Chapter 2 #2
She gave a little snort accompanied by a snicker. “Well, I’d suggest you call the cops to come take it away because you sure don’t have any business with a baby.”
Blue stood there for a few seconds, his heart plummeting.
Maybe that’s what he should do, just call someone to take it away.
So what if it was his? He didn’t need a kid.
But something about that idea made his chest hurt.
He tried, but he couldn’t hide his disappointment when he said, “Never mind. Sorry I bothered you.” With a sigh, he turned and stepped off the porch to cross the lawn and return to whatever was going on with that baby curled inside that basket sitting on top of his kitchen table.
He’d almost made it to his porch steps when he heard a voice behind him say, “You aren’t kidding. There’s really a baby in there.”
Blue turned to the woman. “No. I’m not kidding. There’s really a baby in here.”
Her eyebrows shot upward. “Can I see?”
Blue shrugged. “Sure. Why not?” He opened the door and held it while the woman stepped inside.
The baby was screaming bloody murder, and the woman ran straight to it. “Oh, you poor little thing!” She picked up the tiny child and held it close, and it quieted a little bit. “Where’s its bottle? Oh, god, its diaper is wet. It needs a change. Where are its diapers?”
“Whoever left it didn’t leave any. I don’t have anything for it.” Now Blue could feel his face burning. He didn’t even know what to buy! What could he possibly do for this wiggling, squirming little person?
“Oh, lord. Um, let me think. Got a hand towel? Or a dish towel?”
“Yeah.”
“And some duct tape?”
Blue brightened. “Oh, yeah! I always have duct tape! Hang on.” In a couple of minutes, he’d rounded up a bright blue hand towel and a roll of silver duct tape. “Here.”
He watched with curiosity as the woman took the baby to the sofa, unfolded its blanket, and started changing it. When she got down to the diaper, she pulled it off and grinned. “Ah! It’s a girl!”
“Oh, yeah! The note said there’s a birth certificate in the bottom of the basket.
Hang on.” While the woman continued on with the makeshift diapering, Blue sprinted to the basket, dug around in the bottom, and pulled out a plastic bag.
“Here it is! Let’s see. Hmmm. Says the mother is CynthiaDenise Holland.
” Yeah―Cynthia. He looked at the birthdate, then tried to count backward.
His heart fell when he realized that, nine months before that date, they’d indeed been dating.
And she’d listed the father’s name: BrentAlan Wallace.
That was definitely him. “Oh, god,” Blue moaned as he read it.
“There! That’s much better, although it’s not waterproof. Let’s put a plastic bag under her in the basket until we can get some diapers. What’s her name?”
Blue could barely breathe. “Indigo.”
“That’s a pretty name! Wonder why they named her that?”
“Because they call me Blue.”
The woman stared at him. “Well, makes sense, I suppose. Now, do you want to go get some things and let me wait here with the baby? Or do you want me to go get some stuff?”
Blue shrugged. “I have no idea what to get. Do you want her?”
The woman looked confused. “What?”
“Do you want her? The baby? Because I can’t take care of her.”
Her eyebrows shot upward. “You don’t want her?”
“No! I can’t take care of a baby!” Blue was growing more frightened by the minute. Shit was getting far too real, and he didn’t know what to do. “Do you want her? Because I’ll give her to you. I really don’t want her.”
To his shock, he watched a big, silvery tear run down the woman’s cheek. “You’d just give away your baby like that? How could you do that? If you don’t want her, they’ll come and take her away. They’ll put her in foster care. Is that what you want?”
Blue didn’t know what to say. And now he had a crying woman on his hands.
Good god, things just kept getting better and better.
But foster care? No. “I don’t… they’ll put her…
oh, god.” Blue plopped down on the sofa beside the woman and sat there, trying to figure out what to do.
He didn’t want a baby; he didn’t need a baby. He couldn’t take care of a baby.
And yet he’d grown up in foster care and he didn’t want that for any child.
He’d been in one foster home after another, sometimes being beaten, at least twice being sexually abused, often hungry and dirty, sometimes wetting his pants because he was denied the right to even go to the bathroom.
In at least one home, he’d been tied to the foot of the bed and could only walk in a three-foot semi-circle.
Treated like an animal, he’d had to focus his growing up years on one thing and one thing only―surviving.
While other kids were worried about playing ball or who their date to the prom would be, Blue had worried about how he would get enough to eat and have clothes to wear so he could eventually escape and find a job, get out on his own, and not have to worry about being beaten or starved.
One day when he was seventeen, he’d managed to get away and he had run fast and far until they couldn’t find him.
He’d lived on the streets for seven months until he’d finally managed to find a job at a church, sweeping and mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms. One shelter after another had taken him in until he’d figured out how to do something with his hands that would let him earn a living, and he’d been a mechanic ever since.
He didn’t want that for the child in the basket.
She hadn’t asked for anyone to treat her that way, but he didn’t know what to do.
The sound of the woman next to him sniffling brought him out of his thoughts and he turned to her.
“Go. I don’t have much money, but I’ll give you what I’ve got.
Buy whatever I need to get me through the weekend and show me what to do. Please. Please?”
He watched as she wiped her eyes with the back of one hand and held the tiny infant with the other arm.
“Okay. I’ll get some diapers, formula, baby lotion and powder, a pacifier, some little tee shirts and socks, a blanket or two, a couple of bibs, and some laundry detergent for you to wash her clothes in.
Oh, and you’ll need a car seat to go in your truck. ”
Blue shook his head. “I don’t have enough money for that.”
“Well, you can’t take her anywhere until you have one.
Wait―let me go to the thrift stores tomorrow and see if I can find one.
I’ll be back in a few minutes with some things.
Just hang in there. Go wash your hands and if she starts fussing, put a finger in her mouth for her to suck on until I get back.
” The woman situated the baby back in the basket and covered her with the little blanket, then headed for the door.
“Wait!” When she spun, Blue looked into her face. “I don’t even know your name.”
“It’s Anne. AnneBlack. And you’re BrentWallace?”
Blue smiled. “Yeah. And all my friends call me Blue.”
“Okay then, Blue. I’ll get back as fast as I can. There’s a dollar-type store right down the street. I don’t know if I can get formula there, but I know I can get diapers and a few other things. Just hang on. I’ll be right back.”
When the door closed behind her, Blue felt panic overwhelm him again.
God, he was so scared of someone so tiny!
Would it squash her to death if he picked her up?
How did that even work? He sat down beside the basket where Anne had placed it on the sofa and looked down into the child’s little face for the first time.
What he saw there took his breath away. There, in those little features, was…
His own face. Blue could see his own features on the front of that tiny head, his eyes, his nose, even in the little bow-tie lips. There was no doubt in his mind. She was his child.
As he stared into her face, her eyes met his and she made a little hiccupping sound.
Squirming a little, she seemed to try to focus on him, and then she screwed her face up and made a sound like a squirrel barking.
Was that a good sound? A bad sound? Blue didn’t know, but she didn’t seem to be in any pain, so he just watched her.
Her vocalizations turned to something that reminded him of a cat, and then a sound came from somewhere other than her mouth…
Did babies do that? Apparently they did.
Relief was all he felt as the odor drifted past him and she made a face that looked somewhat like a grin.
It was replaced with a redness and stern expression, her eyes squeezed shut and her legs stiffened straight out.
It only took one whiff for Blue to figure out what she’d done, and he hit pure panic mode.
Oh, no! I don’t know what to do about THAT!
Hell, I hope Anne gets back here soon. What the fuck will I do?
The odor filled the small living room and Blue felt himself readying to gag.