Prince Baby

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“I’m a quick study.”

“So am I,” Ty said. “Yet I had a hell of a time. Right, Madelyn?”

“Only because you didn’t want to learn.” Madelyn faced Lucy. “I think Owen needs a diaper change. You do have spare diapers, right?”

“We have the things we got from the hospital.”

“Great. Let’s go change his diaper,” Madelyn said, nodding for Lucy to follow her out of the kitchen. “I’ll take inventory of what you have, so I can shop for whatever is missing.”

“That would be wonderful,” Lucy said, as Madelyn guided her into the hall and then up the oak stairway. “Seth said he set up everything for Owen in the master bedroom.”

“Good,” Madelyn said, walking down the upstairs corridor. “You should have the best room in the house.” She paused in front of the door and added, “I also knew we should get out of the kitchen before Ty bulldozed you into something you don’t want.”

Lucy laughed. “No one bulldozes me. Years of living with a king who is accustomed to everybody obeying him without question have taught me to handle just about anybody.”

“I was hoping you would say that,” Madelyn said. “But you’re still going to have your hands full holding your ground with Seth.” She glanced at Owen. “From the looks of things, you knew each other about nine months ago, and Seth has changed a lot since then. Don’t expect to be able to sweet-talk him into anything. If he really wants a nanny, you’re going to have a battle on your hands. And I haven’t seen him lose as much as an argument in at least eight weeks. Not even to Ty.”

Madelyn opened the door to the bedroom at the end of the hall. Stepping inside, Lucy gasped. Seth’s decorator had to be the most talented person on the face of the earth. Not only was the cherrywood furniture exquisite, but also the airy green geometric print bedspread and drapes managed to be elegant and masculine at the same time. Lucy could imagine that with his green eyes, Seth looked delicious tangled in the sheets, and she found herself wondering if his decorator had chosen this particular fabric and color scheme for that reason. She wondered if he’d slept with the woman, and quickly realized that the creator of this room might even be why Seth never came after her.

She fought the molten jealousy that rose in her by reminding herself that she couldn’t want a man who was totally wrong for her. Seth had deserted her. She’d actually had to debate whether he would even care to know she was pregnant! Worse, they disagreed about the nanny. Just like her father, Seth didn’t want to be a hands-on dad. He would foist the raising of his child off to a stranger.

“I’m glad Seth isn’t a pushover. Convincing Seth I don’t need a nanny will be good practice for arguing with my dad.”

Madelyn laughed. “All right. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I’m warned but I’m also very determined. My mother died when I was six, and because I was raised by nannies I never really knew her when she was alive. That will not happen with my son.”

Eyes warmed with compassion, Madelyn nodded and said, “Good for you.” Then she pulled off Owen’s diaper, tossed it in the pail beside the changing table and reached for another.

Lucy studied every move Madelyn made. Though she had plenty of diaper experience from her neighbor’s baby, and the nurse at the hospital had demonstrated even more basics, Lucy didn’t think it would hurt to watch Madelyn to see if she did anything different, anything unusual, anything Lucy should know. In fact, now that she was alone with her son, she was beginning to feel a bit panicked. She could burp, change a diaper and rock him to sleep…but what if something else happened? What if he got sick? What if he choked! Dear God! She didn’t know enough to be alone with this child!

Madelyn glanced over at her. “Are you okay?”

Lucy swallowed. “Sure.”

Madelyn studied Lucy for a second, then said very carefully, “In spite of what you told Seth and Ty, you really don’t know a whole heck of a lot about caring for a baby, do you?”

Fighting her panic because she didn’t want Madelyn to see it, Lucy shrugged. “I lived next door to somebody with a baby…”

“I know and the nurse at the hospital also showed you a lot of the basics,” Madelyn interrupted Lucy by finishing her sentence for her. “But, Lucy, Ty had a point. Things are going to come up that they didn’t cover.” She caught Lucy’s gaze and very kindly said, “You need some help.”

Lucy drew a breath. “Okay. You’re right. But I don’t want a nanny. I don’t want somebody who is going to step in before I can when Owen cries.” She drew another quick breath. “At the same time, I’m scared to death.”

Finished with the diaper, Madelyn slid Owen’s sleeper into place and began snapping the closures. “How long are you planning to stay?”

“In the U.S. or here at Seth’s house?”

“Here. With Seth.”

“I don’t know.” Lucy hedged, not wanting to explain that how long she stayed depended on how quickly her dad could close the legislative session. “Seth and I weren’t specific. We only agreed I would stay here while we talked about the visitation schedule. That would also assure that he has some time to get to know Owen.”

Madelyn lifted Owen from the changing table and cuddled him against her. “So, technically you could stay in this house indefinitely as long as you never come to terms on visitation?”

Confused, Lucy said, “I guess, but my father’s not going to let Owen live here forever and I don’t want to give Seth the wrong idea.”

“You won’t stay long enough to give Seth the wrong idea. Only long enough for his neighbors to teach you how to care for Owen.”

Lucy peered at Madelyn. “Seth’s neighbors?”

“The way I see this, you can’t let Seth know you can’t care for this baby or he’s going to get a nanny and then you probably won’t get the experience you’ll need to convince your dad you can care for Owen alone.”

Lucy nodded.

“But I can’t come here every day and help you. Seth would get suspicious.”

Lucy nodded again.

“But, every day while Seth is at Bryant Development, one of my mother’s friends could drop by under the guise of meeting the newest member of Seth’s family. And while she was here, she could give you baby lessons.”

Lucy pressed her hand to her chest. “It sounds perfect.”

“It’s close to perfect, but there is one potential glitch. To get the time you’ll need, you can’t have too much interaction with Seth or you’ll come to terms on visitation too quickly and the next thing you know you’ll be going home when you’re not ready.”

Lucy took a quick breath. “I can handle Seth.”

She’d stayed away for eight long months and she could most certainly keep her distance for a few days.

The second the kitchen door swung closed behind Madelyn and Lucy, Seth faced his older brother. “We have got to get a nanny. I don’t know a thing about caring for a baby.”

Ty shrugged. “I’ll send over my list.”

Seth shook his head. “It is not going to be that easy. Did you see the look on Lucy’s face when she said she didn’t want someone helping her care for Owen? She’ll fight tooth and nail before she’ll let me get a nanny, but I need a nanny if I’m going to get custody.”

“Custody? You’re going to try to wrestle custody from a king?”

“Not from a king. From Lucy. When I called Pete last night before I went to the hospital, I only wanted visitation. But this morning I called him again and told him I want out-and-out custody and he told me that meant I had to change the way I was looking at this. We can’t go at this from the perspective of Bryant Development against the monarchy. It’s just me and Lucy deciding what’s best for our son.”

“I don’t know, Seth…” Ty paused when there was a knock at Seth’s back door. “That’s probably Madelyn’s parents,” he said, grinning and shaking his head.

But when Seth pulled open the door, Pete Hauser stood on the threshold. Carrying about twenty extra pounds and going bald, Pete looked much older than his forty years.

“You have something already?” Seth asked, directing him into the kitchen.

“Not a precedent that gets you custody of your son,” Pete said. “But I had two legal assistants from the firm’s main office in Little Rock go online. They found virtually nothing on your princess or her country.”

“It’s a small island. I’m not surprised they found nothing—”

“I said virtually nothing.” He handed Seth some papers. “This is a printout of the interview with Princess Lucy of Xavier Island from Sophistication magazine’s Royal Issue. Did you know she didn’t like growing up as a princess?”

“No,” Seth said, slowly, embarrassed to admit in front of his older brother that he didn’t know much about his ex-wife.

“Read the article. She talks about being raised by nannies and missing things like close girlfriends because she was educated at the palace. She laughs about never getting sent to the principal’s office or having a chance to be a ‘bad girl,’ but if you read between the lines what she’s saying is that her childhood was hard. Maybe too hard. She may not want her son to live that life, and while she’s here you might be able to prove to her that with a ‘commoner’ for a father, Owen doesn’t have to.”

Seth glanced up sharply. “You think that if I play my cards right, she’ll give me custody?”

“Not forever, but maybe until Owen is fourteen or so. Her childhood was what she missed. She didn’t mind being royal once she got old enough to have a sense of responsibility.”

Seth snorted. “Oh, she has a sense of responsibilities, all right. King Dad snapped his fingers and she went running home.”

“That works in your favor, Seth,” Pete insisted. “She knows how committed Owen will have to be when he gets old enough to assume his royal duties. So you need to show her that you could give Owen the normal life she didn’t have in the only space of time in which he can have it. While he’s a child.”

Seth glanced over at Ty. “What do you think?”

“He may never join the family business, but at least we’ll keep him out of purple tights and a fur-trimmed velvet robe until he’s fourteen.”

Seth laughed, but Pete said, “And when he’s fourteen, we don’t have to give him up easily. We can still file for custody. The trick will be getting the time right now to convince the princess that Porter, Arkansas, is the best place for Owen to have a real childhood. And that means you can’t settle your visitation discussions until you’ve proved to Lucy that you will raise Owen in an absolutely normal environment.”

Seth snickered. “Right. I wouldn’t know a normal environment if it bit me in the butt. Once our parents died, Ty, Cooper and I lost our normal environment.”

Ty shrugged. “Compared to Lucy’s life, yours is normal.”

Pete said, “Ty’s right, Seth. Compared to her life, yours isn’t that odd. You might have money, and your house might be big, but it’s still in a quiet, safe small town where Princess Lucy’s son probably wouldn’t need a bodyguard.”

“She hates her bodyguards.”

“Exactly! So while she’s living here, all you have to do is show her Owen would have a very normal life if he lived with you.” He nodded toward the article in Seth’s hands. “And whatever you do, don’t even breathe the word nanny…”

“He already did,” Ty said, “and she shot him down.”

“Let the idea stay down, Seth. She talks in the article about not knowing her mother because she was raised by nannies, and I think that’s your key. She does not want this kid raised by a nanny. So you have to learn how to change a diaper, take your turn getting up with Owen at night, feed him when he cries. And when you’re not doing those things, make dinner, keep the house clean and do laundry.”

Seth’s eyes widened. “I have a maid…”

“Give her a paid leave.” Pete turned to the kitchen door. “Your assignment for the next few weeks is to pretend you are just an average guy in an average town, who will raise his son in an average home so he can be an average boy.”

“Great,” Seth said sarcastically. “Should be a piece of cake.”

Chapter Three

Five minutes after Madelyn and Lucy returned to the kitchen, Seth’s house began to fill with people eager to see the new baby. Seth was glad when Ty suggested they leave the noise and confusion and hide in the garage, but he was surprised when his older brother took Sabrina from Madelyn’s arms and also asked Madelyn’s dad to join them. It wasn’t until Ty returned from a side trip to his SUV with Sabrina’s diaper bag and spread a clean blanket on an empty worktable that everything came into focus for Seth.

“Penney might be the Gentry family strategist,” Ty explained, referring to his future mother-in-law. “But Ron was a sergeant and he knows all about boot camp and basic training. So he’s going to teach you how to care for a baby.”

Ron laughed. His once brown crew cut had grayed but he still had the muscular arms and chest of someone in the military. In under a half hour, using Sabrina as a model, he taught Seth enough baby-care basics that he could change a diaper, feed a bottle and burp with the best of them.

But Ron didn’t stop there. “If your objective is to demonstrate to Lucy that you can give your son a normal life,” Ron said, sounding as if he was briefing troops for a battle, not preparing a new dad for an encounter with the mother of his son, “then you have to prove that parenting is a natural fit for you. That means you’ve got to be involved with Owen’s care right from the get-go. So I suggest you take the baby from Lucy as soon as your company leaves. That will give Lucy a break and also prove you can slide into the role of dad as if you were born to it.”

Seth agreed, but even though Penney and Ron, and Ty and Madelyn and most of the morning guests left just after noon, a steady stream of visitors—women from one end of Porter to the other who came bearing gifts—never stopped. Seth didn’t get two minutes alone with Lucy or his son. Forget about generously caring for Owen to give Lucy a break. There were so many women ogling Seth’s baby that even Lucy didn’t get to hold Owen. That evening, a small crowd actually gathered to get the baby ready for bed. Seth was lucky he got to kiss his son good-night before they hustled him out of the room.

But Seth didn’t panic. If he wanted Owen to play in Little League, have friends, walk the streets of a town without fear or paparazzi, then he had to prove to Lucy that he could take very good, very normal care of their son. So he sneaked into the laundry room with his cell phone and called Ron.

“Here’s what you do,” Ron said after Seth explained why their original plan hadn’t worked. “Owen’s probably going to get up about ten times tonight. That doesn’t sound like good news except by then, all the company will be long gone and Lucy will be alone. So you’ll get your chance to prove yourself. You don’t want to look obvious by running into Lucy’s room the first time Owen cries, but I’ll bet she’ll be damn glad to see you at 2:00 a.m. Plus, taking your turn with the baby is a very gentlemanly thing to do. Not only will you give Lucy a break, but also you’ll show her that you intend to teach Owen to be a gentleman.”

Liking the two-birds-with-one-stone strategy, Seth stayed awake until Owen got up the first time, around midnight, to make sure he could hear the baby’s cries so he could take his turn. Confident Owen was loud enough to awaken him, Seth went to sleep. But in what seemed like only a matter of minutes, he felt the warmth of the sunlight streaming in between the slats of the lemon-yellow horizontal blinds on the windows of the spare bedroom he was using and he bounced out of bed.

It was morning! He’d slept through the night! He hadn’t heard Owen cry!

He scrubbed his hand down his face, then jumped into jeans and pulled on a T-shirt before he grabbed his cell phone to call Ron. He wasn’t a complete idiot, but with the exception of Sabrina, he’d never held a baby in his life. He’d also never dealt with a new mother. He could “guess” what his next move should be but he didn’t think he could afford the risk that he would say or do the wrong thing and alienate Lucy even before they’d spent twenty-four hours together. It was better to be safe than sorry.

When Ron answered, Seth simply said, “I never heard Owen cry.”

“Easy, there, big guy,” Ron said with a laugh. “Don’t panic. You still have plenty of opportunities to chip in and help out. Especially in the morning.”

“Yeah, right. The baby’s in Lucy’s bedroom. It’s one thing to go in in the middle of the night when the baby’s screaming and she’ll be glad to see me. It’s another to barge in in broad daylight.”

“That’s true, but you can turn the whole situation around if you bring her a cup of coffee. She’ll think you’re being a good host, but she can’t hold Owen and drink coffee, so you offer to take Owen and finish whatever she’s been doing, like feeding him or burping him or changing his diaper. And, voilà, you look like a natural at being a dad.”

Seth said, “Okay,” then disconnected the phone and scrambled down the hall. Unfortunately, even before he reached the middle of the back stairway that led to the kitchen, the scent of fresh coffee greeted him. Confused, he rushed down the remaining steps and found Lucy sitting at the table, holding Owen, as she flipped through the Sunday paper.