Page 10 of The Secret

She picked up one of several different cans of formula. “And what did you feed her with?”

“We gave her a bottle?” His answer turned into a question.

Her eyebrows shot up. “You made it?”

Penn’s brows dropped slightly. “Um, no. There was this pre-made stuff I found that Dylan uses.”

“And did you sterilize it?”

“Um… She was crying, so I just opened the bottle and put the nipple thing on it.”

Her eyes were flicking between Penn and me. “And she drank it?”

I nodded.

“How much?”

“I dunno, until she stopped?” Frustration started to lace my tone at the twenty questions she was firing out, because they were only making it abundantly clear I didn’t have a fucking clue what I was doing. “How am I supposed to know?”

Wolfie put her hand over mine. “It’s okay, we can help. What do you need?”

“Everything. I need help with everything. I don’t know what to do.”

“We can go through what you’ve bought and then order anything else so it’s here in the morning.”

That made me feel slightly calmer, although only very slightly. “But what about tonight? Where’s she going to sleep?” It was safe to say that it was unlikely I’d be getting any.

“She’ll be okay in there tonight,” Freddie pointed to the car seat, “but I can get Coop to bring over our spare bassinet now if you’d like.”

“Franks, I don’t know anything. I don’t know whether I’d like a bassinet. I’m not even entirely sure what a bassinet is.”

She rolled her lips as she thought. “Let’s leave her in there tonight as she’s used to it, then we can transfer her tomorrow. Have you changed her diaper?”

Both mine and Penn’s chests puffed slightly and we sat up straighter, because we had actually accomplished a successful diaper change. I wasn’t about to tell her it’d taken us half an hour. “Yes.”

I didn’t miss the look of surprise which passed between my sisters.

Wolfie glanced back down at the baby, who’d not even stirred in her arms. “How long has she been asleep?”

I checked the clock on the kitchen wall, because the concept of time seemed to have taken a hiatus - along with my reality. “An hour.”

She chewed on her lip as she thought. “Okay, so she should be feeding every three hours at the most and then sleeping in between.”

My eyes almost popped out of their sockets as I looked between her and Freddie. “I have to feed her every three hours? Even at night?”

Freddie nodded. “Yes, while she’s this little. But we can get her sleeping through the night… eventually, so then at least you’ll have a rest.”

“Just be thankful you don’t need to get up to pump in the night, even when she sleeps through.”

I didn’t want to tell Wolf that there were several points at the top of my list I had to be thankful for, and none of it was to do with this current situation.

“When will she sleep through?” I tried to keep the panic out of my voice as the thought of my own beloved sleep swiftly vanished - along with my sanity.

“We’ll write it all down for you, and we’ll help you get through the next few days. In the morning I’ll call our nanny agency so we can get you some permanent help, get her on a schedule, and sleeping through the night. But with a night nurse, you’ll be able to sleep as she’ll do the feeding.”

Freddie sat back down at the table and pulled the Macbook over, opening it up. “There’s some good stuff on the counter and we’ll show you what you need, but I’ll order everything else to help you.”

I slumped back in my chair, taking a full breath for what felt like the first time since we’d arrived home. “Thank you.”

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