Babycakes (22 page)

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Authors: Donna Kauffman

BOOK: Babycakes
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“Can Miss Dre come, too?” Lilly asked, looking from Morgan to Kit and back to Morgan.
No sooner had she spoken than Dre, Lani, and Franco joined their little poolside cluster. “What’s this I hear about
le petite tortues
making their grand debut?” Franco asked.
“We have to go,” Lilly whispered, scrunching down a little in Morgan’s arms now that a crowd had gathered around them.
“Alva and Baxter said they’d stay and keep watch over the turkeys and all,” Lani said. “Want some help?”
Kit’s eyebrows lifted. “You’re all coming?”
“Dre just called Gabe on his cell and he said they could use volunteers. I thought it sounded like the perfect thing to do on Thanksgiving.”
“We could be out there for some time,” Morgan cautioned. “Of course, you all could come back whenever you wanted.” He smiled at the small group, clearly surprised, and just as clearly touched. “The more help the better.”
“Did you get the chance to meet everyone?” Kit asked him.
“I did. Thank you all for such a generous welcome. It means more to us than you could know.” He turned to Birdie. “So much more.”
Her eyes took on a suspicious glimmer then, too.
Franco clapped Morgan on the back and did his best British Baxter imitation. “Off to the turtle races, then, my good man?”
“I believe so.” Morgan chuckled and turned to Kit. “Will you ferry some of the group over? I can take three in addition to Lilly.”
“Quinn has an SUV, too,” Lani said. “We’ll figure it out.”
And just like that, the caravan of turtle shepherds trekked through the house and out to the rows of cars and trucks. They ended up taking whichever ones were easiest to maneuver onto the loop road, which landed Kit in Morgan’s vehicle with Lilly and Dre.
“Thanks for doing this,” Morgan said to Kit as he climbed in the driver’s seat after getting Lilly settled into hers.
“Of course! I wouldn’t miss it.” She fumbled with her seat belt, excited by the adventure ahead and feeling silly for being nervous with Morgan. It wasn’t like they were alone. “I can’t believe we’re getting to see them come out.”
Morgan took the buckle out of her hand and clicked it into the slot, smiling and catching her gaze as their hands brushed. But he immediately settled back in his seat and maneuvered the car out onto the loop road, leaving her feeling more discombobulated.
“We don’t know how many we’ll get to see or how many more will hatch,” he said. “Gabe told me they started emerging around three this morning, and there had already been several dozen out by the time we spoke, possibly more by now. He said, even with the sun up, they’re still coming out, which is why he called me. Things have slowed down now, but, overall, he’s hopeful for a really decent hatch from the nest.”
Kit glanced back at Lilly, who was talking to Dre, then said in a quieter voice only Morgan could hear, “What happens to the ones that don’t hatch? Can we be sure the ones that do will make it to the water?”
“Gabe and Anne will take care of the unhatched eggs later. They’ll want to examine them, see how far they developed, and find out if there were any issues that prevented them from reaching maturity. Today we’ll just help the ones who dig out find their way to the water and keep the birds and crabs away. With as many people as we’ll have now, I doubt the birds will be a problem. It will just be shooing away whatever crabs scuttle in, then watching until the turtles get past the waves.”
He led the caravan the short distance to the research center. Once there, they piled out of their cars, and he corralled everyone together at the trailhead that led to the beach. “The nest is up the beach a bit and situated back by the dunes. It takes the babies a good while to navigate all the way to the water, and they’ll probably be more disoriented than usual because it’s daylight. Gabe will tell you what to do; just be careful when you approach and don’t get too close. Apparently they feel the vibration through the sand and if it’s too strong, it might discourage them from coming out, as they’d sense predators. We’re just here to keep the crabs and birds away and to make sure the turtles head in the right direction. Once they find the water, we’ll watch until they make it out past the waves. They might get tossed back a few times, but that’s normal. It can be quite a process.”
He scooped Lilly up and led the group down the short path to the beach. Kit fell in behind him with Dre and Birdie. Franco, Lani, Riley, and Quinn brought up the tail end.
“Man, wait until I tell Charlotte what she missed,” Lani said, rubbing her hands together. “This is so exciting!”
“I know.” Riley took Lani’s and Quinn’s hands and swung them. “I’m so glad we made it back. This is so cool!”
“And I’m so glad we dressed for the occasion,” Quinn said with a chuckle.
Kit heard that and shot him a smile over her shoulder. Everybody had dressed up for the holiday meal, but once on the beach, shoes and heels came off, pant legs got rolled up, and scarves were tied around heads to keep those with longer hair from having it tossed about in the ocean breeze.
It was a very warm day, well into the upper seventies, but the sand was cool underfoot. “We have mud boots in the research center for anyone who needs them, if your feet get too cold,” Morgan called out, but everyone was laughing and gabbing and seemed perfectly fine without them, so down the beach they went.
As they rounded the shoreline and came into view of the nest, Gabe and Anne spied them and their faces lit up. They began to wave, encouraging them closer.
Gabe made his way up the beach and met them a distance from the nest, his face more animated than Kit could ever remember seeing it. “What a great surprise. Welcome to all of you.”
Hellos and introductions were made, then Gabe settled in to give them instructions. “We have one hatchling on the beach right now . . .”
Every one of of the volunteers drew in a breath of excitement.
“. . . And I think now that enough tunnels have been made out of the nest, we should expect a few more quite soon.”
Lilly squealed at that, which made everyone laugh.
“I think we can all identify with her,” Gabe said with a chuckle. “Predators haven’t been too big an issue today, but orientation is. The babies are wandering a bit, but they’re getting to the water eventually. When they get a good distance from the nest, we’ll have a pair of you chaperone each one, keeping it protected until it finds it way to the water. Once there, keep a vigil until the little one makes it past the waves. This usually takes several efforts.”
As Kit looked around, the group’s anticipation was palpable.
“Lived here all my life and never once have done this,” Birdie said as they neared the nest. She looked over at Gabe and smiled. “But, if you can use a volunteer who might be a bit more . . . seasoned I believe I will from now on.”
“We never turn away any volunteers,” Gabe happily replied. “It’s a pleasure to have you.”
Introductions were made with Anne, who was, more or less, a female version of her husband, not only in occupation, but in appearance. Other than the beard, of course.
“Thank you all for coming,” she said, clearly grateful for the impromptu support. “You’re about to experience a very special day.”
“Look!” Lilly squealed, pointing to a small spot on the sand. A small spot that was moving. “There he is!” She squirmed to get down out of Morgan’s arms.
“Hold on there, tiger.” Morgan set her down, but took her hand firmly in his.
Lilly surprised Kit by turning to her and reaching for her hand. “Come on!” she urged. “We have to go help him!”
Everyone laughed, following the threesome as they caught up with the newly hatched turtle.
“Oh,” Kit gasped. “Look at him. He’s so tiny!” She crouched down next to Lilly, still holding her hand, as the turtle, a half-dozen yards away, continued his determined trek. “I’ve seen pictures, but . . . he’d fit on the palm of my hand.”
Privately, looking at the wee fellow, she thought it was a miracle any of them made it to the water. He was so tiny, and had to navigate so much beach with clumsy flippers. But he sure was gung ho about it. “You can’t help but cheer him on. Go, turtle, go!” She realized she was grinning like . . . well, like five-year-old Lilly.
“Go, turtle, go!” Lilly called out, crouching down, too, which was equally adorable.
“Moggy,” Lilly whispered, when he stood next to her. “He’s going the wrong way. Maybe he’s ’fraid of the water.” She squinted up at her uncle, the sun in her eyes. “Can’t he see the ocean?”
“He’s got pretty low ground clearance there. But he’ll figure it out.”
Anne had posted herself on the far side of the baby, keeping watch on his progress. Gabe had herded the rest of the crew up the beach toward the nest, prepping them for the next hatchling.
Lilly held on to Kit’s hand fiercely as if the tighter she gripped, the better chance the little turtle would have. Kit understood the emotion entirely and wished she had Morgan’s hand so she could squeeze her anxiety out, too. She felt a need to be connected to him as they shared this experience.
“Can’t we pick him up and put him in the water?” Lilly asked as the baby continued to meander along the shoreline instead of toward the water.
“He needs to figure it out. It’s part of getting his navigation system set up,” Morgan said. “We won’t let anything happen to him.”
“What’s a nagavation system?” Lilly asked.
“You know how a car has a steering wheel we use to make the car go where we want it to go?” Kit said.
Lilly nodded, never once looking away from the baby.
“Well, the baby turtle has to figure out how to steer himself to the water. That’s called
navigation
.”
“He has to make sure his steering wheel works right?” Lilly asked.
Morgan chuckled, Kit smiled, and their gazes tangled up again over Lilly’s head. “Exactly,” Kit answered, her smile including Morgan.
Lilly looked up at Kit then. “What if it doesn’t?”
Kit pulled her gaze from Morgan’s and reached over with her free hand to brush Lilly’s hair from her face. It had come loose from the pigtails someone had braided that morning.
Morgan?
she wondered She tried to imagine those big hands of his weaving Lilly’s silky hair and . . . and she really needed to stop thinking about all the things his big hands could do.
“It will work,” Kit told Lilly. “Some just take a little longer to set up than others.”
Lilly held her gaze a moment longer as she appeared to gauge the believability of such a statement, but then there were squeals from up the beach and they stood up again and looked toward the nest.
Riley turned around, blond curls bouncing, and waved to them. “Another one!” She threw her arms around Quinn, jumping into his arms, which sent them laughing and staggering back a few steps, and almost straight down to the sand before he managed to get them righted again. As soon as he set her down, she disengaged from him long enough to perform an elaborate curtsy for the crowd, which made everyone laugh. “Enjoy the show, I’ll be here all week.”
Laughing, she tucked herself back under Quinn’s sheltering arm.
Kit watched the two of them, warmed by how natural and good they were with each other, and without thinking, her gaze shifted toward Morgan. Realizing what she was doing almost the same instant she did it, she would have jerked her gaze right back away again, only . . . he was looking at her, too.
Had he seen the direction of her gaze? Read her thoughts? Mirrored them? She couldn’t read his expression at that moment, but neither of them looked away.
Then Lilly grabbed both their hands, dragging them up the beach to see the new hatchling, leaving Anne to monitor the progress of the one by the water.
“We’ll get there,” Morgan said on a laugh, his gaze catching Kit’s again. He didn’t say anything, or intimate anything with his gaze; he just looked . . . happy. Content.
In that moment, trudging up the beach with a very anxious five-year-old between them, tugging them along with her toward the miracle of another little birth . . . Kit had to admit, she was pretty happy and content, too.
She shifted her gaze toward their destination before he saw something in her expression that would send mixed signals, which was highly possible. She was feeling very mixed up right at that moment.
A hush of anticipation had fallen over the group as Kit, Morgan, and Lilly edged in closer. Lilly let go of their hands and wiggled her way through the sea of legs until she had a ringside seat, as close to the nest as Gabe would allow them.
Kit hung back on the outskirts of the group, warmed by Lilly’s assertiveness, happy that her desire to help the baby turtles was eclipsing her more reserved nature when around strangers. Especially a whole group of them. Kit glanced up and caught Birdie also watching Lilly, her own expression filled with so much joy and delight, it made Kit’s already full heart swell even more.
Quinn and Riley shifted and urged Birdie to move a space or two around the ring, closer to her granddaughter. Initially she balked, not wanting to disrupt the moment, but she ended up not having much say in the matter.

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