Page 8 of Daddy's Unexpected Gift

“Yes, learning, and from what I walked into this morning, you have a great deal to learn if you are going to properly care for Georgie.”

“But you seem to have everything under control,” he pointed out.

Little did he know I was faking it and falling back on my extensive babysitting experience. I at least knew to give a baby comfort and to not put her in picture day scratchy clothes and not expect her to fuss.

“Yes,” I said, “but I’m the one taking care of her. You need to be able to do this without me around.”

Wayne approached the table with a steaming bowl of oatmeal.

I looked flatly at him. “Really? It’s steaming.”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Did you hear anything I just said? Take a clean spoon and put that in your mouth,” I demanded.

Wayne retrieved a spoon, scooped up some oatmeal, and then began to blow excessively to cool down the bite. It wasn’t until he put it in his mouth and made eye contact with me again that my previous words registered. “Oh, I see. I will pop this in the freezer for a bit. That should cool it down.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Basic food safety rules apply, but you have to remember she is going to put her hands into food or shove it into her mouth without pause. It’s your job as her adult to protect her, to care for her, to provide for her. If that’s something you can’t handle, we will make other arrangements for her.”

Sterling’s brow furrowed, and his expression darkened. “That won’t be necessary. She will stay with me.”

“Well, then, you had better start taking notes,” I said.

Wayne brought the cooled oatmeal to the table.

I lifted Georgie and handed her to Sterling. At least he didn’t hesitate to take her, but he didn’t know how to hold her.

“Have you ever held a baby before?”

“No, I wasn’t allowed to when my younger sister was born. It wasn’t considered to be important. Men don’t?—”

“Ouch, really? Men don’t? I… I’m going to shut up before I say something that will get me fired. Men do, all the time. And you’re going to learn how to hold and feed her right now.”

I directed him where to put his hands and how to support her so she felt secure. Georgie whimpered and reached out for me.

“You’re fine,” I told her. “Your uncle has you. He’ll keep you safe.” I lifted my eyes to Sterling’s face. His eyes caught me off guard as he watched me intently. Momentarily flustered, I fumbled over my next few words and coached him through feeding her.

As expected, Georgie fought the oatmeal at first. Sticky globs of oatmeal went everywhere. I tried to suppress my smile as it got all over Sterling’s designer slacks. Served the man right. But after a few tricky moments, the two of them figured out the whole feeding the baby and eating oatmeal routine.

“This will be easier next time when she’s not hungry. You can try her with some rice and butter, and finger foods like Cheerios. She’s old enough to be on solids. Cut things up small. She barely understands what her teeth are for, and she doesn’t have any molars. How many sippy cups does she have?”

“There was one in the bag the lady from the agency gave us,” Wayne answered since Sterling was focused on Georgie, as he should be.

I let out a sigh. “Do you have a pad of paper and a pen?” I asked. “We need to make some shopping lists, and the two of you have homework.”

“Homework?” Sterling asked, looking up from feeding the baby.

“Yeah, you need some parenting books and to find out what she can and will eat. And don’t just buy the books. Read them too. Now, let’s start making a list of furniture and other items you’ll need before I come back.”

5

STERLING

After being put in my place by someone who was barely of the legal drinking age, I was left on my own with the baby again. This time, it was easier. The baby didn’t cry so much. She was cute when she didn’t sound like an entire fleet of fire truck sirens.

She sat on my lap, fed, clean, and recently woken from another nap. She seemed to sleep like a cat, at every opportunity. I scrolled through a list of parenting books, picking and choosing different titles. My online shopping cart was getting full.

I had no idea when I’d have the opportunity to read so much. “I can’t believe that little girl gave me homework,” I complained.

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