joke?
But Matt wasn’t back in ten minutes. In fact, he didn’t return to the den for over an hour. Bella had once again fallen asleep in Claire’s arms, so Claire put her head back and drifted off.
When Matt popped his head into the den saying, “Delivery truck is here. Jimmy and I will handle this,” she bounced up, not sure if she was more embarrassed that she’d fallen asleep or that he’d caught her.
So she didn’t immediately go out to the foyer to see what was going on. Instead, she reminded herself that she was only here a few more minutes. They’d put together the crib and lay the baby down—then she’d help him with the call to the nanny service and be gone.
No reason to be embarrassed that she’d fallen asleep. No reason to be bothered about an attraction. In twenty minutes, she’d get in her car, drive off his property and never see him again.
Or Bella.
Her heart constricted at the thought, but she knew that was life. People came and went. Attachments hurt.
She hoisted herself from the sofa and headed out to the hall. When she reached the foyer, it suddenly struck her that she had no idea where he had gone. He’d said he was going with Jimmy to assemble the crib. Which probably meant he was in a bedroom. She glanced around, guessing there could be as many as fifteen bedrooms in this house.
Before she took the thought any further, Matt appeared at the top of the stairway. “Crib’s assembled. But we forgot to order sheets.”
“Did you notice any flat sheets in the linen closet you found?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll just use one of those. Tomorrow you can order crib sheets.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
She carried Bella up the stairs. At the top, Matt pointed down the hall. “This way.”
He guided her down two corridors and stopped at a set of double doors. Rich with grain that came through the red mahogany stain, they gleamed at her. He took both knobs, opened the doors and walked inside.
Claire stood on the threshold, her mouth gaping. A huge bed sat on a pedestal in the back of the room, near a bank of windows covered in elegant drapes that looked to be silk. What seemed like half a football field of space sat between the door and the bed, and in that space were a fireplace, white shag area rugs and two club chairs in front of a big-screen TV.
But that was it. The place was so open that gleaming hardwood floors dominated the room.
“This is your nursery?”
“I don’t have a nursery, remember? This is my bedroom.”
“Your bedroom.”
“She’s going to cry and get up in the middle of the night, isn’t she?”
“Yes. But I assumed you’d have the nanny get up with her.”
“Not tonight. It feels too much like I’ll be abandoning her. That’s why I put her crib—” he pointed at an open door to the right “—in there.”
“You put her in a closet?”
He snorted a laugh. “No. That’s an empty room beside mine. I was going to put an office in there but changed my mind. So it will come in handy tonight. With the door open, she’ll be close enough that I’ll hear her cry and she won’t feel alone.”
Gratitude tugged on her heart. She didn’t know why this man so easily empathized with Bella’s situation, but she was glad he did. Still—
“Do you know what to do when she gets up?”
“Change her diaper and give her a bottle.” He headed out of the room. A few minutes later he came back with a flat sheet and walked through the open door into the room beside his. “I watched what you did with the diaper. It didn’t seem like rocket science and neither does getting her a bottle.”
“I just don’t see you walking the floor.” She glanced around and took in all the…space. She swore she could fit her condo in the front of his bedroom. “Though there’s plenty of floor to walk a baby in here.” She glanced around again and finally followed him into the room where the newly assembled crib stood. “My God. Your room is huge. Like a high school gymnasium with better furniture.”
“It’s adequate.” He arranged the sheet on the mattress in the crib.
“It’s empty.”
“I don’t have any need for more than a bed, a few chairs and a TV.”
Seeing no point to arguing his personal choices, she laid the baby in the crib. “Whatever. But you still have to consider the hours you’ll be spending walking the floor when Bella cries.”
“She cries a lot?”
“Nights are the hardest for her.”
He combed his fingers through his hair. “I don’t want anything to be hard for her. This transition has to be smooth.”
“Well, we don’t have to make any decisions now. Let’s call the nanny service. Maybe there’ll be one who won’t mind sleeping in the room with the door open?”
“She’s going to sleep in the room with the crib?”
“Well, you could give her a suite in another wing, but then she wouldn’t hear Bella cry.”
“So I have to put a bed in there for her, too?”
“Unless you want to drag one of your chairs over there and make her stay awake all night, watching Bella.” She caught his gaze. “And she’s probably going to ask you to close the door while she’s sleeping.”
“Great. That sort of defeats the purpose.”
“Not really. Trust me. That close, you’ll still hear Bella cry. Plus, you have to make some concession somewhere,” she said, leading him out the door.
“I know, but something inside me says I can’t leave Bella. I want to be with her tonight. I want her to know she hasn’t been abandoned.”
Claire’s heart swelled again. Her worries that Matt was going to be like her dad, ignoring Bella the way her father had ignored her, lessened a bit. For all his faults, he truly wanted to care for this baby.
They walked out into the hall, but the second the door to Matt’s bedroom closed behind them, they heard a soft cry. By the time they opened the door and returned to the little room with the crib, Bella was sobbing.
As naturally as breathing, Matt reached in and pulled her up into his arms. “Ah, Bella. Don’t cry.”
Claire’s eyebrows rose. He hadn’t hesitated. He hadn’t deferred to Claire. He’d automatically taken Bella into his arms.
He really wanted to care for this baby.
“You could be very good with her.”
