Page 27 of The Baby Plan

“Great — if that’s OK?” Samson asked.

“I can reschedule I’m sure,” Sophie said uncertainly. She didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity, but at the same time how would Helena manage with Alana all day? She hadn’t shown any interest in her boyfriend’s child, hadn’t even changed a nappy that Sophie knew of.

“For goodness’ sake!” said Helena, impatiently. “It’s a baby! It can’t be that hard to keep an eye on her for a few hours. I’ll call if there’s a problem.”

“Thanks.” Samson went over and kissed Helena. “That’s sweet of you. I’ll get back as early as I can to take over.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Sophie, forced a smile. She felt sick at the thought of Helena looking after Alana. What did she know about caring for a baby, what if Alana got hurt? Or what if they ended up having an amazing time, and Alana preferred Helena to her? Helena and Samson would get married, and Alana would live with them and Sophie would be a random aunt Alana saw now and again.

Sophie knew she was overreacting to the situation but couldn’t calm her mind.

“Do you want to feed Alana her tea?” Samson asked Helena, holding out a bowl of baby food.

“Ew, no,” she said, waving her hands in the air. “I’m doing my nails.”

Sophie managed to hide her pleasure — at least one of her concerns could be ticked off. There didn’t seem to be any danger of Helena bothering to go to the trouble of usurping Sophie’s place in Alana’s affections. Now she had to do her best to ensure her niece was safe while she was in Helena’s care.

* * *

Sophie was up even brighter and earlier than Alana the next morning, dressed, in full work mode and armed with several sheets of instructions she’d written up and printed out after her niece had gone to bed the night before.

Making a coffee, she then went to get Alana so she could give her her morning bottle before she left. Samson came downstairs, rather unkempt with his tousled hair. He wore pyjama bottoms, but no top. Sophie made sure she kept her eyes averted, especially when he came over to give Alana a tickle under her chin. At this point, she found herself involuntarily holding her breath, only letting it out when he left the room. He called out, “I’m going to hop in the shower. I’ll give Helena a shout.” This was becoming a habit she definitely needed to break.

Sophie heard the shower start, but Helena didn’t show. The shower stopped. Sophie checked the clock on the microwave display; she needed to leave soon, and there wasn’t any sign of Helena. There was no way she’d have a chance to go through all the notes she’d written now. Where was she? Helena knew both she and Samson had to leave early.

She fed a very grateful Mutt before Samson returned, dressed for work. Sophie hadn’t seen him ‘dressed up’ before. Scrubbed and tailored he looked very good in his suit, his hair still damp, but combed back from his face so it didn’t fall across his eyes as much as usual. He put his coffee cup in the sink.

“Sorry,” he said. “Helena’s coming, she’s not much of a morning person. Do you need to go?”

“Kind of,” admitted Sophie.

“It’s OK, I’ll take Alana. Helena will be down in a minute.”

“I had notes . . .”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Helena sees them.” His voice dropped slightly in volume. “I programmed Alana’s routine into her phone last night as well as a reminder to check in with me every hour so I know everything’s going OK.”

Sophie smiled at Samson’s thoughtfulness. It was nice to know he was also a little concerned about how his girlfriend would cope alone with a baby for the day.

She kissed Alana, and handed her over to Samson, as Helena appeared in the doorway. She was gorgeous, as usual, but like she’d just crawled out of bed, complete with a pink sleep mask perched on the top of her head.

“You two look very cosy together,” Helena commented, glaring at Sophie.

“I was just taking over with Alana until you came down,” said Samson.

“Where’s the coffee?” she snapped.

“I left you a cup by the side of the bed,” Samson said.

“It went cold,” came the reply as she walked past everyone to the kettle.

“Um, are you able to take Alana now? We both need to leave,” asked Samson.

“Yeah, fine. Put her in her chair thing.”

Sophie had to bite her lip to stop herself from saying that Alana wouldn’t want to go in the highchair now, and if she did, there was no way she’d go in it again for her breakfast in half an hour. If she didn’t leave right away, she’d be very late.

It took every ounce of will power she had to say as breezily as possible, “OK, I’ll be off then, have a great day!” — and walk out of the front door.

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