Chapter 4
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Hearing a sudden cry, Anderson bolted back to the playpen in the living room, calling out, “Burton, come in, and close that door.” He had left the babies alone, something he was trying to avoid, and yet it seemed impossible to keep an eye on them and still do everything that needed to be done.
His admiration for his sister knew no bounds, and he couldn’t begin to imagine everything she went through on a day-to-day basis, particularly if she’d been alone the whole time since the babies were born.
Not able to have a conversation with her since his return stateside and not knowing what had gone on within her marriage, the jury was still out as to whether her husband had anything to do with this attack on Talia.
If he had, Tim would regret touching Talia, but Anderson had to find him first, and that was a whole different story.
He bent down and picked up Lisa, gave her a cuddle, and soothed her boo-boo, though it appeared she had no idea what it even was, and, from the look on her face, was ready to be over it.
He gave her a cuddle, then burst out laughing when she reached up and smacked him on the face.
God only knew why, but it seemed women learned this stuff very early in life.
When he heard a chuckle behind him, he turned to see Burton, one of his oldest friends, standing there, staring at him in amazement.
“This is not the scene I expected,” Burton admitted.
“Me neither, bro,” he replied, as he handed Lisa over to him.
Burton’s arms came out automatically but still seemed to be as awkward as Anderson was with the babies, although he was getting better after a couple days of this new improved boot camp. He looked at his friend and shared, “It may not be what you expected, but it’s absolutely what I need.”
“So, you sent out an SOS … for babysitting help?” Burton spoke hesitantly, holding the toddler straight out in front of him as if she were some weight equipment, and he was in a gym about to do lifts.
“This is an emergency,” Anderson cut in. “You have no freaking idea what I’m going through and how little I have in the way of help.”
“I don’t have any siblings, so I know nothing about kids, man,” Burton admitted, staring at him in astonishment. “Why on earth would you call me?”
At that, Anderson faced him and declared, “Because you’ve never not had my back.”
Burton, an odd look coming over his face, immediately nodded.
“Right, that puts it in perspective. I’m not sure I can do this though.
We didn’t get training in the military on this.
” He looked at the little squirming blob of a girl in his arms and asked, “What the devil are we doing with these things?”
At his choice of words, Anderson started to laugh. “You have no idea how good it is to see you, just to have another set of hands,” he added, a note of desperation still in his tone.
Burton only now seemed to take in the fact that Anderson was also holding a toddler, with another one trying to climb up his leg. “Oh my God,” Burton muttered in shock. “These are your sister’s triplets?”
“Yes, these are Talia’s,” he replied, his voice deepening and darkening with pain and hidden rage. “She’s in the hospital, and she’s not even awake yet. Jeez, I haven’t had a chance to call and check on her lately,” he added, groaning as he glanced around for his cell phone.
“Did you find out what happened?” Burton asked, yet his focus was still on the child in his arms, still staring at her, still holding her as if she were a time bomb about to explode.
Anderson looked back at Burton and said, “If it wasn’t such a serious matter …”
“No, I get it. I get it,” Burton interrupted. “However, I still don’t even know what to do with this.”
“You didn’t know what to do with an AK-47 when you first handled it either,” Anderson pointed out.
“You didn’t know what to do with an IED the first time you saw that as well.
You didn’t know what to do with all kinds of things, but, like everything, we learned.
We can do that now. We have to do that now. ”
Burton let out a deep breath and slowly nodded, shifting the little girl so she was more comfortable in his arms. The girl reached out and patted his cheek, a big grin on her face, mumbling something unintelligible.
“Thank heavens for that,” Anderson muttered, as he stared at his buddy. “She likes you.”
He shook his head. “She shouldn’t be talking to strangers,” Burton muttered, frowning. “These girls need training,” he added, as if realizing the horror of a little girl who would completely accept him after only a few minutes in his presence.
Anderson smiled at him and nodded. “Absolutely they do, but they’re ten months old, dude.”
Burton continued to frown, now glancing at her and swallowing hard. “So, does that mean they don’t use the toilet yet?”
Anderson groaned, then laughed and groaned again. “Not only do they not use the toilet yet, they are pooping machines.”
Burton closed his eyes and whispered, “Right. I got your back, bro.”
“I know you do,” Anderson replied. “And I really appreciate it. You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”
“Man oh man, but you’re right. If we can handle the things we’ve seen in war and deal with that,” Burton noted, “we can surely change diapers. Right?”
“Yes,” Anderson replied, with a breathtaking step into the future, as if absolutely no challenge was behind caring for the triplets now. “We can do that. We absolutely can do that.”
“But I’m telling you right now, bro, you owe me for this,” Burton added.
Anderson nodded. “Anything.” And such fervency filled his tone that no one could doubt his sincerity. “You have no idea how grateful I am that you showed up.”
“Why me?” Burton asked.
“I sent out the SOS to a few people,” Anderson explained.
“And I was the one who had leave coming up,” Burton replied. “That just goes to show you that one should never take leave until you check that all your friends are okay.”
“You got that right,” Anderson said, with a laugh. Just then, the girl in Burton’s arms scrunched up her face, now turning red.
“Oh my God. Something’s happening. What’s going on?” Burton asked, as he tried to hand Lisa back.
Anderson took a step back, shook his head, and muttered, “Just wait for it.”
Burton stared at him in shock. “Wait for what?” Then the smell hit him. He closed his eyes, doing everything he could to hold back the groan of disgust as the unbelievable scent of a fresh poopy diaper filled the air. “Oh God, oh God, oh God,” he muttered, gasping.
“Yeah. I read on the internet something about a sudden change in diet affecting their bowels and stuff,” Anderson shared. “I’m still trying to figure it out.”
Burton shook his head and glared at him. “Figure it out faster,” he demanded.
They somehow managed to get the babies back to sleep, with Burton and Anderson taking advantage and following suit.
Hours later the two men collapsed onto the nearby kitchen chairs.
The three little girls were in clean diapers, sitting in their highchairs, comfortable and happy for the moment, working on their food.
“What about formula?” Burton asked.
“I asked the social worker about that,” Anderson replied.
“Under these circumstances they had emergency access to medical information, and apparently the triplets were started on food after being diagnosed with some breast-milk-related jaundice.
So by now they were already doing quite well on baby food, which really surprised me.
Yet the social worker explained how some babies are faster than others to graduate to food.
“In this case, it was a good thing because it made for an easier transition for the emergency caregiver when it came to feeding the babies. Formula is still an option, I guess, but the babies would be okay without it. I thought they needed formula the first year. And I think they’re ten months old now. ”
Then he frowned, looked at the calendar on the wall, and muttered, “Maybe I need to look that up. They could be eleven months already, but I don’t even know how much difference it makes at this age. If they’re on baby food, and they’re doing okay, I guess that’s what counts.”
Burton shrugged. “And they certainly seem to like their groceries,” he observed.
Anderson snorted. “Yeah, you’re not kidding. They like them until they don’t, and then suddenly food is everywhere.”
Anderson was operating two spoons, and Burton was operating one as they were shoveling in the food.
The girls appeared to be completely enamored with the newest arrival, so they were a little more amiable than Anderson had expected, but he was damn grateful for it.
“I’ll just tell you again …” Anderson began.
“I know, bro. I know you’re happy I’m here,” Burton interrupted, shaking his head. “No way I’m telling the rest of the team though about this special op of yours.”
“Yeah, I understand,” Anderson replied. “I get that. Thanks for having my back.”