said firmly, shaking his head. “Winona would throw me out the door. I can’t go home with a baby that we know we’d have to give up soon. Now, you change that diaper. Put all your Special Ops skills and your years of education into this.”
“I’m beginning to be sorry I called you. Nothing at Hurl-burt Field or anywhere else prepared me for this. Look how tiny she is. I’m scared I’ll hurt her.”
“No, you won’t. She isn’t going to break,” Justin replied with a grin. “Just be careful—like you were with your M16 or whatever lethal weapon you carried. David, I read somewhere that the Air Force Special Ops training dropout rate is almost eighty percent. That means only a little more than twenty percent make it. You’re one who did. Now, if you can do that, you can do this.”
“A baby is entirely different,” David said grimly through clenched teeth. “She won’t stay still.” He struggled with the diaper, finally getting it in place and watching, letting out his breath when it didn’t spring loose. “There!”
“Congratulations! You got it! I knew you could do it!” Justin exclaimed, slapping David lightly on the back.
“Can it, Webb,” David snarled, frowning. “Now, what else do I need to know?”
“Do you know how to mix her formula?”
“Her what?”
“Why does your question surprise me?” Shaking his head, Justin picked up a six-pack of cans. “Here’s formula. I’ll send you home with a goodly supply. The directions for mixing it are on the can. I’ll give you a supply of diapers and bottles— the hospital has plenty to send home with new mothers. And I guess you’re as new a mother as anyone could be.”
“She can’t just drink milk from the fridge?” David asked, holding up a can of formula and reading the instructions.
“No, she can’t drink milk from the fridge,” Justin replied patiently. “And there are other things. Tomorrow, you’re going to need to get the little girl some clothes, unless there are some things buried in the bag with all that money Alex was talking about.”
“Great balls of fire! How could a little tiny person require so much stuff and so much attention?” David exclaimed, shocked by all that was going to be required and wondering what he had gotten himself into.
“My friend, if you have her more than three days, you’re never going to want to tell her goodbye.”
“I don’t think so,” David said, eyeing the baby, whose eyes had closed. “Is she all right?”
“She’s asleep. I’ve fed her, and you wore her out with your diaper practice. Now, let’s pack you up and let me get home to my own family.”
“Justin, thanks for this. And can I call you if I have questions?”
“Yes, but just relax. She’s a sweetheart.” Justin slanted him a quizzical look. “You don’t have a baby carrier, do you?”
“A what?”
“I don’t know why I even asked. You can’t just set her in the car seat beside you. You need something to hold her safely. I’ll bet I can find a nurse with one that you can borrow. Just stay put until I get back.” David was handed the sleeping infant. He took her, cradling her with his arm and marveling at how tiny she was.
“How can she possibly be so complicated when she’s small enough to hold in my hands?” David asked, but his friend had already gone through the door. David stared at the infant.
“I’ll do my best, and I’m sorry you’ve got someone who doesn’t know one thing about a baby,” he said softly. Her tiny hands were folded over her middle and David was awed by her. So tiny, yet so perfect and so pretty. He touched her cheek lightly with his finger. “So soft and sweet,” he whispered.
In minutes Justin was back to give David final instructions. “Stop worrying,” Justin said, smiling. “You’ll get along fine.”
“Right. See you, Justin.” David went to find Alex and get whatever in the diaper bag belonged to the baby. And then he told his friends goodbye and left the hospital, stepping out into the chilly Texas night. He looked at the sleeping infant.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asked her softly.
He drove through the dark night, thankful she slept, but with his nerves on edge. He dreaded when she would wake because he had zero experience in baby care.
His sprawling ranch house had motion lights that came on as he approached the back of the property. At the back gate David parked and got out, taking baby, carrier and supplies with him. He crossed the wraparound porch and unlocked the back door, dropping supplies on a credenza in the back entryway while he turned off the alarm and switched on lights.
In minutes he was in his big bedroom with the baby carrier in the middle of his king-size bed.
Baby and carrier looked out of place, he reflected, in this masculine room with its hunter-green-and-brown decor. He scratched his head, wondering what to do when she wakened and began to cry. As he thought about it, the tiny girl stirred and in seconds was crying.
David unbuckled her and picked her up, changing her with a little more ease this time in spite of her crying and kicking.
He got her a bottle, fed her and placed her in his big bed, climbing in beside her. Exhausted, he fell asleep for what seemed like ten minutes and then the infant was crying again.
By three in the morning, the kitchen was a shambles of half-full bottles, cartons the bottles came in, baby clothes that she had spit up on. While she screamed and cried, he paced the floor, and in minutes warmed another bottle to try again to get her to quiet down.
“Oh, little baby, what do you want?” he asked wildly, knowing if he called Justin, he would just get laughed at.
At four he placed her in his bed again. She had fallen asleep and David eased down on the bed beside her, scared he would either wake her or roll over on her, but totally exhausted. Once more, he felt he’d only slept a few minutes, but it was an hour later that her cries woke him.
The night seemed three hundred hours long and by morning, David knew he had to find a nanny.
Through the sleepless night he had racked his brain for any woman he had dated whom he could call for help, but he couldn’t come up with one likely candidate who would want to deal with a baby.
He turned in an ad to the paper for a nanny, knowing that it would take days before the ad would produce inquiries. His full-time cook and housekeeper arrived and tried to help, but at sixty, Gertie Jones was still single and knew almost as little about babies as David.
As soon as possible, he drove into Royal, heading to a local baby store to get supplies.
Since getting out of the military and returning home, David usually took pleasure in driving through his hometown of Royal, Texas. Main Street was a bustling place in the exclusively rich West Texas town, which was surrounded by oil fields and ranches. Today, under bright skies and sunshine, he passed the Royalty Public Library, a one-story, Georgian-style brick building in the center of town, and the Royalton Hotel on Main Street, a fancy old hotel that dated back to 1910, but he didn’t see
