Chapter 33
CARL
After Aunt Lucy returned to inform us that the store was sold out of travel cribs except for the display, which had a hole in the mesh, so wasn’t worthy of our sweet little Alice Mae, she’d opted to add some of her own money to what we’d given her and buy her a new stroller that folded down flat and came with a foot muff.
“She can sleep in that just fine for one night, just be sure to strap her in,” she said.
The rest of us weren’t so sure. Naps, sure, but all night?
What if she got tangled up in the straps somehow and we were all asleep?
In the end, it was decided that she’d stay with Alec’s parents for the night, along with my dad and Aunt Lucy.
They’d planned to take turns staying up to keep an eye on her and feed her as much of her new formula as she could handle.
Alec’s mom had also suggested starting her on some cereal, but after a quick Google on infant feeding guides, we put the kibosh on that.
No solids until at least six months old, and we preferred to have her swallowing reflexes checked with a Mylos pediatrician first, due to her low muscle tone.
“Look, Mom,” Alec said, “I just went to the Down Syndrome site listed in her hospital after care notes from when she was born, and this book was recommended reading, so I’ve bought it and downloaded it.
I’ve sent you, Aunt Lucy, and Carl’s dad a paperback copy that will arrive in a couple of days.
” He glanced between Aunt Lucy and my dad.
“I sent yours to your homes, since I figured you’d more likely be there when it arrives. ”
“Yeah, after the pack-n-play that you boys ordered from the Target website arrives tomorrow at the store, I’ll go pick it up and do some more shopping for my little sweet pea. I’ll drop them off and head on home after dropping Lucy off at the airport.”
“You sure you want to take her with you on your honeymoon?” his Mom asked. “She’d be fine here with us.”
“I know, Mom, but it feels wrong to leave her right after we become her dads. It’s bad enough we’re leaving her tonight,” Alec fretted.
Kit kissed his temple. “It’s our wedding night, so appropriate.”
He blushed.
“And that Xero said he’d have the pilot bring you here to pick her up on your way to Tokyo. Besides, that Mylos doc said he was coming down to give her a well baby check up and immunizations first thing in the morning.”
“Yeah, okay. You’re right. I just want to be the best dad she could have besides Carl and Kit. I don’t want her to ever feel unwanted.”
It went unsaid that he meant “like she was with her egg and sperm donors”.
I wasn’t going to mention that myself, not ever.
Not to our friends and family and certainly not to Alice Mae.
I’d decided our official story was her parents realized they were not cut out to be parents and surprised us after the wedding by asking if we’d adopt her, so we did.
The end. It was mostly the truth, after all, and the rest absolutely did not matter.
All that did was that she’d been handed over to our loving arms, and now we weren’t just a family of three, well, four, counting our furbaby, Floof, but five.
And maybe one day, a couple of years down the line, we’d adopt a little brother or sister for her.
Reluctant to leave her, we stayed to give Alice Mae her dinner time bottle and changed her diaper before putting her in the stroller and fastening her in, tucking her new teddy bear beside her, and putting on the foot muff thing that covered the seat area up to her chest. Then we piled into our rental car and drove to our motel, where we’d already alerted them that we’d be late checking in.
“I guess we should shower before heading out to eat,” Alec said. “I’ll go first.”
We all needed to get back on track, and I knew just the distraction it had to be. It was our honeymoon, after all. I watched him go and then shucked off my own clothes. “I’m going to go help him save water,” I informed Kit, waggling my eyebrows suggestively.
He snorted. “Fuck him senseless in there, more like.”
I shot him a finger gun. “You bet. “
“Fine, but wash him off after and wait for me in there.” He gave me a naughty grin that had my ass clenching in anticipation. “You betcha,” I promised, going to make my shower sex fantasy come true.
An hour later, we were sitting eating our late dinner before bed.
“What’s so interesting on your kunnarskyn?” Alec asked Kit.
Kit glanced up, a faint blush dusting his cheeks and neck, making the faint scales still visible darken.
“Sorry, I was caught up shopping for Alice Mae now that we got her measurements, thanks to your mom’s measuring tape.
Xeranos provided me with the address of our hotel, and I’ve ordered her some clothes from a Japanese department store, which will be delivered tomorrow, along with a carriage fit for our little princess.
The hotel has agreed to hold them until we arrive the day after. ”
“A carriage?” I asked, eyebrow raised. He tapped his kunnarskyn, bringing up the order confirmation.
I stared at the image.
“A Silver Cross perambulator? Really?”
“I also ordered the seat that can go in it for when we have a second child,” Kit replied, as if it was the obvious thing to do.
“We can leave the stroller Aunt Lucy bought with Alec’s parents for them to use when taking her out during visits.
I ordered two identical ones to be delivered to Aunt Lucy’s and your father’s for when she’s there instead.
Alec had their addresses stored in the account. ”
“Let me see,” Alec asked, and grinned when he saw the baby carriage in question. “White and gold. She’s going to look like a little Cinderella!”
“Indeed. A Cinderella dress in her size has been ordered from the Disney store, complete with a headband, so she will really look the part. We can buy her a Minnie Mouse dress and ears for the second day while at the park.”
“She is going to be so spoiled,” I murmured.
Alec scoffed as he cut into his steak. “As if you’re any better. Who handed Aunt Lucy two hundred and fifty dollars and told her to buy whatever? And don’t think I didn’t see you looking on Ikea at baby furniture earlier on your tablet while Kit filled up the car.”
“There’s an Ikea in Tokyo and in Osaka. I want to visit at least one of those before we go and look at the baby rooms they’ve set up as displays and order her furniture before we go, seeing as the Fleet has an arrangement with them for pick up and delivery.”
“If we do it in Osaka on our last day, we could just take it home with us on the shuttle, as long as we let them know we’ll be bringing it.”
Alec’s suggestion was a sensible one, so we all decided that was the route to go.
We’d hit the Ikea after lunch, check out the baby stuff, make our choices, go eat in the cafe, then pick up and pay for everything, then return straight home to the ship so we could put everything together.
It would make for a long night, but we’d have to readjust to the ship’s time anyway, and our little princess would need her bed.
“We have another four weeks off, by the way, after we return to the ship.”
We both stared at him, then it hit me. “Paternity leave."
He nodded.
“It’s going to feel weird going back to work after so much time off,” Alec observed.
“It will, but we’ll have the time to bond with Alice Mae and get her into a routine, and decide how to handle childcare.”
“I don’t know if I can just hand her over to someone. It was hard enough leaving her tonight, and we only just found out about her and became her dads today.”
“Why don’t you see how you feel when the time comes?” I told him gently, lifting his hand from the table to kiss it.
Kit nodded. “Let’s see how things play out and check all of our options. Then we’ll choose whichever is best for us.”
Alec swallowed. “Okay.” He took a sip of his sweet tea. “But I think I might want to be a stay at home dad, at least until she starts school.”
“If that’s what feels right, we’ll support you in that. Right, Kit?”
“Absolutely.”
Something told me right then that was exactly how it would play out, and I could see it now, our darling little girl and a sibling or two growing up with three dads in a modern, gay version of the Brady Bunch style childhood. I smiled, tucking into my baked potato, happy at the thought.