Page 79 of Zone
“Thank God. I tell ya, she looks really cute and sweet, but there is nothing sweet about her poop.”
Christine studies Edward’s hands, then she looks up at him with big blue eyes. He continues waiting, and after a beat she smiles, slapping her palm against his.
“She’s very smart.” He lifts his chin. “She’s a Bradford.”
“I don’t think that proves anything.” I shift her higher on my side wondering how Stan made it look so easy to hold her that way.
I can’t get her to sit on my hip at all, so I just slide her around to my forearm. She watches Edward moving around the kitchen preparing her baby cereal, and she starts chanting little words. I do think one of them sounds likeFu, but that could be anything, right? It’s not like she learned the F-word that fast.
“I heard there was some uncertainty about her paternity.” He stirs the bowl of baby cereal, then nods for me to put her in the high chair. “What will you do if the lawyers come back and say she’s not yours?”
She’s secure in her chair, and I collapse into a nearby seat. “I don’t know, Ed. I guess I should give her to her real dad, but the more time passes, the more I kind of like having her here.”
“So stop the test.” He shrugs. “Tell them you’re convinced, and that’ll be the end of it.”
“Is that fair to her?” I think about what Stacia said about her mother wanting me to be the dad.
From what I’ve heard, it sounds like Bonnie was being a bit of a free spirit around the time she got pregnant. I feel less like an asshole for not remembering her, especially now that I know she was using a nickname.
“A part of me still wants to know the truth,” I confess quietly.
Edward’s phone makes jangling noises, and he takes it from his pocket, quickly swiping a finger across the screen. It lights up with a FaceTime call, and I see all the LA cousins at once on the phone.
“Oh, yay, you’re together!” my cousin Haddy calls out.
With Maverick and Dove in rural north Louisiana, it’sjust Haddy and Gavin, Gina and Owen in Los Angeles now—with their two little girls and one on the way.
“Hi, guys,” I call, lifting Cricket’s little hand to wave. “Cricket says Hi.”
“Oh my goodness, Knoxey! She’s so beautiful!” Gina swoons through the camera, and I can tell she’s showing now.
“I think she’s pretty great.” I tilt my head to the side, smiling.
“She looks just like you,” my cousin continues gushing.
“She definitely has those big blue eyes all right,” Haddy says, holding up her little girl, who is about the same age as Cricket. “She looks just like Baby Lucy!”
Lucy holds a rubber giraffe to her mouth and every time she chews on it, it squeaks. I feel like a pro, because I could say she must be teething now, just like Cricket.
I don’t have a chance, because Edward cuts in. “Cricket has a slightly different eye shape than Lucy, but she would fit in at a family gathering.”
My nose wrinkles, and I glance over at Edward. “You’re saying she doesn’t look like her daddy?”
“I’m saying she doesn’t look like her cousin,” he says.
“I remember you as a baby, Knoxey, and I think she looks just like you,” Gina argues.
I don’t point out that Gina is only two years older than I am, and Edward was in high school when all of us were born.
I choose to go with Gina’s pronouncement that Cricket looks like me until I get a reason not to think she does.
“Watch this,” I say proudly, lifting her out of her chair and doing the little side-to-side twist that makes her squeal.
Everybody claps and laughs and gushes at how adorable she is, and I’m feeling pretty proud of myself. I can make her smileandlaugh.
“Hi, Uncle Knoxey!” Owen’s daughter Maddie waves infront of the camera. “Baby Cricket is so cute and funny. I really like her name! I can’t wait to play with her next month!”
“Oh, wow…” My shoulders tense. “I’m sorry, Mads, I don’t know when I’ll be in LA again.”
