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Logan studied the tiny forht He&039;d seen babies before, even had his share of personal contact with thee reseht And this one had all that black hair going for her, so she looked like a human sea creature Sort of exotic and otherworldly
If Gavin had been around, and Hayley out of hearing distance, he&039;d have suggested that this particular baby looked so of Aquaotten it
Babies always intiht back at you, as if they knew a hell of a lot ot big enough to handle things on their own
But he figured he had to co better than an encounter between superheros, as the
"She looks as if she rass is sapphire blue and the sky a bowl of gold dust" True enough, Logan decided, and a bit more poetic than the Aquaman theory
"Aw, listen to you Go ahead" Hayley gave hie "You can pick her up"
"Maybe I&039;ll wait on that until she&039;s more substantial"
With a chuckle, Hayley slipped Lily out of her carrier "Big guy like you shouldn&039;t be afraid of a tiny baby Here Now, s for such a little thing" And they kicked a bit in transfer "She&039;s picture pretty Got a lot of you in her"
"I can hardly believe she&039;s mine" Hayley fussed with Lily&039;s cotton hat, then"Can I open the present now?"
"Sure She all right in the sun like this?"
"We&039;re baking the baby," Hayley told hian had set on the patio table
"Sorry?"
"She&039;s got a touch of jaundice The sun&039;s good for her Stella said Luke had it too, and they took him out in the sunshine for a little while a few ti paper
"See there is to know about babies I can ask the silliest question and one of them knows the answer We&039;re blessed, Lily and I"
Three woot out a burp before one of thean, do you think things happen because they&039;re uess I think you make them happen because they&039;reThere&039;s a lot of thinking time when you&039;re up two or three tiet gone when I left Little Rock, and I headed here because I hoped Roz ive me a job I could just as well have headed to Alabaot closer kin there - blood kin - than Roz But I came here, and I think I was meant to I think Lily was supposed to be born here, and have Roz and Stella in her life"
"We&039;d all beif you&039;d pointed your car in another direction"
"This feels like family I&039;ve missed that since my daddy died I want Lily to have faht on our own But I don&039;t want things to just be all right for her All right doesn&039;t cut it any"
Her smile blooo, or even a week ago I&039; and let out a sound Logan thought of as distinctly female
"Oh, what a sweet baby-doll! And it&039;s so soft" She took it out of the box to cradle it er than she is"
"Not for long Oh, she&039;s so pink and pretty, and look at her little hat!"
"You pull the hat, and it hted, Hayley pulled the peaked pink hat, and "The Cradle Song" tinkled out "It&039;s perfect" She popped up to give Logan a kiss "Lily&039;s going to love her Thank you, Logan"
"I figured a girl can&039;t have too lanced over as the patio door sla, racing boys
They&039;d been this sh to curl in the crook of an arm, as helpless as, well, a fish out of water
They ran to Logan as Parker sped in circles of delirious freedom
"We saw your truck," Gavin announced "Are we going to go ith you?"
"I knocked off for the day" Both faces fell, coave hiot to build me an arbor tomorrow, out in my yard I could use a couple of Saturday slaves"
"We can be slaves" Luke tugged on Logan&039;s pant leg "I knohat an arbor is, too It&039;s a thing stuff grows on"
"There you go, then, I&039;ve got a couple of expert slaves We&039;ll see what your mama says"
"She won&039;t mind She has to work &039;cause Hayley&039;s on turnkey"
"Maternity," Hayley explained
"Got that"
"Can I see her?" Luke gave another tug
"Sure" Logan crouched doith the baby in his arms "She sure is tiny, isn&039;t she?"
"She doesn&039;t do anything yet" Gavin frowned thoughtfully as he tapped a gentle finger on Lily&039;s cheek "She cries and sleeps"
Luke leaned close to Logan&039;s ear "Hayley feeds her," he said in a conspirator&039;s whisper, "with ht face, Logan nodded "I think I heard about that somewhere It&039;s a little hard to believe"
"It&039;s true That&039;s why they have theet boobies because they can&039;t make milk, no matter how much they drink"
"Huh That explains that"
"Fat Mr Kelso&039;s got boobies," Gavin said and sent his brother into a spasm of hilarity
Stella stepped to the door and saw Logan holding the baby with her boys flanking hirins froh the scarlet leaves of a red ht and shadow on the stone Lilies had burst into bloom in a carnival of color and exotic shapes She could srass, and verbena
She heard birdsong and the giggling whispers of her boys, the delicatefrom one of the ht as she froze there, as if she&039;d walked into an invisible frame of a picture was, Uh-oh
Maybe she&039;d said it out loud, as Logan&039;s head turned toward her When their eyes rin transformed into a s crouched there, she thought Too big, too rough with that tiny child in his arms, too male centered between her precious boys
And so dazzling soed in a forest, beating a path over rocky ground Not here, in this elegant scene with flowers scenting the air and a baby dozing in the crook of his arhtened and walked toward her "Your turn"
"Oh" She reached for Lily "There you are, beautiful baby girl There you are" She laid her lips on Lily&039;s brow, and breathed in "How&039;s she doing today?" she asked Hayley
"Good as gold Look here, Stella Look what Logan bought her"
Yeah, a fean mused as Stella made nearly the identical sound Hayley had over the doll "Isn&039;t that the ?"
"And watch this" Hayley pulled the hat so the tune played out
"Mo on his mother
"Just a minute, baby"
They fussed over the doll and Lily while Luke rolled his eyes and danced in place
"I think Lily and I should go take a nap" Hayley tucked the baby in her carrier, then lifted it and the doll "Thanks again, Logan It fully sweet of you"
"Glad you like it You take care now"
"Dolls are lah to wait until Hayley was inside
"Really?" Stella reached over to flick the bill of his baseball cap over his eyes "And what are those little people you&039;ve got all over your shelves and your desk?"
"Those aren&039;t dolls" Gavin looked as horrified as an eight-year-old boy could ures Come on, Mom"
"My mistake"
"We want to be Saturday slaves and build an arbor" Luke pulled on her hand and to get her attention "Okay?"
"Saturday slaves?"
"I&039;an explained "Could use soot these two volunteers I hear they work for cheese sandwiches and Popsicles"
"Oh Actually, I was planning to take them to ith azed up pleadingly, as if he&039;d been given the chance to build the space shuttle and then ride it to Pluto "I never, ever built one before"
"Well"
"Why don&039;t we split it up?" Logan suggested "You take theet them around noon"
She felt her sto Like fa over the buzzing in her ears
"That&039;ll be fine," she ed "If you&039;re sure they won&039;t be in your way"
He cocked his head at the strained and forain Like now Why don&039;t you boys go find that dog and see what he&039;s up to, so I can talk to your usted face "Let&039;s go, Luke He&039;s probably going to kiss her"
"Why, I&039;an said He tipped her chin up with his fingers, laid his lips on hers, and watched her watch hian"
"Are you going to tellon in that head of yours, or do I have to guess?"
"A lot of things And nothing much"
"You looked poleaxed when you came outside"
" &039;Poleaxed&039; Now there&039;s a word you don&039;t hear every day"
"Why don&039;t you and I take a little walk?"
"All right"
"You want to knohy I ca Lily a doll" She walked along one of the paths with hi, then the quick thwack of Luke&039;s Wiffle bat They&039;d be fine for a while
"That, and to see if I could sponge aato be able to pry you too far away from the baby for a while yet"
She had to smile "Apparently I&039; a baby in the house If I e to steal her away from Hayley for an hour - and win out over Roz - I can play with her like, well, a doll All those adorable little clothes Never having had a girl, I didn&039;t realize how addicting all those little dresses can be"
"When I asked you if Lily made you want another, you panicked"
"I didn&039;t panic"
"Clutched, let&039;s say Why is that?"