“That makes me Mawmaw,” my mother stated. “Lucy can be Granny or Grandma.”
“Whichever she isn’t, we can refer to my wife as, because I want to tell her all about her.”
I stared in disbelief at the three of them and then let out a snort. My mates looked at me in confusion.
“Just look at us. One minute we’re all, who left that baby? And how could Kelly do such a thing? Being all mad at her and that Tom fellow about it. Then we’re all, yeah, we are now her daddies and naming her and now our parents are deciding what Alice Mae is gonna call them. Talk about riding a roller coaster!”
A knock on the front screen door sounded, and Sue Ann poked her head in immediately after. “Hi, it’s just me. I brought my stamp, so let’s get this done and over with. I’ve got stuff to watch on my TV so Pauline doesn’t spoil it for me tomorrow when we go mall walking.”
33
CARL
After Aunt Lucy returned to inform us that the store was sold out of travel cribs except for the display, which had a hole in the mesh, so wasn’t worthy of our sweet little Alice Mae, she’d opted to add some of her own money to what we’d given her and buy her a new stroller that folded down flat and came with a foot muff.
“She can sleep in that just fine for one night, just be sure to strap her in,” she said.
The rest of us weren’t so sure. Naps, sure, but all night? What if she got tangled up in the straps somehow and we were all asleep? In the end, it was decided that she’d stay with Alec’s parents for the night, along with my dad and Aunt Lucy. They’d planned to take turns staying up to keep an eye on her and feed her as much of her new formula as she could handle. Alec’s mom had also suggested starting her on some cereal, but after a quick Google on infant feeding guides, we put the kibosh on that. No solids until at least six months old, and we preferred to have her swallowing reflexes checked with a Mylos pediatrician first, due to her low muscle tone.
“Look, Mom,” Alec said, “I just went to the Down Syndrome site listed in her hospital after care notes from when she was born, and this book was recommended reading, so I’ve bought it and downloaded it. I’ve sent you, Aunt Lucy, and Carl’s dad a paperback copy that will arrive in a couple of days.” He glanced between Aunt Lucy and my dad. “I sent yours to your homes, since I figured you’d more likely be there when it arrives.”
“Yeah, after the pack-n-play that you boys ordered from the Target website arrives tomorrow at the store, I’ll go pick it up and do some more shopping for my little sweet pea. I’ll drop them off and head on home after dropping Lucy off at the airport.”
“You sure you want to take her with you on your honeymoon?” his Mom asked. “She’d be fine here with us.”
“I know, Mom, but it feels wrong to leave her right after we become her dads. It’s bad enough we’re leaving her tonight,” Alec fretted.
Kit kissed his temple. “It’s our wedding night, so appropriate.”
He blushed.
“And that Xero said he’d have the pilot bring you here to pick her up on your way to Tokyo. Besides, that Mylos doc said he was coming down to give her a well baby check up and immunizations first thing in the morning.”
“Yeah, okay. You’re right. I just want to be the best dad she could have besides Carl and Kit. I don’t want her to ever feel unwanted.”
It went unsaid that he meant “like she was with her egg and sperm donors”. I wasn’t going to mention that myself, not ever. Not to our friends and family and certainly not to Alice Mae. I’d decided our official story was her parents realized they were not cut out to be parents and surprised us after the wedding by asking if we’d adopt her, so we did. The end. It was mostly the truth, after all, and the rest absolutely did not matter. All that did was that she’d been handed over to our loving arms, and now we weren’t just a family of three, well, four, counting our furbaby, Floof, but five. And maybe one day, a couple of years down the line, we’d adopt a little brother or sister for her.
Reluctant to leave her, we stayed to give Alice Mae her dinner time bottle and changed her diaper before putting her in the stroller and fastening her in, tucking her new teddy bear beside her, and putting on the foot muff thing that covered the seat area up to her chest. Then we piled into our rental car and drove to our motel, where we’d already alerted them that we’d be late checking in.
“I guess we should shower before heading out to eat,” Alec said. “I’ll go first.”
We all needed to get back on track, and I knew just the distraction it had to be. It was our honeymoon, after all. I watched him go and then shucked off my own clothes. “I’m going to go help him save water,” I informed Kit, waggling my eyebrows suggestively.
He snorted. “Fuck him senseless in there, more like.”
I shot him a finger gun. “You bet. “
“Fine, but wash him off after and wait for me in there.” He gave me a naughty grin that had my ass clenching in anticipation. “You betcha,” I promised, going to make my shower sex fantasy come true.
An hour later, we were sitting eating our late dinner before bed.
“What’s so interesting on your kunnarskyn?” Alec asked Kit.
Kit glanced up, a faint blush dusting his cheeks and neck, making the faint scales still visible darken.
“Sorry, I was caught up shopping for Alice Mae now that we got her measurements, thanks to your mom’s measuring tape. Xeranos provided me with the address of our hotel, and I’ve ordered her some clothes from a Japanese department store, which will be delivered tomorrow, along with a carriage fit for our little princess. The hotel has agreed to hold them until we arrive the day after.”
“A carriage?” I asked, eyebrow raised. He tapped his kunnarskyn, bringing up the order confirmation.
