Chapter 33 #2
“One hundred percent I do.” He grinned at her and swooped over to his wife, where he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “How are you guys?” he asked in a much quieter voice.
Codi said something to him while Bailey turned her back on them to give them more privacy. Then Bryce came into the kitchen to wash up while Bailey danced out of it to take Codi her food.
“Where’s Matthew?” she asked, because she’d babysat the little boy once, and she’d brought him a gift.
“He’s out with my daddy,” Bryce said from the kitchen. “He came to help with the horses this morning.”
“I brought something for him,” Bailey said. “It’s on the counter over there.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Codi said.
“Well, I was almost eight when my momma had Ronnie,” Bailey said. “And I know it can sometimes be hard to have a new baby in the house. It’s nothing special; it’s just a little sticker sheet of horses I found lying around at the clinic.”
“Matthew loves stickers,” Bryce said with a chuckle. “He’ll probably stick them all over his face within three minutes.” He reached for a towel to dry his hands. “Are you going to eat with us, Bay?”
“No,” Bailey said. “I ate before I came, and I brought extra for breakfast tomorrow—or lunch.” She watched Bryce pick up a plate and put a ham and cheese pocket on it. “Ronnie says he heats his up in the toaster, but I don’t think that’s long enough to get the cheese melty.”
Codi took a bite of her hot pocket and moaned. “These are incredible,” she said through the mouthful. “You made these?”
Bailey nodded. “There’s salad too,” she said to Bryce, as he hadn’t seemed to see it.
He did the job and came over to the living room, sitting on the other end of the couch from Codi. Bailey simply looked at them, this seemingly perfect family. Bryce had two boys now that he got to keep and raise, and Bailey’s throat tightened.
“Did you guys already talk about Reeves?” Bryce cut a look over to Codi before making eye contact with Bailey.
“Not yet,” Codi said.
Bailey couldn’t help the smile that infused her soul. It leaked out onto her face too, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
Bryce grinned at her. “Sure seems like it’s going well.”
“Yeah,” Bailey said. “It sure does. I mean, it is. He’s really great, and I really like him.”
Bryce took a big bite of his ham and cheese pocket, and to her surprise, neither of them asked another question.
Bailey didn’t want to sit there and watch them eat, so she went into the kitchen and started to wrap up the extra pockets.
She put the salad and ranch dressing in the fridge, noting that Codi and Bryce had plenty of food there.
Casserole dishes, bowls of grapes, a pizza box.
She put the sticker sheet next to a notepad lying next to the sink, that maybe looked like Codi’s feeding notes, and she wondered if she could simply start doing their dishes while they dined. Then the back door opened and Tex walked in with Matty toddling alongside him.
“Momma!” the little boy yelled, and then a string of unintelligible words followed. He tried to climb right onto Codi’s lap, but Tex grabbed him and lifted him into his arms.
“Buddy, you can’t climb up on your momma, remember?” He held the little boy on his hip as the child told Codi about something Bailey didn’t understand.
Codi said, “Wow, that’s amazing,” as if she could understand Matthew. Maybe she could. Bailey wouldn’t put anything past her, for she was an incredible woman.
“There’s lunch, Daddy,” Bryce said, nodding toward the kitchen. “Bailey brought it.”
Tex turned to Bailey, and she immediately opened the fridge. “Sorry, I already put everything away. I don’t know what I was thinking; Bryce said you were here.”
“Ain’t no thing,” Tex said. “I’m leaving right now. Matthew and I have a lunch date with Grandma.” He grinned at the little boy. “Don’t we, bud?”
“Auntie! Auntie! Auntie!” Matthew chattered.
Tex moved to the corner wall, where he picked up a diaper bag. “I’m gonna head out, because I’m supposed to meet her in just a couple of minutes, and we’re already a little bit late.”
“All right, Daddy.” Bryce slid his plate onto the coffee table and got to his feet. “Thanks so much for coming to help this morning.” He wrapped up his father and son in a hug, which caused Matty to giggle in the sweetest way.
“Anytime.” Tex leaned down and gave Codi a hug too. Then he grinned and nodded at Bailey before he walked out with Matthew still in his arms.
Bryce finished eating, as did Codi, and he brought their plates back into the kitchen. “I have to head back out,” he said. “I’ve got an auction next weekend, and I’ve got a couple of horses who are super close that I want to keep working with.”
“It’s fine,” Bailey said. “Codi said she’s going to shower and take a nap.”
“She did?” Bryce smiled at her, and when he did such a thing, everything in the world felt okay. “Thanks, Bay,” he said. “That would be something, because no one else has gotten her to lie down and take a nap.”
Bailey didn’t know what to say, and Bryce moved back over to Codi and helped her off the couch anyway. She groaned, both of her hands in his. Bailey could only watch the tender way he cared for her, and how she looked up at him with total trust.
“When’s the last time you took pain meds?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I wrote it in the notebook.”
“I’ll check it and bring you some. Let’s get you in the shower.” They went down the hall together, leaving their tiny, five-day-old baby sleeping on the couch.
Bailey washed her hands, noting the row of prescription medication sitting in the window. With her heart pounding entirely too hard, she went and picked up Samuel. Everything in her life righted in that moment. She sighed as she gazed down at the tiny infant. “Aren’t you the sweetest thing ever?”
The little boy gurgled and squirmed as he adjusted himself in his swaddle.
Bailey held him close and leaned over and pressed a kiss against his hairline.
He had wispy blond hair like Codi and the sweetest face she’d ever seen on a baby, despite the fact that he hadn’t opened his eyes.
She held him close as everything that had once been broken, cracked, and misaligned in her life healed.
She knew with this baby in her arms that she wanted to be a mother and have little boys and little girls that she kept, loved, and nurtured. Everything she’d confessed to Reeves about not being sure about wanting kids, or that she had always made a path for escape, was wrong.
Codi had said Sammy needed to be fed, and Bailey could certainly mix up formula in a bottle. She’d done it when Ronnie had been born, as well as Uncle Eli’s and Uncle Andrew’s kids. No, she hadn’t done it for quite a while, but she took the tiny infant into the kitchen.
There, she checked the notebook next to the stickers and saw that Codi had written out Matthew’s and Sammy’s feeding schedules, as well as when she took her pills.
It sure seemed like she’d been breastfeeding the baby, and Bailey decided to wait until Bryce came back. Sammy had fallen right back asleep anyway. Bailey returned to the living room and sank into the recliner there. She then toed herself back and forth, pure peace filling her from top to bottom.
Bryce eventually came back, and Bailey opened her eyes though she just wanted the world to stay out for a while. “Codi’s just now lying down, and I’m gonna head back out, okay?”
“Okay,” Bailey whispered. “We’re fine here.”
“You don’t have to hold him the whole time.” Bryce grinned at her.
“You try to take this baby away from me, Bryce Young. Just try it.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I know better than that, Bay.”
“Codi said he needed to be fed, but it also seems like she’s breastfeeding.”
“Yeah.” Bryce seemed tired as he went into the kitchen. “She’s got some breast milk here in the fridge, and she told me he can have three ounces while she’s napping. I’ll get it ready for you.”
“I can do it,” Bailey said.
But Bryce set about getting the bottle ready. A minute later, he brought it over to her and set it on the side table beside the chair. “She’ll want to feed him when she gets up, and she’ll pump a little bit too, for next time.”
Bailey nodded. “What else do you guys really need, Bryce? You both look really tired.”
He gave another chuckle that didn’t sound nearly as happy, and ran his hands through his hair. “Yeah, it’s tiring. Newborns are up a lot, and Codi can’t do nearly as much as she did when she had Matthew.”
“I’m sorry,” Bailey said. “It seemed like Kassie had arranged a lot of help.”
“Yeah, she did,” Bryce said. “We have tons of food. It’s just a matter of time and getting him to figure out when he needs to sleep and getting Codi a little stronger.” He reached down and stroked one finger along his son’s head.
“If there’s anything else I can do,” Bailey said. “I’ll be here.”
Bryce smiled then, and it was more of the caliber that Bailey was used to. “Thank you, Bailey,” he said. “I’ll have Kassie let you know if there’s anything.”
Bailey nodded. She’d offered, and she couldn’t make Bryce or Codi accept anything more than that. Bryce brushed his fingers lightly through his son’s hair one more time, then he nodded at Bailey and left the farmhouse.
Bailey sat there with Samuel. She knew she’d come to do more than just simply hold this precious gift from heaven, but she reasoned she could do it for a few more minutes at least.
She simply wanted to feel this pure spirit from God for a little bit longer. She wanted the world to stay contained outside this living room, beyond this perfect baby. She wanted more time to examine her feelings and experience these feelings of…rightness.
“Clean,” she whispered into the beautiful silence. “I feel completely clean for the first time in my life.”
Tears pricked her eyes, because she’d been taking steps toward this feeling for a long time, and God in His infinite mercy had been gently leading her to this moment for years.