Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
“ P eek-a-boo!”
Jacks cracked up, laughing and slapping the bed with his little hands.
Daniel was supporting him, letting him sit up between his legs on the bed, but Jacks was doing the work all by himself.
There was no way this baby was three and a half months old.
No way.
He’d been here for two weeks, and he knew better. He’d argued a couple of times about it, trying to bring the issue up, but Hayden simply wasn’t having anything about it.
So he’d just kept his mouth shut. It seemed like the easiest thing to do anyway.
“Peek-a-boo!”
That wild, happy laughter was enough to make him crack up. Jacks was a hoot.
He was beginning to drool a lot though, and he was gnawing on his fist. Daniel would bet that there were teeth coming which would validate his entire Jacks’s age position. But whatever. He would just continue to nod and grin and at some point someone would believe him.
The proof would be in the pudding.
In the meantime, he was beginning to stock his mini fridge with teething rings.
The lunch bell rang, and he gathered Jacks up to take him downstairs to see his dad.
Hopefully Hayden was in a good mood today. It was always very noticeable around the table when he wasn’t. Daniel thought they all dreaded when Hayden showed up mad. Not that he was mean or abusive or anything, but he sure could growl.
They trooped down the stairs to the kitchen, which smelled of fresh-baked bread and the leftover rich stew from yesterday.
Hayden was sitting there, a sheaf of papers in front of him, his headset on, talking ninety to nothing about Daniel wasn’t even sure what.
Jacks saw Hayden and began to whimper, trying to get to him. Hayden held a finger up in a just-a-minute kind of motion, so Daniel tried to shush the baby.
Honestly, Hayden should have just stayed in his office if he was going to work. Jacks would never have known the difference.
Finally Jacks wailed, and Hayden sent them a hard look before muttering something and taking off the headset.
“You are a loud little monster, buddy.” Hayden rumbled the words, and he smelled something burning for a minute, which was disconcerting considering that neither one of the ladies was in the kitchen cooking anything.
He held out his arms, and Jacks lunged at him, so Daniel let him go to his dad and went to check the microwave to make sure nothing was in there bubbling over.
The oven too, but there was nothing there, just the remains of the stew on the stove for him to get himself a bowl. But the burner was off.
Daniel looked in the toaster oven to see if maybe the bread had burned while Hayden was toasting it, but no, it was just fine. In fact, it was perfectly toasted and ready for butter.
Weird.
It didn’t smell like electrical burning, so he just let it go. He wasn’t going to look for it anymore. No one else smelled it, just him.
Hayden was grinning now, bouncing Jacks in his arms. That was a good sign, if he could let go of the grumble so quickly. That meant he wasn’t in a terrible mood, he was just really busy.
“So what did you two get up to this morning?” Hayden asked, pinning him with a stare that he didn’t expect.
Daniel faltered, hunting for words because that stare was so intense. “Well, we played a lot of peekaboo and we did some singing. We watched a little bit of Bluey and we drooled a lot.”
“It was riveting.” Hayden grinned. And God, he was pretty when his eyes crinkled up that way and a dimple popped into his cheek. “I’m excited for the Bluey part. I love that show.”
Jacks squealed and his little hands made motions and looked a little bit like he was barking.
Hayden nodded at Jacks. “That’s right, buddy. Puppy. Bark, bark.”
He tilted his head, looking at Hayden through squinty eyes. Sometimes, the man seemed eerily able to understand what Jacks was trying to get across. And since Daniel didn’t particularly think Hayden was communicative and empathetic, it seemed odd to him.
Still, what was he going to think? Obviously, Hayden had wanted children enough to adopt one. There had to be a connection between these two, and he wasn’t going to do anything to mess with it.
“I’ve been putting in teething rings in my fridge. I wanted you to know when it becomes your weekend, I do think he’s teething, so if he’s fussy…”
Hayden nodded. “That’s not surprising.”
“Well, it actually could be surprising.” He didn’t know how to bring this up again. “Babies usually teethe when they’re about twice the age that Jacks is. So I’m afraid you might want to consider the idea that his birthday was closer to Christmas than spring…”
He stuttered as Hayden stared at him. “I mean, obviously, he could just be very advanced for his age, but this is highly unusual.”
Daniel should know. This was sort of what he did
“Well, his adoption agency.” There was a long pause. “They were very clear about when he was born.”
God, all of a sudden he wanted to ask if he could see the baby’s papers—birth certificate, adoption papers—something to prove that this little baby hadn’t been stolen.
Surely not, right?
Hayden could get a baby anywhere, why would he steal one?
People with money just got moved to the top of the line. They didn’t have to steal a baby.
“Relax, no one’s stolen anything.”
He blinked up “What?”
“It’s written all over your face, but trust me, I went through legal channels. This little one is my son. If you’d like to see my paperwork, I can totally provide it.”
The easy acceptance made him feel better.
“No, of course not! My agency would have dealt with all of that, and I would never accuse you of something awful or nefarious ever…”
“Nonsense. You’re looking after Jacks, after all. That’s admirable.”
“No. No, I apologize.” God, how embarrassing.
He was going to have to learn to school his expressions a little bit better.
“At any rate, I just wanted to say he might be a little cranky, and that if you need some sort of teething ring situation, all you have to do is come up and grab one. There’s plenty. He seems like a chewer.”
“That’s very kind of you. You do realize that anytime you spend money on Jacks, you’re welcome to expense it out.”
“I just wanted to make sure he had something here. It can be very uncomfortable for them. And I have to admit, I always worry about their little teeth. They sound so miserable when they cry. I don’t like that at all.”
“You’re kind, Daniel. I do appreciate that in a person.” Hayden smiled at him, and the expression was…warm?
Was that what that look meant?
“Compassion is part of the job, I think. It’s important to—be real.”
“I concur.” There was another smile. This one focused toward him. “I’m so glad you guys came down for lunch. I needed an excuse to get out of work.”
He nodded in sympathy. “Sometimes it’s just hard work, no matter what kind of job you have or how much you enjoy it.”
That was a respectable thing to say, he thought, because it was true. Not everybody has great days; there are bad days. That was for sure.
“And even with amazing children, there are days when you just want to bash something or just lay down and cry.” He was much more likely to experience that desire than anything else.
“Well, we’re glad to have you. Are you going to do anything interesting on your weekend?”
The change of topic came so fast his eyes crossed.
“Uh…I don’t think so? I guess I could go down to town and see if there’s a late harvest thing going on, but really, I’ll just sleep in and watch a few movies.
” Daniel was pretty sure he hadn’t plumbed the depths of all the things he didn’t understand about this family, but the interesting part was that they had plenty of time to get to know one another.
“I’m considering having the media room expanded. Something for adults now, and then possibly Jacks later. I feel as if this is a tough situation for a young man, and this might make it easier when he’s feeling lonely.”
“Well, and all the children from school will think that’s amazing. I’m sure,” he encouraged. “I never knew anyone at school that had any sort of a media situation.”
“Did you grow up here?”
“Here in Colorado? Yes, and I loved it. I had a ball.”
“Were you a good student?”
He blinked at Hayden, confused by the question.
“Um, I think that my teachers would say that I tried very hard to be a good student. And in some classes I was more successful than others. Fortunately for me, in the classes that required empathy and problem-solving— things that are very important to my particular position—I did very well, and I was proud.”
“So tell me more.”
He looked at Hayden, his head tilting. “About being a mediocre student?”
“Yes, about being a mediocre student. I’m curious, how does a mediocre student end up in a teaching position?”
Did the man seriously just ask him that? “Well, one, I learned how to not be a mediocre student. I learned to accept that I really loved certain parts of school, and that there were certain parts I disliked, and that there were ways to work around both of those situations.”
“Oh, yes, how did that work exactly?”
Jesus Christ. “I’m not very good at high-level math.
I do fine for math that is something that high schoolers need and below, but really, as far as advanced math, I wasn’t very good at the concept.
I found I liked to learn a little bit about everything, and then when I got into early childhood and childhood education, I realized that I was incredibly lucky.
I’d found what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
I really do enjoy children and taking care of them and helping them learn; it’s quite an honor. ”
And now he probably sounded like an idiot, but it was true. He did feel honored to be around the kids, to help them learn and grow.
“That’s amazing. Please don’t think I want you to defend yourself or anything. I’m just very nosy and, according to my housekeeper and my cook, incredibly socially inept. I’m curious. I mostly grew up homeschooled, I think they call it, with private tutors.”
“Oh, wow.” He would have never expected that. Like, he would have expected Hayden to be from some Ivy League college somewhere.
“Yeah, I grew up a little isolated. Not that I never go to town or anything like that, but I’m just not very good at peopling.” Something about Hayden’s wry expression made him wonder what the inside joke was there.
“That’s all right. I’ve spent a lot of time with people. Actually, I’m better with children, but I do know how to be friendly in a social situation, so I’ll totally help Jacks learn to people. Do you intend to homeschool?” Was that something he needed to worry about?
“I guess we’ll have to see how Jacks does as he grows a little.
He is way off the charts now, you keep saying, and I’m not sure how that would go over in a traditional school setting, but I’m certainly not going to limit his chances right now.
” Hayden bent and nuzzled Jacks’s little forehead, and Jacks babbled at him, his tiny scowl kind of intense. So damn cute.
“Well, you have plenty of time, that’s for sure.” He dug into his stew, humming at the spicy goodness. “Oh, this is good. I do love a nice bowl of stew.”
Hayden blinked at him, and he thought he saw a flash of red. Daniel turned to look behind him, wandering if there was a light, a candle, something behind him.
“Is everything all right?” Hayden asked, and he nodded.
“Yeah, I thought I saw a strange reflection, that’s all.”
“Did you? I don’t see anything.” Hayden glanced around, and Daniel swore he could smell smoke.
So weird how he felt like things were burning all over this house all the time, and yet he never could find the source of smoke or fire or even smoldering electrical crap.
In fact, the house seemed like it was in perfect repair, which was a little strange, but that was okay.
What did he know about the people Hayden employed to keep the house in good shape?
Jacks asked to come back to him, arms waving, body leaning, Hayden handed him over. It was probably better not to let Jacks get upset over something so simple, so Daniel just took him in one arm, while he ate with the other hand.
The baby kept trying to get the spoon, reaching for it with grabby hands, lips parted like he was starving.
Daniel shook his head. “Baby, you’re not old enough to have meat. I don’t know what to tell you. I know that you think that you are, but you’re not. Would you like a bottle?”
Jacks’s answer was this tiny—well, it sounded like a roar. Babies didn’t roar.
“Oh, that was impressive, little one.” He was losing his goddamn mind.
“Is it really going to hurt him to just give him a bite, if you just don’t give him very much?” Hayden asked.
“Just…if he ends up getting an upset stomach, then?—”
“I’ve got duty tonight. I’ll take care of it if he gets queasy, it’ll be on me.”
“It’ll be on you, literally.” Daniel shook his head.
“Just let him have a nibble. I promise, he’ll be fine.”
Daniel’s only available answer was to shrug. “You’re the dad.”
He just knew what he knew, that was for sure. He scooped up a bit of stew meat, trying to clean any tomato off it, when the baby just grabbed it and shoved the bite in.
“Oh, my gosh. That’s a lot.” He watched Jacks gnaw at the meat, his wee gums just going to town.
“See? He’s going be fine.” Hayden didn’t seem worried at all, but Daniel was terrified that Jacks would choke or something.
Maybe he should call the place that had done the adoptions on this one and find out why they were lying about this baby’s birthdate.
One way or the other, he thought maybe it bore a little more investigation than Hayden seemed willing to give it.
“That’s my little carnivore,” Hayden said, reaching out to wipe Jacks’s chin.
“If he has a stomachache…”
“Then I’ll sit up with him. It’s no big deal,” Hayden shrugged one shoulder.
Personally, he thought it really was a big deal, but he wasn’t going to say it.
At least not today. Today he would just nod and wait until he knew Hayden better to bitch. And when Jacks did get a stomach ache, he was going to dump this baby in Hayden’s lap.