Chapter 23 #2
“Close the door, girl,” Hank called out. “You are letting out all the bought warm air, and it don’t come cheap. Are you babysitting one of Endora’s twins today?”
“No, Daddy, I’m not. I want y’all both to meet Nicky.” She went on to tell them everything. “I glanced at the birth certificate, and it says Nicholas Thomas. When I adopt him, I’m not changing his name.”
“Oh, Willa Rose, I’m so proud of you for doing this.”
“I’ve known about it for a while, but I didn’t think she would give him up,” Willa Rose said. “So, I didn’t mention it to anyone or get my hopes up. Right until the time that she drove away from the courthouse, I figured she would change her mind.”
“And now you are a mama,” Hank said.
“Yes, I am.” Willa Rose remembered that Endora’s twins had been born on the same day as Nicky. That was the very morning that she had been envious and wanted a baby of her own.
Hank swiped tears streaming down his cheeks with the back of his hand. “I like shortening his name to Nicky. Are you going to stare at him all evening or let me hold my new grandson?”
“Nicky does fit him better, and yes, Daddy, you can hold him while I make a bottle for him. He’s been chewing on his fist for the last few minutes,” Willa Rose answered. “But I really want to be the first one to feed him.”
“Of course you do,” Hank said without taking his eyes off the baby.
“Looks to me like you just got the first of those five boys that Yasmin promised you,” Tripp said.
Willa Rose handed the baby to Hank and then panic set in while she made the bottle. “My mind is spinning in circles. What if I can’t do this? What if I said yes too quickly?”
“Stop worrying. You are going to make a fantastic mama.” Tripp reached out to touch the baby’s hand, but Nicky latched on to his finger.
“Welcome home, baby boy. You are a mighty fine Christmas present. And Willa Rose, we’ve got this covered.
There are three of us and only one of him.
How much trouble can one little tiny boy be anyway? ”
“I will never understand Erica,” Hank whispered, “but I’m so glad she gave us a chance to raise him. Even if she doesn’t claim me, they are blood to my Vada. I’ll help you, Willa Rose, any way I can. He is family and an answer to prayers for you.”
“I never thought…” Willa Rose said as she reached for the baby and sat down in a nearby chair to feed him.
When he had sucked down an ounce of formula, she looked up at Tripp. “Do you know how to burp a baby?”
“Yes, ma’am, I sure do.”
The look of amazement and pure love for a baby that he had just met quelled all of Willa Rose’s fears. She handed Nicky to him and knew that the three of them could give this baby all the love and support he would ever need.
Hank moved closer to Tripp. Willa Rose took a mental picture of her father’s big, callused hand and Nicky’s tiny one bonding and could already see them walking across the yard together when Nicky was older.
“His name seems to fit him well, and since he has my last name, that makes him mine too.”
But someday I might add another name to the end. He could very well become Nicholas Thomas Callahan, but that’s a long way in the future.
Was this the way that Tripp’s mama felt when she held her adopted children for the first time?
Even after going through the birth experience with Brodie, did she have the same maternal instincts with the adopted twins?
If so, she fully understood Tripp’s attitude about not caring if he had biological kids or if they were adopted.
“He is perfect,” she said as she pulled back the blanket and kissed his little toes.
***
Tripp pulled up two more chairs and sat down in one. “Well, our worlds just turned upside down in five minutes. But you could let me and Hank hold him for a minute? We promise to give him back.”
“This is like a Christmas miracle for me and Willa Rose, but what is it really to you?” Hank asked.
“He isn’t really mine, but since I’m going to help with him, I can officially tell Brodie that he beat me to the marriage thing, but I got a son before he did.”
“If I’m dreaming, don’t wake me up,” Willa Rose whispered.
“Oh, no!” Tripp said. “What if the baby’s cries don’t wake you? I mean, after all, you can sleep through a tornado, right?”
Hank chuckled and gave Nicky to Tripp. “I bet all that changes starting tonight.”
“I think we should bring the crib from your antique shop to my house. I’m a light sleeper,” Tripp said.
“Endora said something that makes sense when she went home before Mary Jane wanted her to. She said that the twins needed to get acclimated to their own place. I want Nicky to be in his own home from now on.”
“That makes sense,” Hank said.
“But, Daddy, I’m scared,” she admitted. “What if…”
“That what-if game is a black hole that will swallow you whole. You will adjust, and Tripp is going to be there to help you at night for these first few weeks.” Hank shifted his focus from the newborn to Tripp. “Right?”
“Yes, I am.”
“And, Willa Rose, you have to promise to give me the same thing I gave you,” Hank said.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“One year. I gave you a year to decide if you wanted to stay in Spanish Fort or go back. These first months are not going to be easy, so if you decide you can’t do this and follow your dream of taking care of the shop both, then we’ll more or less put the houses in Poetry up for sale at the same time we give him up for adoption,” Hank said.
“The houses, yes, but I could never do that to this baby,” Willa Rose said.
“If you did, I’d be the high bidder,” Tripp said.
“How can you say that when you just now met him?”
“When you know, you know, and I do,” Tripp said. “I’ll help get him into the SUV and then take my truck over to your shop and get that crib and cradle.”
Knox pushed open the door and stopped right inside. “I figured you would have closed up shop by now. What is this? Are you babysitting for Endora? I thought they had one of those fancy strollers.”
“Merry Christmas to me,” Willa Rose answered. “I am a new mother.”
“You are what?” Knox frowned.
“He is partly mine since I’m going to help Willa Rose take care of him,” Tripp said and reached out toward Hank, who slipped the infant over into Tripp’s arms.
“Come meet Nicky, Uncle Knox. If Willa Rose decides to sell him in a year, then I’m at the top of the list to get him.”
Knox sank down in the empty chair. “Will someone explain what is going on here? Is this a joke? Are you holding a real baby, or is that one of those lifelike dolls?”
“It’s not a joke, and he is very real,” Hank said and went on to tell him what had happened.
“I see, but Brother, you do know it’s illegal to buy a child,” Knox said.
“I do, but Willa Rose and I will figure something out if it comes to that.”
Knox chuckled and then threw back his head and guffawed. “Can I be the one to tell Bernie?”
“Why her?” Willa Rose asked.
“She told me last night that she is going to settle up all the bets today. She heard through the gossip mill that Willa Rose is staying in Spanish Fort. Bernie is about to have a big loss in the matchmaking game. She was sure she could find a husband for Willa Rose—who lives miles away from here. She may be so distraught that she won’t even try to fix me up. ”
Tripp smiled and winked at his brother. “Don’t bet on it, Brother.”
“Y’all knew that she was staying for weeks, didn’t you? There’s no way you would be this relaxed and agreeable to having a child dumped in your laps without knowing. That’s what all the whispering in the shadows has been about, isn’t it? Why did you keep it from me? We’re twins. We share things.”
“They had no idea about Nicky,” Willa Rose assured him.
“Like I said earlier, this is our Christmas miracle,” Hank whispered. “A son born in December. Seems fitting, doesn’t it?”
“I can’t have children of my own, but I already feel that he is mine right here.” She touched her heart. “I’ve got a good support system, so I can do this. We were about to take him home. Want to come with us?”
Hank shook his head and headed across the room. “You might need me as a daytime helper, but I’m the grandpa, not the parent.”
“What can I do to help?” Knox asked.
“You can go with me and help me take a crib and cradle from the antique shop over to Willa Rose’s house. We might need to tear it down to get it inside, so bring tools,” Tripp answered.
Knox pushed his shoulder-length blond hair back and took a long look at the baby. “He’s got your dark hair, Brother. Are you sure y’all are telling me the whole story?”
“We are, but no one can ever say that the night you slept with Willa Rose marked him, can they?”
“That’s enough,” Willa Rose barked. “And if either of you say a word like that to Bernie, I will ban you both from spending time with Nicky.”