A Baby for Easter (11 page)

“Yeah. I better feed her. I’m sure you want to take off.”

“No, I can help. I don’t have anything going on this
afternoon.”

He carried Cara as they walked into the kitchen, and Alice noticed
all the bags that Micah had laid down. “Oh, you’ve got groceries,” she said.
“We should have put them up earlier.” She immediately started to unpack the
bags.

“I think they’ll be okay,” he said. “There’s nothing that
needs to be cold.”

Cara was starting to pull out the bread and coffee from one
bag when she noticed something else, half hidden by another bag.

“Oh, what beautiful flowers.” She left the bread and coffee and
went to pick up the bouquet of cut tulips. “You should have told me you had
flowers. They need to go into water.”

She took them over to the sink and started to unwrap them.
“Do you have a vase?”

“Oh. I don’t think so.”

She supposed it wasn’t surprising that a guy would have no
vase and no idea what to use for one. She stretched up to a high shelve and
grabbed a large drink cup. “This will do. These are beautiful. Where did you
get them?” She started to trim the stems.

When he didn’t answer, she glanced over her shoulder at him.
He was just standing there, and he looked stiff and awkward.

The Micah she used to know had been very rarely awkward.

Feeling rattled again, she guided the flowers into the
makeshift vase and kept babbling to cover the weird moment. “Pink tulips are my
favorite. There. See? This cup works just like a vase. Why don’t we put them
right here?”

“Um…”

She suddenly understood his expression. She gasped. “Wait.
Are the flowers—”

“For you?” His mouth twitched just slightly. “Yeah.”

Overwhelmed with pleasure and surprise, she kind of hugged
the vase of tulips to her. “Oh. Thank you. I had no idea—”

“Yeah, I got that. But I promise I don’t normally just pick
up flowers for myself because I think they’re pretty.”

She giggled and stared down at the delicate blooms. “Pink
tulips are my favorite.”

“I didn’t know that. I just thought they looked nice and
Easter-like, so I grabbed them.” He sounded intentionally laidback, casual.

She realized she needed to be careful again. She couldn’t
make such a big deal about this. Not only would she make him uncomfortable, but
it would be woefully foolish.

It was a nice gesture. It was not a declaration of love.

Men bought women flowers all the time without it meaning
anything significant.

She wasn’t going to be stupid about a man again. She just
wasn’t.

“Well, it was really nice of you. Thank you for thinking of
it. Did you want to try some peas with Cara today?”

Alice had a mild panic attack trying
to decide what to wear to the Easter play on Wednesday night.

She’d been to the Miner Theater many times, and she knew
most people would dress up a little but not really wear evening clothes. She
did want to look pretty, however.

As pretty as she possibly could.

She settled for a flowing skirt that looked feminine but not
too dressy—Bill had always called it her “hippie” skirt—and a flattering top.
She decided she looked nice but not like she was trying too hard.

Micah said they’d leave around five-thirty, since the play
started early—at six, as it was designed as much for kids as for adults. Alice
wasn’t sure if she should go to the house or if Micah would come to get her at
the apartment. At exactly five-thirty, when he hadn’t yet made an appearance,
she headed over to the house.

He had Cara, after all, so there was no reason for him to
come knocking on her door to pick her up.

The side door wasn’t shut, so she opened the screen door and
walked in.

No one was in the kitchen, and she was about to call out
when she heard, “Oh, shit—I mean, shoot!”

She was torn between concern over Micah’s distressed tone
and amusement over his trouble in taming his language for Cara’s innocent ears.
She wandered into the living room and then toward his voice, which was coming
from Cara’s room.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to laugh about it,” he was
saying soberly. “You’ve made a huge mess here.”

Alice heard Cara’s soft babbling—which did indeed sound like
she was laughing—and walked quietly to the door of the room to see what was
going on.

Micah had the baby on the changing table, and he was trying
to fold up what looked like a very dirty diaper. Cara was waving her arms and
legs and talking enthusiastically.

“We’re supposed to be picking up Alice now,” he told the
baby, pulling out about six baby wipes and trying to hold her still to clean
her up. “And here you are half-naked and kind of smelly. That’s not going to
make a very good impression.”

His back was to Alice, and he wore black trousers and a pine
green dress shirt, the tailored clothes making his broad shoulders and tight
butt look very fine indeed. Alice was so touched by the scene that she took a
few steps back, instinctively hiding lest he turn around and see her
expression.

Unfortunately, she backed right into the door frame that led
into the living room, stumbling in surprise and making quite a racket. She had
just enough sense to say, “Micah, I’m here,” so he wouldn’t think she’d been
sneaking around.

“Are you okay?” he asked from the bedroom.

“Yeah. Sorry. Just ran into the wall.” She walked into the
room all the way, smiling at him and trying not to feel so flustered.

He looked at her over his shoulder. “I’m sorry we’re running
late. She had a…uh, really impressive diaper.”

Laughing, Alice walked over so she could help. Cara babbled
happily as she saw her.

“What a pretty dress,” she said, seeing that Cara was
wearing a little pink dress with a smocked top. Since the baby’s wardrobe
consisted primarily of a small selection of sleepers and rompers, and a UNC
sweatshirt that Micah’s parents had bought her, Alice immediately recognized
that the dress was new. “Did your mom buy it for her?”

“No,” he said, as he put a new diaper on Cara. “I picked it
up yesterday. I hadn’t even thought about her needing dresses before you bought
her that Easter dress.”

Alice reached down to pick up Cara and pull down the little
dress over the diaper. “It’s adorable. Did you pick it out yourself?”

“No. I just walked into the store and said I needed dresses,
so the women there all helped me out.”

She could well imagine the scene, and the thought of the
women eagerly jumping to the shopping assistance of handsome, clueless Micah
made her want to giggle.

He gave her a narrow look, as if he suspected she was
laughing at him, but he was smiling when he reached down to pick up a shopping
bag. “I got a couple more dresses too. And they told me she needed this sweater
to wear with the dresses, until it got warmer. And then she’s supposed to wear
this on her head.”

Alice kept gasping at each item he pulled out of the bag. A
little blue dress and a yellow one and a soft white button up sweater and the
cutest little bow that was made to stay on her head with a band. She squeezed
Cara with pleasure and tried not to melt away from the sweetness of it. “It’s
all perfect,” she said. “Why don’t I put on her sweater and bow, and I think
you might want to change your shirt.”

He glance down in surprise and groaned when he saw that he
had a smear of Cara’s poop on his shirt.

She and Cara both giggled, causing Micah to sigh resignedly
and head upstairs to change.

It only took him a minute to come back down in a clean blue
dress shirt, just as Alice was adjusting the bow so it was it slightly
off-center on Cara’s head.

“Perfect,” she said, smiling up at Micah and holding Cara up
so he could see her. “She’s beautiful.”

Micah smiled at his daughter, his eyes rather soft, and then
he shifted his gaze to Alice. “Sorry about all the hassle.”

“No hassle. Do you have all her stuff ready?”

“Yeah.” He leaned down to pick up the bag he’d evidently
packed earlier. “I think I remembered everything.”

She was tempted to check to make sure, but she didn’t want
him to think she didn’t trust him to bring everything they’d need. So all she
said was, “Then we should be ready to go.”

Silently, she prayed he hadn’t forgotten to bring something
like her bottle or a spare diaper.

***

The good thing about having Cara
with them was that there was never any awkward or artificial conversation,
since it was impossible to be uptight with the baby around.

The theater was in the next town over, so it was only a few
minutes’ drive. They were running later than they’d intended, though, so they
had to drive around looking for a parking space.

Micah had gotten them good seats, near the front and on an
aisle. Alice was trying to be reasonable but was feeling quite giddy with
excitement as they traipsed through the crowded lobby and into the theater,
which was festively decorated with streamers and flowers.

Micah carried Cara in her baby seat, and Alice carried the
bag, since she’d taken it from him when he’d tried to carry that too. It was
only once they’d started to work their way through the crowd that she realized
something that should have been obvious to her before.

Either she or Micah or both of them knew about a third of
the people in attendance. Every few feet, they were stopped and greeted by acquaintances.
Others waved and gave them sly grins. Alice saw several surprised looks from
people on seeing them together.

She started to feel a little tense. She knew what they would
think.
 
She knew what people would be
talking about tomorrow.

That was the problem with going out with someone for the
first time in a small community like this one. People would see you once and
start wondering when you’d get engaged.

Especially since she and Micah had a baby in tow.

Micah didn’t seem to notice. He greeted everyone with his
normal laidback friendliness and didn’t seem at all uncomfortable or tense.
But, whenever someone made noises like they were going to ask something about
her and Micah being together, he easily shifted the conversation away from it.

She assumed he was doing it on purpose. She was very
impressed. She wished she could handle conversation so skillfully instead of
stuttering and blushing, which was sadly her first response.

They were finally able to take their seats, and Cara was in
high form, gawking and giggling at everyone around her. The play was cute, with
a lot of audience participation, and the time passed quickly.

Every once in a while, Alice would glance over and catch
Micah watching her, but he always just smiled and looked away.

She wasn’t going to break any of her rules, but maybe—just
maybe—he would say something at the end of the evening and make it clear to her
about what he was thinking about their relationship.

If he did, then she could let herself be happy without
worrying that she was being stupid again.

The play must have been just a little too long, because
Cara’s high spirits declined during the last fifteen minutes, and she started
to fuss and then cry.

When she started to get loud and the play wasn’t quite over,
Alice leaned over and said, “I’ll take her outside,” since she didn’t want the
people around her to be annoyed, although there was plenty of whispering and
childish antics, given the large percentage of kids in the audience.

Micah glanced at crying Cara and then at Alice, and he reached
down to get their stuff. “Why don’t we just head out and beat the crowd?”

This sounded like an excellent plan to Alice, and the three
of them left the theater and made it to their car before the audience was
dismissed.

Cara was still crying on the way home, so Alice sat in the
back and gave her a fresh bottle.

She took it but was still fussy, whimpering in between
sucks.

When Micah parked, Alice unstrapped her and held her up to
pat her back. She burped up some formula and started to fuss again.

He got out and opened the back door where she was sitting.
“I was hoping we could get something to eat afterwards, but I guess that was
wishful thinking.”

“Yeah,” Alice said with a little smile. “It’s getting kind
of late for her, poor little thing. And I think she might have a little cold.
Her nose has been running today.”

Micah reached out for the baby and then moved her into one
arm so he could help Alice out of the SUV too.

She smiled to thank him, and he didn’t drop her hand right
away. They stood gazing at each other for a moment, and she was convinced she
wasn’t imagining the soft look in his eyes.

Then Cara burped again, spitting up formula all down the
front of Micah’s shirt.

He blinked down at himself. “Well, that’s two in one
evening.”

Alice couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s my fault. I should have
given you the towel.” She showed him the towel she’d been using to protect her
own top in the car and then used it to blot up the worst of the formula from the
fabric.

When they got inside, Alice told him to change his shirt
while she finished feeding Cara.

She was sitting in Cara’s room when he reappeared, wearing a
gray t-shirt with his trousers.

“You don’t have to do that,” he said. “You shouldn’t be on
the job this evening.”

“I don’t mind.” She stroked Cara’s soft, fine hair.

“But you—”

“She’s not a job to me, Micah. I like to take care of her.”

As soon as she said it, she wondered if she should have
admitted it, so she looked down at the baby in her arms and not at Micah.

He didn’t say anything, but she could feel him standing
there, just in front of her. Finally she had to look up to check his face.

It was hard to describe his expression—part questioning,
part emotional, part something that looked almost like hope.

She swallowed hard and tried to say something to take the
tension out the air. “It’s hard not to fall in love with her.”

Those words did nothing to cut the tension.

“Yeah,” he breathed.

Alice looked back down at Cara, her cheeks burning. Her
vision was blurry, and her head was spinning a little.

Remembering how she’d fooled herself in the past, she gave
herself a little lecture about not getting too excited. After all, they’d only
had—kind of—a first date. No words had yet been said. No future of any kind had
been offered. Not even a second date.

“Let’s give her a bath,” she said, in a mostly normal voice,
“and get her to bed.”

He reached out to take Cara, and Alice went to the bathroom
to set up the bath as he carried the baby in. She let him do the bath mostly
himself, since she didn’t want him to think she didn’t believe he could do it.
She knew he’d been taking care of Cara pretty well for the last couple of
weeks, but Alice was naturally inclined to do things herself so she had to
remind herself not to take over.

Cara was fussy in the bath, and she was fussy when Alice
rocked her for a few minutes and then tried to put her down.

Micah turned on her music, and they left the room.

Her crying got louder when they walked out.

Micah frowned. “Do you think she’s okay?”

Alice wished she knew more about babies so she would know
how to answers questions like that. She shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s let her
cry for a minute and see if she settles down.”

“Okay.” He looked at the partly opened door of Cara’s room,
and she could tell he didn’t like to hear her cry. “Do you want a glass of
wine?”

“Sure.”

They went to the kitchen, and he pulled out a bottle of Merlot.
Cara was still crying when he pulled down two glasses. And she was still crying
when he uncorked the bottle. And she was still crying when he poured it out.

Maybe it was Alice’s imagination, but it seemed like the
crying had gotten louder and more distressed.

“Can I go get her?” she asked at last, when Micah put the
bottle of wine on the counter.

His face broke in relief. “Please do.”

So Alice went to get Cara and carried her into the living
room to hold her on the couch. Micah came to sit beside her, bringing both
glasses of wine.

Cara quieted after a minute, and Alice started to relax, cuddling
the infant closer.

“She doesn’t feel hot, does she?” Micah asked, peering at
his daughter.

Alice put a hand on the little head and face. “No. I think
she’s okay. I think she just has a little cold.”