She could hide all she wanted. But what she didn’t know was that I was going to make this work—make us work. I wasn’t sure what that looked like right now, but if it happened to include touching her and helping her shower when needed, then I was on board. I was willing to accept damn near anything to be with my girls, even if that meant roommates that raised a child together. But what I really wanted—what I was going to go for—was us together.
I wanted more.
I wanted our baby all the time.
I wanted this family.
She’d been hurt before and had trust issues, but I was Ian Bergamo, and I could be very persuasive to the female population.
More grunts pulled my attention back to Audrey. Her little face screwed up and she wriggled inside her cocoon. It looked uncomfortable, but then I remembered Carina’s reprimand when I undid it last night. Apparently, she liked to be wrapped up like a burrito.
I didn’t know. She looked awfully pissed right now.
Then the loudest grunt followed by a fart I hadn’t even heard from college guys came from my angel. It was the only warning I had before the foul smell assaulted my senses. I gagged and almost backed away when two blue eyes cracked open and just stared.
Immediately, I stepped back up and leaned lower to the stink grenade. “Hey, baby girl.”
She blinked and wriggled some more before her face started scrunching again, except this time it was to cry. I quickly picked her up, balancing her in my palms and bounced, making a continuous shushing sound, hoping to calm her. It didn’t work. Not that I could blame her. Based on the smell that continued to get worse, she probably needed changing and would continue to increase in volume until it happened.
Not wanting to wake Carina up, I got all the supplies out and unwrapped the baby burrito. Her legs kicked free, and arms shot out like she was cheering for freedom, Mel Gibson style.
“You are adorable, but that smell is foul. I may need a gas mask for this task.”
Holding my breath and gagging repeatedly, I managed to get her clean.
Just as I was fumbling with her burrito blanket, Carina woke up. “Hey.”
I gave her a brief smile and struggled with the wrap. “Hey. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“It’s okay. Looks like it was just in time. Bring her here, and I’ll wrap her up.”
“Sounds like a plan. Doesn’t it, baby girl.” I picked Audrey up and continued to talk baby-talk, wondering if she remembered me from all the times I spoke to Carina’s belly. “Yes, it does. Mommy knows best. Yes, she does.”
Carina was smiling and shaking her head by the time I passed Audrey off. She efficiently wrapped the baby burrito up like maybe she’d secretly worked at Chipotle in a past life. She pulled Audrey close and bounced and hummed until she passed out again. Unable to keep my hands off her, I reached out until Carina put our baby in my arms.
I’d been in the hospital as much as I could over the past three days, but it was never enough. I needed more of this tiny human. I’d had to leave for a few work meetings I couldn’t miss. Thankfully, Carina’s aunts had stepped in when I couldn’t be there.
“Look at you, baby-daddy,” Carina said, smiling at us both.
“We look good together, don’t we?” I said with a wink, holding Audrey close to my face.
She rolled her eyes at my antics but still laughed.
“You always look good,” Carina’s Aunt Vivian said, stepping into the room.
She boldly looked me up and down, which no longer surprised me. I’d met all four women over the past few days, and they were an interesting bunch. I felt a little sorry for Carina’s dad, but they were all pretty awesome in their own way. Vivian was brash and constantly treated me like man-meat. I think she did it to make Carina laugh.
“Hey, Aunt Vivian.”
“How are my girls?”
“Good. We get to go home today.”
“I heard. Are you ready?”
Carina heaved a sigh and shrugged. “As ready as I can be.”
“I’m taking her home,” I stated, staying strong for Carina’s impending argument. “She won’t be alone tonight.”
“Ian…” Carina half-heartedly protested. I knew she wouldn’t ask for help, but she didn’t need to. These two girls were my responsibility, and I was stepping up.
“No arguments.”
She pursed her lips but thankfully listened. “Fine.”
The nurse came in after that, running over everything before she gave us the go-ahead to leave. I helped pack and tucked Audrey into her car seat. She was a real champ and didn’t wake up at all. Hell, she didn’t wake up the whole drive or when we got to Carina’s apartment.
I set her on the floor in the entryway and just stared. “Can we leave her in there?”
Carina stood next to me and stared too. “Umm…I don’t know.”
We both looked to each other with wide eyes, except Carina’s began filling with tears. “Hey, hey. Come here.” I pulled her to me, and she buried her head against my shoulder and sniffed.
“I don’t know, Ian. How am I supposed to do this when we’ve been home for a minute, and I’m already stumped? Oh, my god.” Her breathing increased, and I palmed her cheeks and pulled her head up to face me.
“Stop. Look. Breathe with me.”
She nodded, but tears still tracked down her cheeks.
“I’m going to let you in on a secret. But you can’t tell anyone because it’s mainly how I get through every day coming off like the genius I am.”
She nodded again, but this time, it came with a laugh.
“We Google. Google knows all.”
“O—okay. Let me get my phone.”
I walked the rest of the bags inside while she googled. Her apartment was neat, clean, and perfectly decorated with muted grays and a few splashes of color. By the time I came back, she was reading her phone and chewing on a nail.
“Find anything.”
“Yeah. Looks like we can’t.”
“Okay, then out we go.”
“Hang on, I need to get her sleeper set up.”
“I already saw it set up by the couch.”
She stopped moving and stared at me, confused, before moving past and walking into the living room. She bent over the coffee table and picked up a piece of paper. “Oh, my god.”
I unclasped Audrey, pulling her out, and walked to Carina. “What’s up?”
“I had a few baby items still in boxes and Jake came in to get it all organized and set up. He knew I was finishing up as much client work before maternity leave and planned on getting it done later.”
“Cool.” I was surprised how calm that came out. Rationally, I knew Jake was just a friend, but he was also a close friend who had slept with this woman and broken her heart. I kind of also hated him and the pinch of jealousy he created within me.
“Oh, wow. He also got me my rocking chair I wanted. Oh, my goodness.” Her hand was covering her mouth as tears formed again. “I can’t believe he did this.”
“Probably his guilt.”
That earned me a hard side-eye, but I just shrugged and kissed my baby. Anything to take my mind off the rocking chair I currently had sitting in my apartment that I’d bought a few days ago. It was the one thing she hadn’t got herself, and I was so excited to surprise her with it, but it looked like I wouldn’t get the chance.