“Alright, Gavin,” Warren warns. “That’s enough. Quit teasing your mother if you don’t want her telling you more personal detail than you’re ready for.”
“Sorry, Mom.”
She nods and waves him off without looking right at him. I imagine learning about your son’s interest in butt stuff can make for an awkward conversation, so I don’t blame her. It makes me wonder how she’ll fare when she figures out he’s bisexual, though. Knowing her, she’ll take that in stride. It did not phase her in the slightest when I told her I’d gotten pregnant by a random Santa on my wedding night, after all.
Even so, I don’t want her embarrassed on Christmas, so I clap my hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Okay, now that we’ve embarrassed all the moms in the house, why don’t we move on to the games part of the afternoon?”
Every Christmas Eve, my family spends the day playing board games while waiting for dinner to cook. Throughout the years, we’ve had some epic Christmas Eve cribbage tournaments and games of Scrabble. It’s one of my favorite traditions. It might be a little more complicated this year with extra people in attendance, not to mention a baby to look after, but I’m sure we can figure it out.
Charlie and Gavin both chuckle, but get up and go to the bookshelf to a selection of board games, followed closely by Frederick and Webster. I’m about to join them when I hear a squawking giggle from the baby monitor announcing Lincoln’s finally awake from his nap.
“I’ll get him,” Archer says, raising an eyebrow in question. “If that’s okay?”
Gavin laughs. “He’s had a long nap today. I’d be prepared to find that whatever should be inside his diaper is actually outside of it.”
Archer looks at me for an answer, his eyes widening in response to Gavin’s statement.
“Sure,” I say with a shrug. “You could use the practice. Give me a yell if you need me to run a bath for him, though. If he did have a blowout, it will be easier to bathe him than to use wipes to clean him. Unless you want to hop in the shower again, that is.”
He turns a little greenish, but I have to hand it to him. He gives me a nod and marches to Lincoln’s room without another word. I almost feel bad for tricking him into thinking he’ll find a colossal mess when the giggling sounds from the monitor hint at Lincoln being fine. He usually cries more when he’s covered himself in shit. It’s like an early warning system.
“So, what are we playing?” Charlie asks. “One game for all of us? A couple of different games and we can swap out?”
“Why notUno?” Frederick says. “You can play up to ten people and it’s usually good for a laugh.”
“Perfect,” I say, reaching around them to grab the deck from the shelf. “We can play in the kitchen and keep an eye on dinner at the same time.”
The four of them head to the kitchen where my mom and Warren are setting out snacks, and I sneak back down the hallway to check on Archer and Lincoln. I know he can handle it, but I need a visual confirmation. Hearing about how he called Gavin to help him with a blowout helped with my confidence, strangely enough. It’s reassuring to know that even if he doesn’t know how to do everything, he does know when to call for help. It doesn’t hurt that it’s my brother he called for help, either. I know Gavin is great with Lincoln, and Archer couldn’t have asked a better person for help.
MaeLynn would likely be a suitable choice, too, even if I hardly know her.
I peek in the door of Lincoln’s room. I gave up on room sharing soon after we moved in since Gavin likes the blue couch so much he prefers to sleep on it when he visits.
“What do you think, little man? Comfy?” Archer’s back is to me, but it looks like he’s testing Lincoln’s diaper. “Too tight? Nah. That’s perfect. We don’t want a repeat of last time, do we? Not that I begrudge you the mess. Other than almost puking up my lunch a few times and having to call your Uncle Gavin to come rescue us, I was fine. Plus, I’ll wash you up as many times as you need. I’m here for you now.” His shoulders tense as he takes a breath. “I know I wasn’t there when you were born, but now that I’m here, you’re stuck with me.”
My heart swells hearing him promise Lincoln that he’ll always be around. What more could I ask for? Not much. It’s the outcome I was hoping for when I moved here to find him, after all.
So why am I wishing he was saying those things to me, too?
I shake my head to get rid of that thought.Get it together, Phoebe. He’s your kid’s dad, nothing more. At least not to you, he’s not.
“Well, now. Don’t you look handsome?” Archer’s voice grabs my attention again. “Who knew you had more than one ugly Christmas sweater? I wish I’d worn mine today, then we could match. We could have taken family photos with your mom in hers, too.”
Family photos? He can’t mean the three of us, can he? No. Of course not. He means some with him and Lincoln, and some with me and Lincoln. We’re not a family together.
“Okay, that’s it. We can go see everyone else now.” He picks Lincoln up and snuggles him to his chest. “Should we give your mom a head start on getting back there so she can pretend she wasn’t spying? Or should we turn around and show her how cute you look right now?”
Gah!He knows I’m here.Act cool.I spin around, then spin around again, only to see him looking straight at me, a huge grin plastered on his face. “Uh. Hey?” I say with an awkward wave.So much for acting cool, Phoebe.“I wasn’t spying, I was just…checking everything was okay.”
He nods, his mouth turning down at the corners. “Oh, yes, of course.”
“So is it? Okay, I mean?”
He turns Lincoln to face me. “Yep. Totally okay. No mess this time. He didn’t even try to pee on me.”
“Great. Perfect. Way to go, Lincoln. You’ll be wiping your own ass before you know it.” I groan, burying my face in hands. I’m babbling again. What is it about this man that turns me into a bumbling idiot? No, scratch that. I’m a mom. I’m allowed to celebrate my son waking up not covered in poop. That’s something worth celebrating. Telling a five-month-old he’ll soon be wiping his own ass might be taking it too far, though.
“First step, wake up clean, next step, wipe your own butt. You’ll be there in no time.” He gives Lincoln a little fist bump. “You’re nailing this growing up thing, kid.”
