced around, seeing the shadows of my furniture, and my gaze drifted to my bedside table. I shot straight up. “Oh, shit! That can’t be right!” I fumbled around on the bed, looking for my cellphone in the darkness and finally found it. I lifted the screen, and my jaw dropped. It was after midnight.
“Oh, my god!” I jumped out of bed and raced into the living room, tripping over something in the darkness and almost falling on my face. I had been so exhausted that I’d fallen asleep for eight straight hours.
I rubbed my eyes as I woke my computer up. I had a project that was supposed to be completed by nine this next morning, and I still had hours of work to do on it. As the computers ran through start-up programs, I went into my kitchen and poured out the old pot of coffee and made a fresh one.
Then I grabbed the bag of licorice that I loved to gnaw on while I was thinking and clipped my messy hair out of my face. Back at my desk, I browsed my email, wincing when I saw not one, but three emails from my boss.
I quickly replied to Scott that the program would be ready by morning and sent it to him as I began to log in to my work program. My cellphone rang a few moments later, and I absently put it to my ear, expecting Scott’s rough and grumble voice. “Davina?”
The softer, huskier voice tickled my eardrums and made me sit up a little straighter, and then I heard a baby screaming in the background. My eyes popped wide as my body instantly went on alert. “Is Devon okay?”
“I don’t know. He won’t stop crying. He’s been like this for hours.”
“Have you tried to feed him?”
“Of course, I’ve tried to feed him. I’ve even checked his diaper, but it’s dry.”
I stood and began to pace. “Are you holding him, or is he lying down?”
“I just laid him in his bed, but I’ve been holding him for hours. I’ve rocked him and bounced him and tried to burp him. I told you that I had no idea what the hell I was doing, Davina. I can’t do this.”
I stopped in the middle of the floor. Why was this my problem? Why was he calling me? I was not the mother, and this man was not my concern. “Why are you telling me this? What the heck do you expect me to do?”
“I don’t know. Maybe give me some advice, maybe come over here and help me, or—take him back.”
I blurted out a laugh. “Yeah, that’s not happening, Mr. Vaughn. Do you know what I did when I got home this afternoon? I passed out for eight straight hours. Do you know how long it’s been since I got more than two hours sleep in a row? It’s been two weeks. It’s your turn now.”
“Davina, come on, what if something is wrong with him?”
