I squeeze Mom’s hand. She’s a strong woman, but discussing how someone abandoned her child will bring up her own past of dealing with a man abandoning his children.
She pats my hand. “Don’t you worry, Zane. We’ll figure this all out.”
She’s going to be mighty disappointed in me if I decide not to fight for custody of Adele. But isn’t it better to let her mother raise her, than for her to be raised by a man who shouldn’t be a father?
Chapter 12
“Turns out Zane needs diaper lessons. At four in the morning. Lucky me.”
Sloane
Icollapse on the bed and Boozer immediately snuggles into me. I’m surprised he’s not repulsed by how bad I smell. But I refuse to shower at three in the morning. I won’t be responsible for waking Adele.
I wrap my arms around Boozer and fall to sleep.
“WAH!”
I groan. Adele has some lungs on her for such a small baby.
“WAH!”
I bury my head under the pillow. Zane is supposed to care for Adele in the middle of the night. Since it’s still dark out, he’s up.
“WAH!”
And now I’m up.
I crawl out of bed and stumble to the nursery. “What’s going on? Why is Adele screaming?”
“It’s fine. Go back to bed.”
I snort. It’s fine are words I learned to ignore when I was eight and Mom decided to bake hash brownies and serve them to the women at the PTA meeting for shits and giggles. It was not fine. Which is why we moved two weeks later.
“What’s the problem?” I push the hair out of my face so I can scan the room.
Adele squirms in Zane’s arms. Judging by the stain on his shirt, she needs changing.
“You need to change her.”
“I know. I’m trying.”
I lift an eyebrow. “By holding her in your arms?”
“This shit’s hard.”
I giggle. “Pun intended?”
He glares at me. “You’re not funny.”
“I’m a little bit funny.” I clear my throat. “But, seriously, how have you not figured out how to change her diaper yet? You’ve had her for a week now.”
His cheeks darken. “Mom’s been helping out.”
My eyes widen. “You let your mother change all of your daughter’s diapers?”
He shrugs. “She had six boys. She’s an expert.”
I didn’t expect to give a baby changing lesson at four a.m., but here we are, and here we go. I point to the changing table. “Lay the baby down.”
