Chapter Thirty-Two

Ted and Jessie prided themselves on how well they were doing as prospective parents. Jess had an afternoon away game to work for UL. They agreed in advance to order pizza and salad for dinner, and after some debate to watch a rented movie both finally settled upon, one with no explosions to wake the baby. Nell delivered the child into their willing arms on her way to the airport, leaving behind a diaper bag stuffed with supplies for Lizzy. She kissed all three of them and delivered a reminder from Knox to keep their guns handy, while the rest of family waited in the van.

After Jessie left for her job, Teddy had the baby all to himself. He encouraged Lizzy to reach for squeaky toys, showed her brightly colored pictures in Sports Illustrated, and sang the Lizzy song Jessie had made up, maybe not as well as his wife, but the baby didn’t seem to care. Before putting her down for a nap in the crib now returned to the second bedroom, he made sure she was dry, well fed, burped, and rocked to sleep, her gurgling stomach pressed against his warm chest. Not a bad idea to nap himself, but he had work to do on the computer.

Lizzy awoke wailing before Jessie returned home. Teddy rushed to her side to find himself dealing with a shit storm, literally—oozing from her onesie, all over her back when he removed it, and spread to her hair with small, flailing fists no matter how fast he tried to clean up the mess. The pile of used wipes mounted as Teddy held his breath, dealing with the nauseating situation. Lizzy appeared to think they were playing, splashing her hands into the poo while he attempted to clean them. He started over again just when a key turned in the lock and the automatic door swung open in the living room. He hoped help had arrived.

“Whoa, what stinks in here?” said Jessie, returning from the game.

“Lizzy and a massive loose dump. Need your assistance, please!”

His wife, entering the nursery, caught her breath too.

Jess sized up the situation. “Okay, I need to shower after being out in the sun all afternoon. Just bring her to me naked, and I’ll hose her down. You can change the sheets and clean up the wipes while I’m at it.”

“Teamwork, I like it.” Teddy gave Jess a head start before transferring Lizzy off the soiled changing pad and onto a clean flannel receiving blanket spread on his lap. She seemed to enjoy the ride to the bathroom. Teddy enjoyed the view of a nude Jessie reaching out to take the baby into the stall, spraying her with carefully adjusted warm water, and gently shampooing those dark curls. He watched the whole time, half wishing he could join them in the shower, but he stood by with a dry towel to take Lizzy back to her room, put her in a new diaper and outfit and into her baby seat with an arch full of interesting dangles to keep her occupied. He wiped down the changing pad, stripped the sheets, and hauled the trash bag to the dumpster, cursing out an SUV that blocked the ramp and made it more difficult.

He returned to find Jessie wearing a comfortable pair of pale blue sweats as she blow-dried her hair. “Say, that was kind of sexy watching you in the shower with the baby, I mean in a sweet way. Got anything on under the sweats?”

Jessie turned off the dryer. “No and no. We are not having sex while Lizzy is awake. Maybe later…”

“Introduction to Family Life 101. Do you think she’ll be sick like that again? Should we call Mama Nell?”

“She might have diarrhea again. I know we shouldn’t let her dehydrate. Honestly, I hate to call Nell. We’ll look incompetent.”

“I still have the number the hospital gave for advice to new parents.”

“Perfect.”

The doorbell rang. “Probably the pizza. You take care of that, and I’ll call the hospital.”

Jessie moved toward the door. The whoosh of outdoor air and the aroma of tomato sauce and pepperoni helped act as an air freshener. She paid and tipped the deliveryman who asked how Ella was doing. Awkward question. “She moved out.”

“Sorry to hear that. One of our best customers.” He went on his way while Teddy completed the phone call.

“Pedialyte, do we have any? The nurse said to use that for the next couple of feedings, then try the formula again. Call again if it continues.”

Jessie set the pizza delivery aside and rummaged in the diaper bag. “Plenty of formula, and aha, Pedialyte. I’ll put some in a bottle.”

“Mama Nell thinks of everything.”

“She’s raised a lot of kids.” Jessie wheeled close to Teddy and laid her head against his. “I think we just survived our first parenting crisis.”

“Yeah, but Jessie, are we really ready for this?”

“I think every new parent asks themselves that—and they can’t give theirs back. Do you want to?”

“No, but we might need more help than we imagined.”

“We’ll work on it. You ready to eat?”

“Not really. I’ve washed my hands three times and can’t seem to get the baby poop smell off of them.”

Jessie glanced at his lap. “You got some on your jeans, that’s why.”

“Changing, changing right now.”

Lizzy missed their company and started to fuss. “I’ll see to her. You put on something clean.”

Teddy nodded. Teamwork, that’s what they had. Together he and Jess could do anything.