THREE
Colby
Something wet hit my cheek.
I shoved it away, only to realize it wasn’t a thing but a person, a tiny person with something wet in their hands.
Perfect.
Please let it not be poo or pee.
I cracked open an eye to see Viera sitting next to me, her wet diaper in hand. “Look, I only went pee once!”
The potty training was not strong with this one.
“Yay!” I tried to sound excited. “Did you come in here to show me?” Had she touched my face with that thing? Horror washed over me.
“Yup!” She giggled. “Mommy says to. I get a prize when I don’t go potty at night and use mine!”
“So no prize today.” I was seeing double, what time was it?
I grabbed my phone.
Six a.m.
How was she so awake?
“No prize?” Her eyes filled with tears.
“Wait!” I grabbed the heavy diaper and dropped it onto the floor; it made a loud thunking sound against the hardwood. Yeah, I would need to clean that up later, but I was too tired to do more than think about it now. “If you cuddle for a few more minutes, then Aunt Colby will give you a prize at breakfast!”
“A real prize?”
“Awesome prize, huge prize, prize of your life.” I was already pulling her next to me and tucking her into the bed. After a few seconds, I realized that the diaper was no longer on her, duh. “Wait here, I need to grab a pull-up, OK?”
“’K.” Her eyes blinked heavily up at me. Yeah, she was dropping like a fly.
By the time I grabbed a pull-up from her bathroom and was back in my room, she was already sound asleep.
I carefully drew the covers back and got the pull-up over her tiny body, then crawled under the blankets and held her against my chest.
For a few brief moments, all I thought was, This is perfect.
“Slept in?” Rip said an hour later when I came downstairs with Viera in my arms. I’d at least gotten her dressed in a pink jumpsuit, while I still wore the black Nike joggers and ratty Yankees T-shirt that I’d worn to bed.
I didn’t answer, just held out a coffee cup and grunted.
He shook his head and poured me a coffee, then took Viera from my arms, gave her a little twirl, and sat her in her chair.
My ovaries did a little jump at how good he was with children. I mean, he could be Satan to me any day, but the way he loved those kids, it almost made me forget how horrible he was.
Almost.
“Actually…” I took a sip of black coffee and felt the tension dissipate from my body. “Viera woke me up at six a.m. to show me her diaper.”
Rip’s eyebrows shot up. “And?”
“Oh, it was wet,” I said into my cup. “My cheek can attest to that fact.”