37. Sterling
Cecelia’s skin was soft and warm. I loved touching her, but I couldn”t get enough of her. I don’t know if I slept or if I just stroked her skin all night as she slept in my arms.
Georgie started to wake up. I didn’t need a baby monitor to hear her. She was all of six feet from the end of the bed. I slipped out from between the warm sheets and pulled on my lounge pants. I leaned back over and gently woke Cecelia up.
“Georgie is about to wake up and join us. Get dressed.”
“Hmm?” She rolled over and a spray of hair covered her face. She brushed it away and barely opened her eyes to look at me. She was smiling. I was smiling too. It was good to have her back. “Oh, right, baby. She’s still asleep.”
“I know, but she won’t be soon. Throw something on, and you can go back to bed.”
She rolled out of bed and grabbed her bag before disappearing into the bathroom. She was a delight to watch. All those curves, and they were mine.
While Cecelia was changing in the bathroom, I prepped Georgie’s bottle, and while she was still asleep, I carefully changed her. Over the past couple of weeks, I discovered if I woke up before she did and I could get her comfortable before she fully woke up, she’d stay asleep. I still lost some sleep, but not nearly as much as if Georgie fully woke.
I had her back in the crib and was softly patting her back. She hadn’t even needed the bottle. I lifted my finger to my lips when Cecelia emerged in a T-shirt and pair of shorts. She nodded and crawled back into bed. When I was convinced that Georgie was truly back to sleep, I put the bottle in the mini-fridge and climbed in to snuggle with Cecelia.
“What, no baby?” she asked.
“She’s getting bigger, sleeping longer.”
Cecelia muttered something, but I think she was already back to sleep. I snuggled in and held her close, a soft little spoon to my big spoon as I curled around her.
I woke up several hours later to Georgie’s giggles. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and sat up. My movement caused Georgie to fall onto her bottom and then fall sideways. She giggled even more.
“Dada’s awake,” Cecelia announced and clapped her hands.
Georgie struggled to right herself and then crawled over to me. She crawled up my arm, grabbing onto my shirt for support.
“That’s okay, isn’t it? To have her call you Dada?” Cecelia asked.
I nodded and pulled Georgie into my lap. I buzzed a kiss to the top of her head. “Yeah, I’ve gotten used to it. I’ve gotten used to her.” I looked up and my gaze locked with Cecelia’s. I reached out to touch her and caught the edge of her shirt sleeve. “And you, too.”
She leaned over and pulled my hand to her face. “I missed you so much. And I am so happy to see you. But I don’t know what to do.” She sounded stressed.
I tugged on her sleeve and shifted against the headboard so I could wrap an arm around her and still hold onto Georgie.
Cecelia tucked in next to me and started playing with Georgie’s feet.
I didn’t think I would ever get enough of this, the three of us tucked up into bed together. This was so much more of a family moment than anything I could remember as a kid. I certainly had never been allowed in my parents’ room, let alone crawl into bed with them at the same time. I never saw my mother in her night clothes and never saw my father in his pajamas until the last few months of his life when he was too sick to be able to complain about propriety.
“Talk to me, Cecelia. What’s wrong?”
“The same thing as always. My stupid job. There is no way that Reina isn’t going to tell everyone that some guy with a baby showed up looking for me or that I wasn’t there all night. If they find out I’m seeing you again, that’s the end of my job.”
“Would Reina really tell on you?”
Cecelia shrugged. “Hard to tell. She’s self-centered and super entitled. Maybe she didn’t even notice. No, she would have noticed enough so that she could take over my room. I can just hear her now, ‘But I thought you were gone,’ when I go back and ask why she’s in my room.”
“Don’t go back there,” I said.
Cecelia sighed. “They’ll fire me if I don’t. I’ve been looking for another job in Dallas for weeks now, and I haven’t gotten a single response to any of the applications I’ve submitted.”
“Let them fire you.”
“What?”
“Let them. No, better yet, quit. You don’t need that job.”
“Sterling, I may not need that job, but I need a job. I have bills and rent. This may come as a surprise to you, but unlike you, I’m not a trust fund baby.”
I laughed at her sense of humor.
“What if we didn’t have to sneak around?” I asked.
Cecelia leaned into my chest with a heavy sigh. “That would be amazing.”
“I sense a but coming?” I prompted.
It was her turn to laugh. “It’s a big but.”
“I like your big butt,” I growled and leaned in to place a kiss on the side of her neck.
She cringed with a giggle, folding in on herself so I couldn’t quite reach her neck. “Sterling.”
I landed the kiss and a second one.
She wiggled away from me and slid off the bed. “I’ve got to get ready for work.”
I tucked Georgie in and rolled, making a grab for Cecelia. I missed her as she slipped away. Georgie giggled, so I rolled again, landing on my back. I lifted Georgie up above me. She thought this was great fun and continued to giggle and have a good time.
The shower started, and I lost my moment with Cecelia. I rolled and set Georgie into the crib while I pulled out an applesauce pack to feed to her. They were gone. I looked in the trash. Yep, It looked like Cecelia had fed the baby. Damn, I loved that woman.
I stared at the bathroom door and then back at the baby. If I stepped in while Cecelia was in the shower, I’d climb in with her and make love to her.
Georgie complained and rattled the sides of the crib.
“I know, baby, I know. Not while you’re awake.”
I got dressed and played with the baby while I waited for Cecelia to get out of the bathroom.
She stepped out from the bathroom, dressed in the skirt to the little gray suit I saw her in so many times. Her top was pink, and her hair was wrapped in a towel turban style, and she was the most beautiful I had ever seen because she was here with me.
“You should probably give me a ride back to the apartment so I can take my car in,” she said.
“I can give you a ride.”
She shook her head. “They’ll see you, they’ll?—”
“Let them, Cecelia. Better yet, I’ll walk in with you and you can tell them you quit.”
She opened her mouth to protest. I stepped across the small space and pulled her to me. “Quit work. Take care of me and Georgie.”
“I’m not a nanny, Sterling.”
“I don’t want a nanny, Cecelia. I want you in my life. When you said you were coming here to Amarillo, I thought we could make it work. Long weekends together, meeting in the middle where no one would know us. I see now that it won’t work. It’s not fair to you. If it means you don’t work for them, then don’t.”
Her smile faltered.
“I know you want a job and to be able to take care of yourself. But let me take care of you. You can find another job.”
“My apartment. I have to pay rent.”
I shook my head. “If you won’t move in with us, then I’ll help you until you find another job.”
“Wait, stop. What did you say?” she asked.
“Let me take care of you,” I repeated.
“No, the move in with you part. You want me to move in with you?” She looked so scared.
I smiled and nodded. “Yes, Cecelia. I want you to live with me. Me and Georgie. And before you come up with any other excuses, I will put you on my insurance, I’ll add you to my cellphone plan. I want you with me. We are a family. We belong together.”
She gulped and a tear ran down her cheek.
“I need you,” I confessed.
Georgie crawled across the bed and tried to get to her feet. She wobbled and fell into a sitting position. She held her arms up to Cecelia, asking to be picked up. “Mama.”
“We need you.”
Cecelia lifted Georgie and cradled her in close. I wrapped my arms around both of them. “Georgie needs a mother. She needs you.”