Page 22 of Hide My Heart
“Did you get a license plate on the truck?”
“Thanks for the picture,” he says instead of answering me. “Let me know if you think of anything else.”
Frustration churns in my chest as I hang up. I feel so useless. If I were a superhero, I would be out there scouring the countryside for Amber.
“I’m heating up a pot of stew and we’re going to the evening service,” Mom calls from the living room.
“I’m not going.” I amble out of her home office. “Got to check on a few repairs at the motel.”
Mom sneers from the couch where she’s feeding Beck from a bottle. “My big day at church, and you’re not coming?”
“Why do you care what they think?” I caress the baby’s silky head and change the subject. “Besides, we have a few guests at the Redbird, and I don’t want them complaining when the furnace goes on the blink.”
Mom makes a face, but keeps her eyes focused on Amber’s son.
“Oopsies, I smell something stinky,” she says in baby talk. “Did you poopy? You did, didn’t you?” She holds Beck at arm’s length. “Glad your daddy’s here. It’s his turn to change your diaper.”
Whoa. Wait. Is she talking about me? I almost turn and look behind me, but of course no one’s here but me and Mom.
“Nate, here’s your son.” Mama dumps Beck on my lap. A pungent odor emits from him, but he’s smiling and I can’t help but smile back.
“I, uh, don’t know how to change a diaper.” Nor do I want to. If things had gone according to plan, Amber would show up in a few days and offer to take care of Beck in exchange for a place to stay.
Right, and a baby poops more than a few times a day.
I pick up Beck and hold him at arm’s length. He gurgles and is so cute I have to give him a kiss, rubbing my beard against his face, which makes him giggle.
“I’ll show you,” Mom says huffily. “This one time, but after that, I get the feeding and you get the changing. That’ll teach you not to wear a rain jacket when you’re with a girl.”
Her euphemism for a condom.
“Right, whatever,” I grumble.
“Don’t tell me you have other babies all over the county,” Mom says. She takes a diaper from the pack. “These things are expensive. A dollar a shot!”
Whoa, not even a day with Beck and she’s complaining already.
“Did Sharon leave you any money?” Mom breaks out the diaper rash cream after handing me a wipe.
“Of course not. She got called in and has to report right away.” I maneuver the wipe to pick up the crud, trying not to get my fingers dirty.
“Oh, you’re such a little cutie,” Mom breaks into the baby talk as she smears cream on his butt after I wipe off all the icky stuff. “Well, I say she’s mighty irresponsible just to up and leave him.”
“She had to. Otherwise she gets kicked out of the Army and has no job.”
“How long have you known about Beck?” Mom tapes up the new diaper and pulls Beck’s long johns on.
“I didn’t, I mean, she just told me.”
Mom narrows her eyes and stares at Beck and back at me. “Lisa dropped by to borrow some sugar, and she says he looks nothing like you. How do you know he’s yours?”
Lisa is our nosy next-door neighbor. Come to think of it, all our neighbors are nosy. It was smart of Amber to head for the Redbird, rather than come here looking for me.
“Wait, you said he was my spitting image earlier.”
“Yeah, but that was before Lisa dropped by.” Mom dots a kiss on the baby’s head. “Not that I don’t adore him, but we need to make sure he’s really your son.”
“You shouldn’t listen to town gossips.”
