Chapter Twenty-One

Teddy woke the way he’d like to awaken for the rest of his life—with Jessie spooned against him and one of his hands resting lightly on her breast. Something had brought him out of a deep sleep. Oh, yes, the doorbell. It rang again, followed by a knock, then the sound of a key in the lock. Voices, female, sounded in his living room.

“Teddy must have gone to the hospital already. Let’s decorate. We can go visit when we’re done.” His mom.

Thank heaven he’d shut his bedroom door last night. Much as Mama Nell tried to respect her children’s privacy, she always asked for a spare key to have in case of emergencies. In all the years he’d been in college and working in Lafayette, she hadn’t used it once.

“His door is closed. He might still be sleeping. I’ll check.” Xochi, the rhythm of her gait slightly altered by her pregnancy, approached. “Teddy, you in there? Are you okay?” How often had she said that when her bedroom lay directly across the hall from his at the ranch?

Actually, he felt better than okay. Slowly, he removed his hand from Jessie’s warmth. “You woke me up!” Ted eyed his alarm clock. “Jesus, nine o’clock. I should be at the hospital. Give me a minute.”

Jessie roused, rolled over, and snuggled against his chest. His nether parts reacted. Not now! He shook her shoulder gently. “Jess, my mom and sister are out there.”

She opened one of her gold-flecked eyes. “Better that than my parents. Your family is cool about us.”

“Yours isn’t?” he said because he needed more to worry about. “I thought your dad liked me.”

“He does, but I’m still his little girl. He wonders about your intentions.”

“Honorable, totally honorable.”

Xo rapped again as she’d often done when he wanted to stay in and she thought he should go riding with her before it got too hot. “Well, rise and shine—or are you talking in your sleep?”

“No, ah, I’ve got company. Jessie is here.”

His sister bathed them in her hot chocolate laughter, warm and throaty. “Okay, backing off. Clearing the bathroom. We’ll be in the living room decorating.”

He reached an arm down to the floor to retrieve his underwear, not clean but handy. Transferring to his chair, he tossed Jessie his robe lying at the foot of the bed. He still marveled at the beauty of her body, most of the damage around the back, as she covered herself. Took all he could manage to say, “We’d better get our morning routines done. You take the shower. I’ll wash at the sink and um, change my pouch.” He prayed that wouldn’t get messy as it sometimes did.

“I’m right behind you.” She got into her chair and followed him out. Only giggles from the living room as a balloon popped suddenly.

Teddy waited for the shower to steam up before he changed his appliance. By the time Jessie finished, he’d sponged off, brushed his teeth, and scrounged up clean clothes. Bare-chested, he wanted to get in a quick shave. Jessie, wrapped in a towel, joined him at the sink. “Pretty sexy watching a man shave.”

“Troy didn’t shave in front of you?”

“No, he preferred the perpetual scruff.”

“When I grow a scruff, my beard comes in so light no one notices.”

“Then stay clean-shaven.” As he wiped off the shaving cream, she ran her fingers down his smooth cheek. “I’m glad you aren’t like Troy. But I need to get my makeup on.”

“You don’t really need it.”

“Your opinion, not mine.”

Teddy shrugged into a white UL T-shirt. “The mirror is all yours. Got to get my braces on. I’ll see about putting some breakfast together.”

No need for that. His mom had the coffee on and eggs in the pan. The microwave pinged. Xochi removed a pan of Ella’s reheated biscuits. “These are great. I’ve already had two, one for me and one for the baby.”

“Better not do that. I just witnessed the birth of a large baby. Considering Junior’s size at birth, you might want to watch your weight.”

“Spoilsport.”

“Suit yourself.”

His mom buttered a biscuit and added a dollop of jelly. “These are wonderful.”

“I think she makes them with butter.”

Nell shook her head. “No, lard. You have a block of it in your refrigerator buried under the real bacon. The turkey bacon has gone bad. What has your sister done to you?”

“We take turns cooking. I work mine off at the gym.”

Xochi seized a third biscuit and squeezed honey on it. “Let him enjoy. He survived a hard night.”

Jessie arrived looking fine as a sunrise, all gold streaked and pink-cheeked. “The living room looks so nice. Ella will love the extra attention. It might be just the boost she needs. Already showing signs of baby blues.”

Teddy had barely noticed the decorations as he followed his nose to breakfast. Two balloon bouquets sat on either side of his TV. A silver arc of letters spelling out “Welcome Baby Girl” spanned his drapery rod. On the coffee table, a grand arrangement of pink and white flowers studded with plastic storks made his small bouquet appear pretty shabby. Little cakes, each topped with a frosting rosebud, sat on either side of it. The women of his family had hauled the rocking chair into the room and placed the baby carrier right next to it. They’d gone all out for a girl they barely knew. Bless them.

He scraped up the last of his eggs and ate the lard-laden biscuit anyhow because delicious is delicious. “We’d better get over to the hospital. Ella and the baby will probably be released around noon once the doctor makes rounds. You ready, Jess?”

“I am.”

“Why don’t we all go? We can see the baby and help carry all the stuff they give you,” Xochi suggested.

Nell agreed, packing the dirty dishes swiftly in the washer. She and Xo went in her car, Teddy and Jessie in his van, a small caravan of support for a new mother. They found Ella already dressed, sitting gingerly on the edge of her bed, remote in hand, watching morning talk shows. No sign of the baby.

“We’ve come to see Elizabeth,” Nell said, ramping up the cheery in her voice.

“I told ’em to keep her in the nursery until we’re ready to go. My bottom hurts bad, but you only get Tylenol in this place. You’re a psychologist. Can you write a prescription for something stronger?”

“Couldn’t and wouldn’t. We’ll get you a donut cushion. That should help along with some Tucks. I think Xo and I will go see the baby.” Mama Nell had changed to her no-nonsense voice.

As soon as they’d made their exit, Ella said, “Guess she’s pissed at me now.”

“You haven’t seen my mom pissed yet. Don’t try to con her, Ella. She’s been nice to you, and you aren’t her responsibility.”

She rolled her eyes at Teddy and sighed. “Look at me, just look at me. I still got a big gut. I thought it would go away once I squeezed the baby out. I planned to belt this maternity dress around my waist, but I don’t got none any more.”

“They told you what to expect in class. You should have listened.”

“In a few months, you’ll be back to normal,” Jessie consoled. “You can come to the gym with us as soon as you get the all clear from the doctor.”

“Yeah, that will be great. As if.” The bedside phone rang, and Ella picked it up. “Elizabeth Jane,” she said. “I decided on that and guess I’ll stick with it, but she doesn’t look it. What do you mean, spell it? Like it’s always spelled.”

Hastily, Jessie wrote out Elizabeth on a notepad and handed it over just in case. Ella spelled it out, didn’t need help on Jane. “Elizabeth Jane Smalls, ain’t no daddy in the picture.” She slapped down the receiver.

“You can’t be too careful about the spelling,” Jessie said. “I knew a girl in high school who wanted to name her baby Felicia, but spelled it out as Felassa. That’s the kid’s name forevermore.” If she meant to bring a smile to Ella’s face, she failed to do so.

After the call about the birth certificate, they aimlessly watched a game show. Nell and Xochi were slow in returning, but when they did, they had the donut cushion and a large container of Tucks. Ella went into the bathroom to soothe her behind and settled on the cushion afterward. The doctor arrived with her release. The nurse loaded them up with instructions and starter kits. She inquired about a car seat.

“I had one installed in my van, but I admit I took it over to the firehouse to get help.”

“Good, then it was done right. Be sure to secure all the straps.”

With that, the nurse delivered the baby into Ella’s arms and placed both of them into a wheelchair for the ride out. Teddy rolled ahead to get the van. As their small group waited, Elizabeth began to fret.

“Probably pooped herself already, and I can’t change her here,” Ella said as sour as the smell coming from the diaper.

“Here, let me soothe her.” Xochi reached out and within a minute had the infant sleeping against her chest. “Maybe just a little gas. Sleep, Lizzy Jane, you’ll soon be home.”

“Suits her better than Elizabeth. Shoulda named her that. Guess y’all noticed she looks black.”

“Brown and beautiful,” Xochi said. “I hope mine will be this pretty.” When the van came around, she settled the baby into the car seat as if she’d been practicing this skill at home. Ella took the seat in the rear next to her child, and Nell stowed Jessie’s wheelchair to help things along since Lizzy began to cry as soon as she left Xo’s warm breast. She emitted a pitiful wail all the way to the apartment. Ella was the first one out.

The flowers, balloons, and cakes did please the new mother, as did the willingness of all four of her helpers to change the diaper and give a bottle. Ella sat enthroned on her cushion with a plate of petit fours resting on the remains of her belly and a co-cola by her side. The baby rested in the carrier on the floor. About the time that Nell and Xochi left, she declared herself ready for a nap too. “You’ll see to the kid, huh?” she asked Teddy and Jess.

Of course, they would, but once she’d gone into the bedroom and shut the door, they conferred. “Still not showing much interest in the baby. I’m worried,” Teddy admitted.

“I’ll stay over tonight and help you get through it.”

“That would be taking advantage. We need to get our routine established, they said in prenatal classes. You can’t be here all the time.”

“If that’s how you want it. I’ll stay until Ella gets up.”

That wasn’t how he wanted it, and he suspected by the tone of her answer he’d hurt her feelings. He’d like to have Jessie at his side all time, but right now that seemed impossible. Ella took a long, long nap. They changed and fed Lizzy Jane again, marveled over her blue eyes opening and trying to fix on their faces as they did so.

“Why can’t she see this child is wonderful?” Jessie questioned.

“Because she’s still a child herself, craving attention and wanting to be spoiled.”

Before she left, Jessie repeated his words to Nell. “Don’t let her con you, Teddy.”

“I won’t.”

But when Ella complained she couldn’t get any rest with the baby making noises in her room, they moved the crib to Teddy’s bedside where he managed a midnight change on a plastic sheet over his spread and offered Lizzy Jane a bottle from a small cooler on his nightstand. It wasn’t warm like breast milk, but the baby didn’t seem to care. He repeated the process at three and six a.m. When Ella emerged around seven, she did bring him breakfast in bed and plonked Lizzy into her carrier to keep her company in front of the television. Too tired to protest that the baby shouldn’t be exposed to TV, he slept three hours until she wailed again.