Page 32 of Townshipped
“Okay, well, wash your hands and arms and we have hand sanitizer here.”
“No full-body polyethylene suits we need to put on?” I tease.
Okay. I can’t help myself.
Trevor gives me a warning glare. Lexi giggles and his face softens as he looks down at her with such protective love I feel a surge of unexpected jealousy.
I’ve never been one to covet what other people have. Right now, this picture of family bliss feels like I’m being robbed of something precious. My life seems bland and hollow compared to what my brother has.
“You have to wash a lot,” Ashley says, popping her head into the living room from the kitchen. “We don’t want to give the baby germs, Uncle Aiden. Babies have to fight off hundreds of kinds of sick. Hundreds!”
She’s obviously a student of my brother. On her, the overprotectiveness is endearing.
I walk over to Ashley and pick her up. She’s almost getting too big for me to carry. She giggles and I ruffle her hair with my free hand. “You’re getting so big,” I tell her.
“So are you!” she exclaims, reaching up and ruffling my hair in return.
“I’m like an aunt, but I’m a cousin,” she explains. “Poppy is my cousin, but I get to show her all the things I know when she’s bigger. Right now she just sleeps mostly. And cries. You just gotta hear that!”
I chuckle. “You’re going to be an amazing older cousin,” I tell her as I set her down.
“Where’s Sawyer?”
“He’s out back, throwing the football with Papa and Daddy.”
“Let’s wash up,” Em says, nudging me lightly with her elbow and leaning into me. “I want to hold the baby.”
I smile down at Em and she smiles back up at me. I’ve only known her one week, and it hasn’t been your usual week—not even close. Maybe trauma creates some sort of time warp so that everything speeds up or slows down. Whatever it is, I feel like I’ve known Em for much longer than I have.
If it turns out she belongs to someone else, I’ll surrender her willingly. I’ll even help her transition back to her real home. But, if she doesn’t have anyone keeping her tied to her old life … I shake my head. I’m having thoughts that should scare me.
“Let’s wash up,” I agree.
After we’ve scrubbed and dried off, we squirt with a few pumps of hand sanitizer from the industrial-sized bottle Trevor has strategically placed in the living room on the coffee table.
Lexi hands me her baby. “Meet your niece, Poppy.” She changes her voice to a soft, motherly tone and nearly whispers, “Poppy, this is your uncle Aiden.”
I take the little bundle and cradle her in my arms. Her tiny face peeks out from the burrito-wrapped blanket. Her eyes are drowsy with sleep. She’s perfect with her petite nose and puckered lips. A tuft of dark hair refuses to lie down on top of her head.
When I look up, Em’s considering me. I rock Poppy while the adults in the room chat. My mom stays tucked away in the kitchen. I wonder what she needs to say to me about Vanessa.
After a few minutes, I ask Em, “Want a turn?”
“May I?” she asks Lexi.
“Of course,” Lexi says as my brother stiffens like Liam Neeson inTaken.
Em sits on the couch and makes her arms into a soft landing spot. I gently transfer Poppy to her. There’s something about a woman holding a baby. Em’s eyes rove across Poppy’s face. She makes a light bouncing motion that seems to come naturally to her.
Could she already have children of her own? The thought levels me. I’m so out of my depth. I could be falling for someone’s mom. A knowing deep inside me says she’s not a mother. I lean into that assurance like a man grasping at a line thrown to him when he fell overboard.
Em looks up at me, beaming. “She’s adorable.”
You’re adorable.
Dad and Dane come in, followed by Sawyer loudly declaring he’s the winner of whatever game they were playing with the football.
I take the opportunity to slip out and check on Mom in the kitchen.
