That Baby (32 page)

“I saw her wearing the necklace the other day,” Phillip states dryly.

“Well, she must not be as traumatized as she claims.”

He flattens me against the wall, his strong body firmly against mine, holding me in place. “Are we good?”

“We seemed pretty good this morning.”

“Okay, let me rephrase that. Are you good? Do you feel good about us?”

“I feel great about us, Phillip. I can’t wait until people are coming to the hospital to visit our new baby.”

He kisses me. “I can’t wait either. Let’s go see this new little girl.”

Phillip knocks gently on the door and Danny tells us to come in.
 

Lori is lying in the bed, holding a little pink bundle.
 

“Congratulations!” we both say. “Are you so excited it’s a girl?”

Danny takes the baby out of Lori’s arms and holds her out for us to see.
 

“She’s beautiful,” I say sincerely.

“Thanks,” she says.

“She has a little bit of a cone head,” Danny says with a laugh. “Stuck in the birth canal for a few hours does that to them, I guess. And I was surprised. I thought she was going to be a boy.”

“So, the birth sounds like it was a little crazy,” Phillip says.

 
“Oh, yeah, you should have seen it. Miss-I-Want-A-Natural-Birth here was like, ‘Get me the god dammed epidural now!’ And I was like, honey, but you told me no matter what you said, I was supposed to follow the birthing plan. I told her she should focus on her breathing more, like in yoga. Then she grabbed me by the shirt like a scene out of the fucking
Exorcist
and said in a voice that sounded like the devil himself, ‘Get me the fucking epidural. NOW!’ So, I did. Thank goodness, too. They were able to do the C-section quickly when they needed to and it was amazing. They pulled this sweet little monkey out of her lickety split, and I cut the cord, and she was crying, and I was crying. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” He sits on the bed next to Lori and they share a sweet look.
 

I hope that means they are going to be okay.
 

“So the text didn’t mention a name. Have you chosen one yet?” Phillip asks.
 

“We have,” Lori says. “Meet Devaney Alayna Diamond.”

“Devaney?” Phillip says. “Like the great Husker coach, Bob Devaney?”

“Yep,” Danny says. “Isn’t it the coolest name ever?”

“I really like it,” I say. “It’s very pretty. I’ve heard of the name Delaney before but never Devaney.”

“That’s why we liked it,” Lori says. “It’s different and pretty. We’ll probably call her Devan for short.”

“That’s really cute too,” I say directly to Lori. “I’m glad everything worked out so well.”

“Do you want to hold her?” Danny asks me.

“I’d love to. Can I wash my hands first?”

“There’s some antibacterial soap in the bathroom.”

After washing my hands, I am rewarded with a beautiful baby girl lying in my arms. She looks up at me and moves her lips, like she’s doing a fish face. “She’s ready for selfies,” I laugh, mimicking her.
 

Danny talks to Phillip while I stare in wonder at Devaney.
 

“So one thing you should know about childbirth is your doctor, who your wife has spent months getting to know, only shows up the second it’s time for delivery. You think he’s going to be with you the whole time. Like through labor and all that. No. He’s like a designated hitter, only shows up when he’s at bat.”

The baby looks like she’s going to cry. I pat her back gently and hand her to Lori. “I think she wants her mommy.”

Lori smiles at the baby. “I think I’m going to like being a mommy,” she says, snuggling Devaney into her chest.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

OMG!!!!!!!!
 

Danny and Lori had their baby this week.
 

It’s a girl and her name is Devaney Alayna Diamond.
 

Devaney is a super cool name because Bob Devaney was a legendary football coach at Nebraska. Devaney is known for starting what is now known as the Blackshirts, which is what our defense is called. The story goes like this: One of the coaches got sent to the local sporting goods store because they needed some jerseys to distinguish the offense from the defense during practice. The black jerseys were on sale and so he bought those. The black shirts were given out each day and taken back at the end of practice. So every single day, starters had to earn their shirts. Pretty much from then on, the Husker defense has been called the Blackshirts.
 

Pretty cool, huh?

And it’s official.
 

I have a baby bump.
 

Time to shop for some new clothes.
 

(And praying I will never need big white maternity undies.)

April 30th

A relative term.

“Put the flowers in the vase on the island,” the designer yells at me.
 

I scurry over and set the big bouquet of tulips where I’m told, while the designer takes a moment to look around.
 

“Wow. This really looks great. Thank you, everyone, for all your help.” She gives me a hug. “And for finding the crew to make this happen. When we had to redo their electrical work, it really put us behind schedule. I didn’t think this was possible.”

Mrs. Diamond yells out, “They are leaving the hospital now!”

“Okay, everyone out!” I say to the crew that his been helping us put the finishing touches on the remodel.
 

Everyone clears out quickly and I give Mrs. Diamond and Mrs. Mac hugs. “Thank you for doing all this.”

“I can’t wait to tell Danny and Lori how you put this all together,” Mrs. D says.

“Um, I, uh, don’t really want them to know.”

“Why not?”

“I just don’t. I didn’t do it to get a thank you or any praise. I just wanted them to come home and be able to relax with their baby.”

Mrs. D gives me another hug. “If that’s what you want, dear,” she says. “My lips are sealed.”

“Come on, Mrs. Mac. Let’s get out of here.”

On the walk across the yard to my house, Mrs. Mac questions me. “Why wouldn’t you want them to know what you did for them? I mean, what an amazing gift.”

“Lori and I haven’t been as close as we once were,” I confide.

“I noticed that when you were up for her shower. Was she mad at you then?”

“I think she’s just been upset in general. She and Danny have had a rough time. Both with the pregnancy and their marriage.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. Pregnancy can be tough on a relationship. Doug and I were married for a very short time before we had Ashley, and it wasn’t easy. Sadly, it gets worse once the baby is born.”

“It does? Danny thinks things will go back to normal now that the baby is here.”

Mrs. Mac lets out a full on belly laugh. “Oh, wow. That’s funny. Danny is in for a rude awakening. Normal is now a relative term. It won’t be anything like when you were dating or first married. Those days are over.”

And this worries me.

May 5th

Growls at it.
 

When Danny comes through the back door, Angel barks happily and spins around in a circle, wagging her tail. She loves Danny but hasn’t seen much of him lately. None of us have seen him much since the baby was born. And Phillip and I haven’t wanted to intrude. Danny’s mom was here the first week and Lori’s mom has been here ever since. We were thrilled when he called earlier to ask if he could come over for a beer and watch the fourth round of the draft.
 

“Aww, how’s my Angel?” Danny says, greeting the dog first and giving her a brown stick from a package.

“What’s that?” I ask him.
 

“It’s called a bully stick. Marcus was telling me he gives them to his dogs.” He hands me the rest of the package. “Says they have kept Madison from divorcing him because his dogs chew on these and not on her expensive shoes.”

We watch as Angel lays the stick on the ground, sniffs it, races around the couch, nudges it with her nose, picks it up and flips the stick in the air. Then she takes another lap around the couch, stick in her mouth.
 

“Should she be running with a stick?” I ask.
 

“It’s so big, I don’t think she could choke on it,” Danny says, laughing at the puppy, who has finally decided to nibble on the corner of it, for a second.
 

She drops it at Danny’s feet, growls at it, and then takes off running in circles around the couch again.

“So, how’s Devaney doing?” Phillip asks, as we all plop down on the sofa and flip on the TV.

“She cries a lot and is a lot more work than I ever imagined. But she’s precious.”

“Is there anything we can do to help? You look tired,” I say.

“No, Lori and her mother have it covered. They would really prefer I didn’t help. Her mom acts like I don’t know what I’m doing. I mean, technically, I don’t. But if I don’t practice, how am I supposed to get better? Although, her mother got mad at me because the trash in the kitchen was half full so I guess I’m supposed to help with that. It’s like she thinks I’m the hired hand instead of the dad.”

“Danny, you should talk to Lori if something is bothering you,” I suggest.

“You’re one to talk,” Phillip says to me.

I bug my eyes out at him.
 

“What?” Danny says, looking from me to Phillip.
 

“It’s nothing,” I say.
 

“It’s
not
nothing,” Phillip counters, turning toward Danny. “Was Lori surprised the kitchen was done when she got home?”

“Are you kidding me? She was thrilled. I don’t know how the designer pulled it off. Just the day before she said it could be three more weeks.”

“Did she ask who made all the food? Or did she wonder how it all got done?”

“Uh, I assume the designer. My mom said she and your mom did the food.”

“Has Lori thanked anyone?”

“She was crying and hugging the designer, thanking her.”

“The designer had help,” Phillip says.

“
Phillip
, you promised.”

“Promised what? What aren’t you telling me?” Danny asks.
 

Phillip shakes his head at me and says to Danny, “Jadyn is the reason it got done. She said she didn’t want you to have to come home to that, so she called the contractor who is doing our office building and got him to get a crew together. They worked for thirty-six hours straight. Jadyn, the moms, and the designer worked another twelve hours after that getting the decor and food done.”

Danny slumps against the back of the couch and shakes his head. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

I run my hand through my hair, stalling.
 

“Because Jadyn did it for you, Danny. And for Lori, even though she accused her of cheating. Even though she’s never apologized. And even though she’s barely spoken to her since. I just thought you should know.”

“I don’t want her to know,” I say, barely holding back tears.
 

“Why not?” Danny asks.

“Because.”

“She really hasn’t apologized?” Danny says, shocked.

I shake my head. “No.”

“But she said she texted you.”

I hand him my phone. Show him what she’s said. Which was pretty much just that she wasn’t perfect and she was a stupid girl.

“After the way she treated me—the way she accused me—it just isn’t enough. All she’s done is make excuses for her behavior. But what I don’t think she realizes is that with every accusation and point of her finger, she eroded away our friendship.”

Danny lowers his head. “I’m sorry, Jay. I haven’t told you that either.”

“You didn’t do anything, Danny. Did she apologize to you?”

He shakes his head. “Mostly she just cried until I couldn’t stand it anymore and told her to stop.”