style="font-size:15px;"> Kim was on her way after that response.
After the click of the door lock, silence descended upon the kitchen.
Elizabeth felt relieved, and she suspected Tom was, too. But no one wanted to be the first to express the emotion.
As she looked up at her father-in-law, Jenny’s cry broke the stalemate.
“That’s Jenny. She’s probably hungry.” She noticed that Carol seemed anxious. “Do you want to go get her, Carol? Just change her diaper and bring her down. I’ll get her bottle ready.”
“Bring her down, Carol.” Tom looked happy at the thought of holding his granddaughter.
After Carol left the room, Jack looked at Elizabeth. “Why did you let her go get Jenny?”
“I thought she deserved to get her. She’d taken care of Brady and Tom and helped entertain Kim. It only seemed fair that she get to take care of Jenny.”
“That was nice of you, Elizabeth,” Tom said.
“Carol is a nice lady.”
“Yes, she is,” Tom agreed.
They all heard Carol coming down the stairs, followed by Brady.
Elizabeth hugged her son. “Hi, sweetie. Thank you for being such a good boy.”
“He was patting his little sister on the back,” Carol said. Her smile said she was proud of Brady, too.
“Carol said I was helping,” Brady told his mother.
“Yes, you were, honey.”
She handed the bottle, properly warmed, to Carol. “Do you mind feeding her while I finish preparing lunch?”
“No, I’d love to.” Carol took the bottle. “I was hoping you’d be gone when she woke up. Now I get the best of both worlds.”
“You deserve it, Carol,” Elizabeth said.
“What about me?” Tom said. “I had to act nice when that lady talked about being pregnant.”
“We’ve all had a difficult day,” Jack said with a sigh.
“Lunch will be ready in a few minutes. Anyone want a cup of coffee?”
“Yeah, that would be good,” Jack said. Tom nodded, too.
Elizabeth poured coffee for the two men. She poured some juice for Brady. Then she began fixing some vegetables to go with the casserole.
When Carol finished feeding Jenny, Tom moved over to visit with Carol and the baby. She put Jenny in his arms, and he cooed at her, patting her smooth cheek and letting her grab his pinky as he did so. “I’m your grandpa, Jenny. Grandpa Tom.”
The baby’s eyes were wide as she listened to her grandfather.
“She seems mesmerized,” Elizabeth said. “I guess maybe because she doesn’t hear a man’s voice very often. It’s just been me and Brady around her since she was born.”
“We’ll have to change that, right, Jack?” Tom asked without taking his eyes off his granddaughter.
“Yeah, we will. She needs to get used to both of us.”
Elizabeth didn’t say anything.
Jack had served himself and started eating, but he noticed that Elizabeth didn’t come down after taking Jenny back upstairs. After a few moments he excused himself and went to get her. He found her in Jenny’s room, slowly rocking the sleeping baby.
Instead of saying anything to Elizabeth, he sat down on the small bed and waited a minute. Then he called her softly. “Elizabeth?”
Her eyes opened and she cleared her throat before finally responding. “Yes, Jack?”
“I wondered when you were coming down for lunch. It’s getting cold.”
“I was just rocking Jenny.”
“She seems sound asleep. I’ll put her in her bed.”
Elizabeth wanted to protest, but he was being helpful.
After he’d put the baby down, he pulled her up from the rocker and led her out of the baby’s room. “Were you planning on skipping lunch?”
“No, but it’s so peaceful, holding a sleeping baby. Today had a lot of disturbing situations.”
“Yeah. I’m glad you thought of the pregnancy test.”
“I’m sorry it caused you some embarrassment.”
“It irritated me most of all.”
“I’m glad we now know.”
“Yeah, she didn’t seem the mothering type.”
“People change. She might have turned into a good mother.”
“Yeah, right.” He took her hand and led her down the stairs.
“Did you think I couldn’t find the table without your assistance?”
“You seem all too ready to skip meals. I think you need to eat a good lunch.”
When they entered the kitchen, Carol made her a plate and Tom pulled out a chair for her.
“What is everyone going to do this afternoon?” she asked as she sat.
“I’m going to be sure you eat your lunch.”
“Jack, you don’t need to help me.”
He just looked at her but he didn’t budge from the chair opposite her.
Carol offered her plan. “I’m going to actually do some work. I didn’t get anything done besides making the beds.”
“There’s too much else needed, Carol. I think you should relax and entertain Tom. Brady is going to take his nap, and Tom won’t have anyone to talk to.”
“Aw, Mommy, I don’t need a nap,” Brady said as he tried to hide a big yawn.
Everyone chuckled.
“I’ll come up and cover you up, sweetie.”
Jack spoke up. “Not until you finish your lunch. I’ll go tuck him in.”
When she started to protest, Brady expressed enthusiasm about Jack helping him. So she remained seated as the two males went upstairs together.
“That was nice of Jack,” Carol said.
Elizabeth said nothing.
“Do you have some laundry ready to be washed?”
