She's My Baby

Garrick opened the door and then jumped back as a hysterical Leila breezed through.

“I can’t do this! I can’t do this!” She thrust Emma into his arms. “Here. If this is a woman thing, I’m missing a few genes.”

“What—?”

“I can’t fix a bottle…. I can’t even warm a jar of food—a damn jar.”

Garrick turned the child away from her. “We’ve been over this. Watch your language!” He stroked the child’s back and she immediately quieted down.

Leila’s eyes narrowed as she jabbed a finger into his chest. “Since you know so much, you take care of her.”

A stunned Tamara and Orlando inched into the foyer.

“Bro?”

Tamara folded her arms. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

Garrick turned and then followed their wide stares. “Oh, no. She’s not…We’re not…This isn’t what it looks like.”

Chapter 5

Leila felt like an ass.

“You have company,” she said, pointing out the obvious and backing toward the door. “I—I’m sorry.” She reached for Emma while a tidal wave of embarrassment crashed within her.

Garrick stepped back as his eyebrows rose in surprise and in amusement. “Apology accepted.” He faced his family again. “I’ll be right back.”

Tamara’s eyes darted between her brother-in-law and Leila. “Is there something wrong?”

“No, no.” Garrick gestured Leila toward the door. “This will only take a moment. Just tell Omara I’ll be right back.” He followed his neighbor across the threshold and closed the door behind them.

Once alone on the front porch, Leila slumped against the white colonial column. “This day couldn’t possibly get any worse.”

“I take it you weren’t able to find anyone to help you?”

“It’s Christmas. Everyone I know is out of town or just cruelly avoiding my phone calls,” she complained, warding off tears. After a long, sidelong glance, she couldn’t discern if he thought she was a raving lunatic or not. Then again, why wouldn’t he?

“Look, about earlier—”

“Forget about it.” He smiled and glanced down at the sleeping baby nestled against his chest. “Looks like your little angel is knocked out.”

“Angel? Try devil.” Leila chuckled. “She hasn’t stopped screaming since you left.”

“Ah, poor thing,” he said as he descended the front stairs.

Leila’s gaze followed and took note of his strong shoulders, broad back and his cute butt. “Not bad,” she mumbled.

Garrick glanced back over his shoulder. “Are you coming?”

She blinked. “Oh. Yes, I’m right behind you.”

Tamara and Orlando crowded together at the window by the front door. “What do you think is going on?” Tamara whispered.

“I have no idea, but did you see her hair?”

“Her hair?” Tamara leaned back to stare at her husband. “Surely that wasn’t the only thing you noticed?”

“Oh, you mean the baby?”

“Duh.” She popped him on the back of the head.

“What’s going on?” Omara joined them at the window, hugging two more dolls. “Where’s Uncle Garrick?”

Orlando peeked out the blinds again. “He, uh, just went to help out a neighbor. He’ll be right back.”

“Will I get to play with his baby when he comes back?”

Orlando glanced over at his wife’s smug smile. “Out of the mouths of babes.”

Now that her moment of temporary insanity had come to an end, Leila stepped out of the shower refreshed. Maybe it was all she needed to get a firm grip on her new situation. She donned her gray sweat suit and ran a brush through her hair while she blow-dried it straight. Minutes later, she descended the stairs.

“Wow. You clean up well,” Garrick complimented.

Flattered by the unexpected praise, Leila smiled as she stopped in front of him. “Where’s Emma?”

“Napping.” He smiled back and shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “I, uh, cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, made a bottle, and jotted some notes on how to warm up everything.”

A blanket of shame covered Leila. “Look, my behavior today is inexcusable.”

“There’s no need—”

“Please, let me finish.” Her lips slid wider as she gazed up at him, noticing his brown eyes were more like the color of Hershey’s Kisses. “I’m normally a sane person and I truly appreciate you for not calling a mental institution to come and pick me up. You’ve gone beyond the call of duty for a new neighbor.” She shrugged. “Thank you.”

Garrick waited, and then asked, “Is that it?”

“If there’s anything I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

He chuckled. “You don’t owe me anything,” he assured and turned toward the door. “I was happy to help. If there’s something I forgot to write down, I’m just across the street.”

Though his words were kind, Leila couldn’t help but feel a chill—a distance.

Garrick stopped at the door. “If you need anything else—”

“I won’t. I mean—I’ve bothered you enough. I even dragged you away from your family…on Christmas,” she added with a small laugh.

He forced out a chuckle and shuffled out the door.

She watched him leave, still feeling like a complete ass.

“That poor woman,” Tamara exclaimed after Garrick relayed this morning’s shenanigans with his new neighbor. “Can you imagine waking up to something like that?” she asked her husband.

“I highly doubt you would run out in the neighborhood screaming like a banshee,” Garrick said, admiring his new watch from his niece.

“Don’t be so sure.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “A baby is a big deal—a lot of work, a life-changing event.”

Garrick and Orlando frowned.

“I’m just saying, I probably would’ve freaked, too.”

“But you already have a kid,” he reasoned.

Tamara’s eyes widened as her nose flared. “So what?” she snapped. “Sleep deprivation, constant feedings, and an endless assembly line of diaper changes are not my idea of fun.”

Orlando looked stunned. “I thought we were going to try for a boy?”

“Not right now,” she said, folding her arms. “I want to go back to school and start my own business.”

“You want to become a career woman?” Garrick said, unable to keep the disappointment out of his voice. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Can’t you conquer the world after I have my son?” Orlando added.

Tamara ignored her husband and turned her attention back to Garrick. “And what’s wrong with a woman wanting a career? This is the twenty-first century. We don’t all want to be barefoot and pregnant or devote our entire lives to being housewives. At least I don’t.”

“I’m not saying you should,” Garrick defended. “I just think—”

“Ah.” Tamara set down her glass of Coke and pointed a finger at Garrick. “I know what this is about.”

“No. No.” Garrick quickly held up his hands and shook his head.

“Yes. Yes. This is about Miranda,” Tamara accused, and then rocked back with a hearty laugh. “That’s why you want to steer away from career women.”

Garrick and Orlando looked guiltily at each other.

“I don’t have a problem with career women,” he denied. At Tamara’s dubious stare, he added, “I just don’t want to marry another one.”

“Uh-huh.” Tamara crossed her arms. “Your neighbor is right. You are a sexist pig.”

“What?” Garrick glanced at his brother for help, but saw Orlando looking around as if he didn’t want any part of the conversation. “Okay, yes. There were some lessons learned from my marriage. The main one—I want a family, and people who want families should not marry those who don’t.”

“Women can have a career and a family.”

Garrick laughed. “That’s a myth.”

“What?”

He looked to his brother again.

“You’re on your own, bro,” Orlando laughed. “I live with her.”

Tamara smote her husband with a look and he quickly fell silent again.

“Fine. I’ll go it alone.” Garrick met Tamara’s gaze. “I don’t know who sold women on the idea they could have it all, but it’s not true. It’s impossible to run a business and a household harmoniously and successfully. Something has to give and Leila Owens is going to learn that real soon.”

“Okay, little Emma.” Leila drew a deep breath and slipped on a pair of yellow rubber gloves. “Let’s change your diaper.”

Emma squirmed on the sofa and rewarded her aunt with a gummy smile.

Leila’s heart squeezed and she grudgingly smiled back. However, her lips curled the other direction the moment she peeled back the diaper. “Good Lord, what was in that bottle?”

Emma giggled and kicked her legs.

“Oh, child. Please don’t do that.” She tried to catch the baby’s legs; but she wasn’t successful until after Emma had made a bigger mess. Success came after a half box of baby wipes and a mushroom cloud of baby powder. Other than that— “Perfect!”

Leila lifted Emma and then watched in dismay as her creation slid off the child’s heinie. Of course, her niece chose that moment to pee all over her white sofa.

“Goddamn it, Sam.”

Chapter 6

The first workday after Christmas, Atlanta Spice returned to its usual buzz of hectic calm where photographers were late, freelance writers were behind schedule, and the company’s CEO was still recovering from a mental breakdown.

“She’s adorable,” Ciara cooed, waving the stuffed frog in front of a giggling Emma. “How could you not love a face like this?” She leaned over and planted a kiss against the baby’s chubby cheeks.

“She’s only adorable in front of company, but not when she’s peeing on my couch.” Leila looked up from her desk. “Which cost me a pretty penny to have cleaned. Not to mention the cost of turning one of the guest rooms into a nursery.”

“You already hired someone to do that?”

“Had to. I’m not going to keep changing Ms. Thang on my expensive furniture. I’m paying a decorator double time to have the room done by the end of the day.”

Ciara continued to coo over the child. “Have you had any luck locating Sam?”

“None.” Leila removed her reading glasses and leaned back in her oversize office chair. “It’s like she disappeared off the face of the earth. Which might be a wise move on her part because if I ever get my hands on her—”

“A woman who can just walk away from her child has to be in a lot of pain,” Ciara sympathized. “That’s the only explanation I can come up with.”

Leila didn’t respond, but sat up and returned her attention to the stacks of paper on her desk.

“Of course, you look like hell.”

“I haven’t slept for more than two hours since Christmas Eve,” Leila complained, staring at her niece. “I don’t know how anybody does it. I feel like a walking zombie.”

“When is Roslyn returning from her vacation?”

“Five days.”

“Are you going to make it?”

“I’m a survivor.” Leila straightened in her chair. “I’ve had to get through a lot worse.”

“You’re going to hire a nanny, aren’t you?”

“Damn right.” Leila glanced at her watch. “I have an important meeting tonight and I have no intentions of dragging a screaming baby into a five-star restaurant. Hearst Communications has the distribution that can take this magazine to the next level. I simply can’t miss or reschedule this meeting.”

“What about that gorgeous hunk across the street from you?” Ciara smiled.

Leila regretted telling Ciara that part of the story. “Gorgeous doesn’t do him justice.” Dropping her elbows down on her desk, she sighed and indulged in a moment to reflect on the best butt she’d seen on a man.

“You know, it’s not every day a woman runs into a baby whisperer.”

She snapped out of her trance. “Okay. Now you’re just making this stuff up.”

“C’mon. You know what I mean. A man who can change diapers, fix bottles and rock a baby to sleep…?” She sobered. “Are you sure he’s not married?”

“I didn’t see a ring.” Leila shrugged as she gave the question considerable thought. “I don’t think so.”

“Did he show up on your gaydar?”

“Not even a bleep.”

“Well.” Ciara clapped her hands. “I say we jump his bones.”

“We?” Leila laughed.

“I’m a pregnant married woman. I have to live vicariously through someone. It might as well be you.”

“What? Elmo isn’t getting it for you?”

“Lay off my husband’s name,” Ciara warned. “I think it’s cute.”

Emma cooed and giggled at the playpen’s rotating mobile.

The women glanced over at the child and smiled.

“Are you sure you want to pawn her off on some stranger?”

“Look, I have a company to run.” Leila perked. “Unless you and Elmo—”

“I would if I could, but Elmo’s parents are flying in tonight.” Ciara patted her belly. “We told them the news on Christmas morning and now they insist on coming in for a visit. But I think you’re missing a wonderful opportunity to peek inside what motherhood is like.”

“My view of motherhood has not changed. It’s not for me.”

“Still. You know you have to be very careful whom you leave a child with. In fact, it’s not unheard of to run a criminal and credit check, and then you might want to set up cameras throughout the house so you can keep an eye out on what’s going on.”

Leila hadn’t considered all of that; but now, since Ciara had brought it up, one could never be too careful.

Once Ciara returned to her desk, Leila spent the next twenty minutes feeding, burping and obsessing with whether she made the right decision to hire a nanny. It suddenly seemed risky.

“Ms. Owens, your one o’clock appointment is here to see you,” Ciara reported over the speakerphone.

“Send her in.”

The moment the door opened, Emma started crying. No wonder, given the middle-aged Englishwoman’s frosty nature.

“You have an impressive résumé, Ms. Howard.” Leila smiled and tried Garrick’s patting-and-bouncing trick.

“Children are my life,” Ms. Howard said without smiling. “All they need is a strict set of rules and a firm hand.”

Leila shifted and wondered at her meaning.

“Holding the child like that is just spoiling her.” The woman’s thin lips pursed as she shook her head. “It’s not good to reward bad behavior.”

“Excuse me?” Leila shouted above Emma’s wails.

The elderly woman stood from her chair and reached for the baby. “May I see her?”

Emma clutched Leila’s blouse and screamed louder. Did her niece sense something strange about the woman?

You know you have to be very careful whom you leave a child with.

“Uh, no.” Leila turned away from the experienced nanny. “I think that’s enough with the questions for the day.” She yelled above the wails and flashed a tight smile. “I’ll be in contact.”

Ms. Howard drew her hands back and stared down the end of her nose. “Very well.” She gathered her things. “I hope to hear from you.”

As soon as the door closed behind the Englishwoman, Emma stopped crying.

Leila frowned at her sniffling, wide-eyed niece and wondered what the devil had just happened. “You know, I’m starting to think you’re like your mother—high-maintenance.”

Emma batted her long lashes, flashed her dimpled cheeks and released a high giggle.

“Whatever.”

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