“Good! Baby looks good.”
“Good.” He looks back to Ella, who’s blowing raspberries on Cora’s cheeks. Her laugh is adorable.
“She slept good; just got up.”
“That means she’ll be in a good mood then,” Ella says, walking toward me with her.
“Say hi to Karissa,” she tells her.
Cora, of course, does absolutely nothing. She just blinks at me like I’m the least interesting thing in the room.
We leave Jesse in the kitchen, and I follow Ella into the living room. She sinks onto the floor, and I do the same, sitting across from her.
Cora’s laid out in the middle of us, completely fixated on a wooden rattle like it’s magical.
Ella starts talking about how old Cora is now, what stage she just grew out of, and what she’s probably about to start doing next.
She sounds so sure, like she’s read every baby book there is, and she enjoyed doing the research.
I don’t know anything. We had to take those robot babies home in high school one time… It sucked, sure, but I don’t think it’s probably very accurate compared to the real thing.
“El, your phone,” Jesse calls from the kitchen.
“Oh crap,” she mutters as she stands and leaves the area.
Cora’s now looking up at me. She doesn’t look so sure. I pick up the play piano and press a few of the keys. She watches me and then reaches for it herself.
“There you go. Good job.” I smile and she smiles. Maybe I won’t be so bad.
“Work needs me.” Ella sighs. “Would you…want to stay? Jesse will be here, obviously.”
My heart kicks up a little. “I mean, sure. If he doesn’t mind.”
“He doesn’t. I promise.”
Ten minutes later, Ella’s changed into scrubs and heading out the door with a quick kiss to Cora’s cheek and then Jesse’s lips.
As she walks away, he smacks her butt—playful, quick. They don’t know I saw, and they don’t really seem like the type to care if I did. It reminds me of me and Devon. Back when his touch was only ever loving.
Jesse walks over and sits on the couch,
“She doesn’t get called in that often, but when she does, you know it’s bad. Probably a big accident or something.”
“Oh yeah, that’s scary,” I say.
He drops onto the floor next to Cora as she tries to roll and reach another toy beside her.
We sit in silence for a minute, the TV humming softly in the background. It’s some hunting show that I’m not paying attention to.
“Did Ella tell you I’ve never even held a baby?”
“She mentioned it.” He shrugs like it’s not a big deal. “You’ll figure it out. You’ve been carrying her all these months already.”
I look down at my stomach. “Yeah, that’s true.”
“You’ll be fine. God gives you a mother’s instinct for a reason, you know?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
