Page 82 of Fighting For Light
“Is this a…stroller?” she says, tilting her head. I pull it out of the box, and she watches me set it up. “It’s so nice, Kai. Thank you.” She smiles, looking at where the carrier goes.
“Ready for the next one?” I ask.
She smiles. “Did you only buy me a bunch of strollers? I didn’t realize you knew anything about baby stuff.”
I laugh and point to the next box. “This one next?” She nods and sits on the couch, tucking her legs under her. I slide the blade across the tape, and it reveals a bunch of diapers. I tip the box so she can see.
“Are those even the right size?” she asks.
I look down at the box and back at her. “Um, I have no idea. I just bought diapers.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “We can look later. Do that one next,” she says, pointing to the one on my right. It’s thinner and wider than the others. I suspect it’s the crib and open it up with the blade.
“It’s a crib!” Cordelia shouts.
I tilt my head, inspecting it. It looks like the one I wasn’t sure about. “Do you like it?”
“I do. It’s cute. Okay, next one,” she says, pointing to the box behind me. I open it, and it’s another stroller.
She frowns. “How many strollers did you order?”
I shrug and look for the other stroller boxes. “Um, three,” I say through my teeth, scrunching my nose.
“Three! How many babies do you think are in here?” she yells, pointing to her stomach.
I pause and look at her belly. “One?”
“Kai!” she yells.
I laugh and toss the other box. “I ordered three strollers.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “That’s too many strollers, Kai. I’d use maybe two at most.”
“Well then, that means we return the one you don’t like the most. No big deal.”
“What’s that one?” She points to the box closer to the door.
I open it and move the packaging. “A car seat and baby carrier. They said it would fit the truck, but we can get another one whenwe get you a car.” She nods, and I open the rest of the boxes. She gets off the couch and walks around the other boxes that I opened.
“You bought four cribs, Kai. We need maybe two. One for the RV and one for here.”
I shrug and kiss her. “I didn’t know which one you would like more, so I bought all four. One of them is a travel crib. But I realized you might need one of those baby shaker things.”
She barks out a laugh and shakes her head.
“What?” I ask, holding out my hands.
“It’s not ababy shaker,“ she says between giggles.
“But in the video, I saw it moving back and forth, and it was doing this weird, figure-eight thing. I don’t know why all of that is necessary, though.”
She laughs behind her hand and shakes her head. “It’s a baby rocker, Kai, and I don’t think I want one. I need to get a Baby Björn’s instead.”
I stare at her, realizing I have a lot more to research to do. “What is a Bjorn?”
She giggles and wraps her arms around my neck as I place a hand on her stomach. She stands up on her tiptoes and lifts her head. “Thank you, Kai. This is so thoughtful. I love all of it. Although, I don’t know if we need four cribs and three strollers. And…” She looks around at the other boxes. “Two high chairs and three hundred diapers that might take him about six months to fit in. And the eighty bottles… might actually be just the right amount.”
I kiss her again. “You’re welcome.”
