Above Rubies (Rockland Ranch) (20 page)

             
They’d found the diapers and things they’d bought, and though the baby seemed to be perfectly well clothed, Naomi had still sent Joey into town to buy some things she didn’t think they could live without overnight.

             
Rossen was sitting in the great room wondering if he should go to bed or sleep in here so he could help Kit if she needed it.  He finally opted for his own room and hauled himself up.  He stopped at Kit’s door for one last look before he went down.  He watched the two of them sleep for a minute.  How was he ever going to get this day out of his mind?  There was not a chance he ever would.

             
Several times in the night he heard the baby fuss just for a moment and wondered if she needed any help.  Finally, after four he heard the baby fuss for longer and went upstairs to check on them.  The baby was in her cradle, but Kit was still dead asleep and he knew she was exhausted from her labor and restless night.  He picked the baby up, thinking he could keep her entertained for awhile and let Kit sleep just a little longer. 

             
He wrapped her back up in her blankets that had come loose and as soon as he did, she settled right down and began to look around again.  He took her with him to the great room, settled into one of the recliners that rocked and began to slowly rock her back to sleep.

             
                                          ****

             
Kit found them there in the morning.  For just a moment, when she'd woken up and realized her baby wasn’t there, she'd panicked, but it had only taken her a minute to know that Rossen had probably come and taken the baby so she could sleep.  She dragged her tired and sore body in search of them and found them in the rocker, snuggled up together, both of them dead to the world.  She took a picture of them with her phone and then went and got in the shower.

             
She was stiff and tender and the shower felt good.  When she shut it off, she could hear the baby through the closed door and hurried as fast as she could make her thrashed body move to rescue Rossen and apologize,  “I’m sorry.  She was sleeping soundly when I got in.”  She took her into her room to nurse her and once she’d fed her, took her back out. 

             
He got up to take the baby again.  “Let me hold her while you rest.”  He took her from Kit and brought her right up to his face.  “She smells amazing.  I had no idea babies smelled this good.”  He turned to Kit. “By the way, what’s her name?  I don’t know what to call her.”

             
Kit looked slightly bashful. “I was thinking of Tawna.  Do you think your mom would be offended if I used Naomi for a middle name?” 

             
“I think she’d be honored.”

             
Kit went back to her room, saying over her shoulder as she left, “Pat her on her back if she gets fussy.”

             
Rossen played with the baby, letting her grab onto his fingers with her teeny hands.  He unwrapped her and took off her socks so he could see her toes, too.  He hadn’t been around a baby since his nineteen year old brother, Cooper, was born.  He had no idea they were this fascinating.

             
Sean came through the kitchen door and tried to take her from him.  When he didn’t give her up, Sean complained to their mother when she came in next, “Mom, Rossen’s hogging the baby!  He won’t even give me a short turn.” 

             
Naomi swatted Rossen as she went past.  “Share, you big, fat hog!”  To Sean she said, “Wash your hands first.”

             
Rossen regretfully handed the baby over.  She instantly started to fuss and he said, “See?  She doesn’t want you.  It’s me she likes.  ‘Cause I’m the one who bout had his clothes shredded helping get her here.  Kit said to pat her back if she seems unhappy.”

             
Naomi asked, “Is that really what happened to your shirt yesterday?  I saw it was all ripped, but didn’t suspect it was Kit.”

             
Rossen gave her a self-conscious smile.  “The rips are nothing.  At one point she had it gripped so tight at my throat I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t get her to let go.  She’s stronger than she looks.”

             
“I hope it gave you a whole new appreciation for women and babies.” 

             
Rossen began to unload the dishwasher.  “That’s a no-brainer.  Even after that danged class I never dreamed it would be that hard on her.  It was awful to watch.”

             
Sean had been patting the baby and she gave a very unladylike burp just as Cooper walked into the kitchen.  He thought it was great.  “Yeah!  Now that’s my kind of baby!”  He tried to take her away from Sean.  “Mom, Sean’s hogging the baby!  Tell him to give me a turn.”  Both Rossen and Sean cracked up and Naomi turned to look at them with her hands on her hips.

             
“Do you want me to put that baby in time out?” 

             
Just then, Treyne and Ruger came into the kitchen.  “Wow, she’s already in time out and she’s only one day old?  What’d she do?”

             
Both Rossen and Sean cracked up again as they said in unison.  “Burped.”

             
By the time Slade and Isabel came in five minutes later, they were all in stitches and Naomi had no clue how to corral them.  Isabel went straight to the baby and took her from Treyne without even asking.  She unwrapped her blanket and held her up to look at her in wonder.  “Holy Moly, she’s a miracle.”  She snuggled her up to her neck. “And she smells like heaven.”

             
She handed her to Slade who looked like he was afraid she’d break if he moved wrong.  Rob came in and tried to take her from Slade and whined, “Naomi, Slade’s hogging the baby.  Tell him to share.”  Every one of the brothers went into fits.

             
                            ****

W
hen Kit dragged back in she looked confused and didn’t understand why Naomi handed her the baby and told her not to let anyone else near her.  That breakfast was the silliest meal she had attended yet and that was saying something.

             
Seth called that day to find out who Kit’s doctor was so he could help her get a birth certificate.  Joey had been the one to answer the phone and they ended up talking for half an hour.  He asked her out for the next night.  She got off the phone with the most unusual smile.  Rossen didn’t think he’d ever seen her like that.

             
That afternoon Kit came into the great room to sit down next to Rossen on the couch.  She was moving slow and he could tell she was sore.  As soon as she got settled, the baby began to cry from her room and she unconsciously let out a small sigh.  Before she could start to get up, he stood.  “I’ll get her and bring her to you.” 

             
She grabbed his hand to stop him.  “No.  It’s okay.  I’ll have to take her back in there to nurse her anyway.”

             
Naomi piped in from the kitchen, “No you don’t, Kit.  I always felt like I had to go to the dungeon to feed my babies. I vowed that would never be the case in my own house.  Just keep a blanket over you.  These guys will need to get used to it sometime.  They’ll all have wives and babies.  If you’re not comfortable that’s fine, but don’t feel like you have to go.”

             
Kit smiled shyly at Rossen as she slowly got up.  “It’s not them that have to get used to it.  It’s Tawna and me.  You’d think humans could figure this out better than farm animals, but that‘s not necessarily the case.”

             
He carefully nudged her back down.  “You stay.  I’ll go out for a while after I bring her to you.”

             
                                          ****

             
Over the next couple of days, Kit felt like she was beginning to figure this motherhood thing out.  She and Tawna got used to each other and nursing got easier, until the morning of the fourth day.  Kit woke up and was amazed when she looked in the mirror.  Her milk had come in and she had become markedly voluptuous overnight.  It was extremely painful and she was miserable.  She didn’t have a clue what to do about it and hurriedly dressed to go in search of Naomi. 

She stepped into the hallway just as
Cooper walked past and his eyes grew wide.  He turned back around in the hall and went toward his parent’s room yelling, “Mom!  Mom!  Come quick!  Kit’s gonna blow!”

             
Naomi and Rob reached her at the same time Rossen came around the corner.  They all stopped dead still and stared at her for a second.  Rossen punched Cooper in the shoulder.  “Have some respect, dude.  Knock it off.”

             
“What do you mean?  I could never have anything but respect for a figure like that!” Cooper winked at Kit as Rob intervened.

             
“That’s enough, Coop.   You owe her an apology.”

             
Cooper tried to look penitent as he said, “I’m sorry, Kit.  I’m sorry I said you have an especially nice figure this morning.  Will you forgive me?”

             
Kit smiled shyly.  “Cooper, you’re terrible.  Just remember I owe you.”  He was the perfect little brother and she thought he was adorable even when he embarrassed her.

             
Naomi put an arm around her shoulder in concern and said, “Oh, honey.”  She took Kit back into her bedroom to help her as Rossen shook his head at Cooper.

             
                                          ****

Rossen
couldn’t even be mad. Cooper was right.

                                          ****

             
After a few days the household got used to having a new baby.  The boys quit fighting over her, mainly because if they did Naomi would put her in time out and then no one got to hold her except Kit. 

She'd become comfortable enough with nursing to throw a blanket over her shoulder to feed Tawna without havi
ng to leave the room, and she grew accustomed to the fact that Rossen would come and take the baby to burp her after.  He started calling her Mimi because of the way she made this little “mm” sound when she was sad and it stuck.  The whole family called her Mimi Star and the world pretty much revolved around her.

             
One day as they were clearing breakfast, Rossen walked over as Kit finished nursing and she automatically handed him the baby to burp.  He patted her back until she belched and then played with her shamelessly until she started to fuss.  He took her back over to Kit and handed her back, saying, “Here, Momma.  Time for her second course.” 

Kit took her and fed her on the other side and
then he automatically took her and burped her again and began to play with her.  A few minutes later she got whiny and Rossen handed her back and went outdoors while Kit went to lay her down. 

             
                            ****

Rob leaned against the counter and watched this whole thing as Naomi finished loading the dishwasher and started it.  He turned to
Naomi with a puzzled expression and asked, “Did they get married and I just missed it?  I swear they can read each others minds.”

             
Naomi smiled her mellow smile.  “They’re very good friends.  They’ve been through a few things together.  They’re close enough that I almost worry sometimes.  Rossen thinks he’s sending her off to college here in a couple months, only he hasn’t told her that.  She’s not going to just mind him like he thinks she is, and if she does, it will kill him.  I have no idea what to do about the two of them.  Just pray.  I guess that’s all anybody needs though.”

             
She put her arms around him.  “You don’t have to be married to read each others’ minds.  We were like that before we got married.”

             
“Yes, but we were planning to get married.  He thinks she’s too young.”

             
“She is.”

             
“Naomi, would you have wanted to be single in her situation?  I think it would be hard to be a nice girl who was also an unwed mother in a largely religious community.  How does he expect her to act like an incoming freshman and date and attend a singles ward and the whole nine yards with Mimi?  I mean, it can be done.  And it certainly would weed out the wishy-washy men.  But I can’t see her being a good mom and doing all of that on a long term basis.  If I were her, I’d hate it.  I’d just want to settle down and get on with my life.”

             
Naomi nodded in agreement, but then said, “But there’s the flip side.  What if she settles down at seventeen, never having gone to school or traveled or even attended a prom?  Later, won’t she regret that bitterly?  Won‘t she feel like she missed something her whole life.”

             
He kissed her.  “I suppose you’re right.  You always have been the ultimate wise woman.”  He kissed her again.  “But just to be on the safe side, we’d better keep praying for them.”