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“So . . . you’re trying to put her back to sleep?” I grin.
“Well, yeah,” he grunts as if it’s a stupid question.
“She’s hungry, dude,” I tell him as I get up and head into the kitchen. Jax helps out, putting a bottle together and grabbing a towel in case she decides to hit me with one of her crowd-pleasing spit-ups. There’s no faulting Jax here. While he’s still uncomfortable with the baby, he’s nailing everything else.
“God help you when you guys have kids,” I tell him with a grin as I settle back on the couch, the bottle already in her mouth.
“Tell me about it,” he replies, looking horrified for what his future will hold.
A moment later, we hear Cass on the stairs, and when she strides into the living room wrapped in a towel, a smile spreads across her face seeing me with her niece. “Hey,” she says with a cringe. “Sorry that took so long. I kind of fell asleep while shaving my legs.”
My gaze shifts down her body and I can’t help the grin that pulls at the corner of my lips, seeing that after she fell asleep, she still couldn’t be bothered finishing the job. “No problem,” I tell her. “We’re just chilling down here if you want to finish getting ready.”
“Thank God,” she mumbles, walking over to the back of the couch and peering over my shoulder at the little girl. “You all good? I thought we were meeting at the church.”
“I couldn’t sleep and was up and ready much earlier than I expected, so I thought I’d come over here to help you guys out. Today is gonna be hard for everyone, and if I can somehow make that a little easier, then here I am.”
“Thank, fuck,” Jax sighs in relief. “I was worried I’d have to do it.”
Cass rolls her eyes at her husband. “Would you just go and get your ass ready?” she mutters. “You smell like baby shit and . . . is that vomit on your chest?”
Jax’s eyes widen in horror, his head dropping to his chest where something white and crusty lingers to the right of his sculpted man-tit. His face goes pale, and he looks as though he’s about to hurl as he turns on his heel and blasts out of here.
Cass laughs, more than happy with herself before looking back at me. “You wanna bring her upstairs? I could use some help figuring out what to wear.”
With that, Cass helps pull me up from the couch without disturbing the baby drinking her bottle, and we hurry upstairs, more than aware of the time quickly running out. I make myself comfortable in Cassie’s massive walk-in closet, which is practically the size of my whole apartment.
She riffles through her clothes, pulling out dress after dress and holding them up to her body before looking at me, her face scrunching with distaste after every single one. She’s running out of options when she finally pulls one out that makes her take a second look. She moves in front of her mirror, and after holding it against her body, she finally loses her towel and gets her ass dressed. She matches it with a pair of heels before heading into the bathroom to start on her hair and makeup.
She’s just about done when I look at the clock and realize that if we don’t get going soon, we’re going to be late. “Hey, Cass,” I call out, realizing we haven’t seen Jax since he left to get ready. “Maybe check Jax hasn’t crashed somewhere. I’m gonna get the baby ready, and then I think it’s time to go.”
“Oh shit,” she mutters, probably only halfway through her hair. “Okay.”
Ducking out of her room with a near-sleeping baby attached to my chest, I stride down the hall and into the room they’ve made into a nursery. It’s not exactly the best setup for a baby, and there are definitely a lot of things missing, but considering everything and what little time they’ve had to prepare for this, they’re doing amazing. Besides, it’s not like the baby actually sleeps in here. She has a little bassinet right beside Cass and Jax’s bed, so this nursery is pretty much used as a changing station and storage for all her clothes, most of which are still in the shopping bags they came in.
Laying the baby down, I go through all the little outfits she has, but I can’t really find anything appropriate for a funeral among the piles of white and pink clothes. I decide on a white dress thinking it could be symbolic of her innocence and unconditional love she’s bound to have for her mommy.
Fuck, I know she didn’t get a chance to really meet her properly, but I bet she’s missing her.
With the baby ready, I head downstairs to find Cassie madly packing a diaper bag, filling it with hundreds of diapers, wipes, spare outfits, spare bottles, and practically a whole tin of formula. I grin to myself, able to see her future so perfectly in this moment.
