Atlas opened his mouth and cried softly as Eli settled him in his arms, then mewed and turned his little bald head, making sucking sounds.
“He’s rooting,” Jonah said. “That’s what they call looking for mom’s breast.”
Sitting on the bed, Eli nestled him closer and eased the bottle’s nipple to Atlas’s lips.
“Sorry, young man. This will have to do.” Instinct took over, making Eli brush his fingertip along Atlas’s cheek, somehow knowing—remembering—that it would make him suckle.
“He hadn’t been doing so well breastfeeding anyway,” Jonah said, dropping into the room’s only chair with his coffee. “We’d started giving him some formula to augment.” He took a sip and dropped his head back with a grunt of satisfaction as it hit. “Dad, thank you seems…basic. But let me say it anyway.”
“For the night feedings?” Eli looked up from the tiny face. “It was fun.”
“For taking me in.” Jonah smiled for the first time in—well, maybe since he got there. “Both of us, really. Tough days ahead.”
“There’s an army of people who want to help,” Eli said. “Please let us.”
The smile grew. “There are more people in this house than when I left. And furniture down here—it was nothing but an air mattress when I was a resident.”
“Jo Ellen was down here for a while, so Vivien furnished the room for her. But now she and Maggie are moving into the apartment you and I built over the garage. It’s finished.”
Jonah nodded, his sleepy eyes clearing with each ounce of caffeine. “Yeah, I picked up through the chatter that they’re pals again. Artie wasn’t the devil incarnate after all?”
Eli laughed softly, and as he got into the bottle groove with Atlas, he relayed the whole story that they’d learned just the day before.
“So your dad and Uncle Artie basically took down a Southern mob to protect their families?” Jonah asked when Eli finished.
“Pretty much. And that was why my mother and her best friend were separated for thirty years, so the two of them have a lot to catch up on. Now that they know the truth, they’re just like they used to be—two peas in a pod.”
“Moving into the apartment we built,” Jonah mused. “Cute. I’m happy for Grandma Maggie. I know she can be difficult, but, man, did you see how she rose to the occasion last night? So protective.”
“We all are,” Eli said, snuggling his grandson. Now, he understood how and why his notoriously formidable mother turned a little mushy when it came to any of her grandchildren. “No one’s taking this baby,” he said.
Jonah snorted, the sound pure doubt.
“We won’t let that happen, son,” Eli said simply.
“Oh, it’ll happen. Remember, I’m curs?—”
“Stop it,” Eli said, his sharp tone making the tiny baby startle. “Sorry,” he whispered to Atlas. “But your father is wrong on so many levels, it hurts. He isnotcursed.”
Jonah finished the coffee, then put the cup down, closing his eyes.
“If not, then why did this happen, Dad? Why did she have to go get diapers when she was so tired? I told her if she’d give me just half an hour to finish making dinner—of course I put cooking above her needs, because I’m a fat jerk like that—but she insisted we only had one left in the apartment, and she wanted to get out. I knew she was exhausted. I knew I should have gone. I knew…things happen to mothers.”
“Jonah.” Eli’s voice was stern, but not sharp this time. “You cannot blame yourself any more than I could blame myself for allowing your mom to get on a private plane.”
Jonah winced. “She got on the plane for herjob.”
“It was Carly’s job to get diapers—a parent’s job. Bad things happen.”
“I thought you believed in God and He’s supposed to be so stinkin’ good.”
“Heisgood,” Eli insisted. “But that doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen. It means that the bad thing should be the time when you lean on Him and get closer to Him.”
Jonah rolled his eyes. “Whatever. The bottom line is I’m the dad and I should have gotten diapers and if I had, Atlas would have two parents.”
Eli let out a sigh. “Grief tells lies, Jonah. Don’t listen.”
For a long time, neither of them spoke. Instead, Eli let little Atlas finish the bottle and pulled it out of his mouth, easing him up to rub his back for a burp.
