Not Quite Mine (Page 50)

Not Quite Mine (Not Quite #2)(50)
Author: Catherine Bybee

“OK, baby girl. We’ll get you out of that old one and into this new one, but you’re going to have to give me a little break. I haven’t done this before.”

His words seemed to calm her a little. She blinked several times and hiccupped on her tears. He managed to unsnap the outfit and expose the damage.

“Whoa! What is your mama feeding you?”

A dozen wipes later, her tiny behind was clean and she was kicking her legs and smiling. “You like being naked? Is that what you want?”

Savannah kicked at his hand. He laughed and snuck a clean diaper under her. “My carpet won’t hold up to the abuse,” he told her. “And your mama would tie me up if she came home and you were exposed. We can’t have that,” he cooed.

It took him twice as long as it should have, but in the end, Savannah was clean and smiling as he talked to her.

He left her safely in the middle of the floor on her back and ran the soiled diaper to the outside trash. When he made it back inside, he found her on her tummy and lifting her head.

“Look at you.” He removed his cell phone from his pocket and crawled on the floor with her, taking pictures. “Did you do that all by yourself?”

Savannah smiled, lost the strength in her neck, and bopped her chin on the floor. She cried at the shock. He walked her around the room for a while, but she kept crying. He moved to the backyard and let the early evening air wrap around them.

That was where Katie found them less than twenty minutes later. Dean was pointing out different objects and plants with Savannah propped against him.

“There’s your mommy. I told you she’d be back.”

Katie stopped in the doorway and stared at the two of them.

“What? Do I have baby powder on my face?” Dean asked.

She shook her head and grinned. “No. It’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

“I rushed and I didn’t need to. Look at you two. It’s sweet.”

Dean leaned down and brought his lips close to Savannah’s ear. “Hear that, I’m sweet. Maybe I can score some points and keep my girls here with me tonight?”

“Her bassinet is at the apartment.”

Dean shrugged. “Let’s go shopping. She’s getting too big for the tiny bed anyway. Might as well get ready for the next phase.”

“There isn’t room in the apartment for a crib.”

“I have plenty of room here.” The words popped out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying.

“Excuse me?”

He settled into the thought of Katie and Savannah staying with him. “Stay here. You and Savannah. Move in with me.”

Katie’s brows pitched together. “That’s fast, Dean. I mean, we’re just starting over. Moving in is huge.”

Dean placed Savannah on his shoulder and walked over to Katie. “What better way to see if this is going to work, with all of us, than to have you stay here.”

“I don’t know. It’s a major step.”

“And staying with Monica in an apartment wasn’t a big move? C’mon. It doesn’t have to be permanent. We’ll take it one day at a time. Besides, Savannah rolled over a little while ago. She’s growing out of her tiny quarters whether a crib will fit in your space or not.”

“She rolled over for you?” Katie’s eyes grew large. She reached out and took Savannah in her arms. “You rolled over? Oh, baby…I’m so proud of you.” She kissed Savannah several times.

“I take it rolling over is a new thing?”

“It is.”

“I took pictures.”

“You did?”

Dean moved into the house, shut the door, and fished his phone out of his pocket. He showed Katie the snapshots of Savannah grinning and lifting her head.

“Move in with me,” Dean said as he reached out and smoothed her hair with his hand.

“An instant family could be disastrous,” she warned him.

“Or it could be perfect. Since when do you shy away from a challenge?”

“You’re being manipulative, Dean Prescott.”

He chuckled and dropped his hand from her hair. “That’s how I get what I want.”

She didn’t say no…in fact, she looked like she might just be considering his proposal. He suppressed a grin and waited for her to say something.

“I’ll think about it.”

He chewed the inside of his cheek and rocked back on his heels. Thinking about it is a start.

“I can accept that.”

“It’s not a yes.”

He grinned. “No, I’ll think about it isn’t a yes. It’s closer to a yes than a no…but it’s not a yes.”

She squeezed her eyes together. “How do you figure?”

Dean looked to the ceiling and thought back on his childhood. “How often did Gaylord say to you, I’ll think about it, Katelyn…and he eventually said no?”

She tilted her chin. “If I buttered him up, he never said no.”

Dean let a slow, evil grin spread over his face.

Let the buttering begin!

The delivery boy from the local florist must have thought her suitor was crazy. First, there were roses…a dozen pink ones with a big red bow. Alongside the flowers was a package of diapers.

Katie couldn’t look at the flowers without laughing. Leave it to Dean to court her with diapers. The next day at work she told him about her strange gifts with a smart-ass comment about someone getting her address mixed up with a nursery.

The next day a bouquet of orchids arrived along with a box of formula.

At work, Dean asked how Savannah was eating. Katie let him know she wouldn’t be hungry for weeks.

Then came star lilies with a teddy bear…then sunflowers with a handmade knit blanket.

By the time Monica arrived home from Florida, the apartment looked like a gift shop.

“My God, this place looks like a flower shop threw up in here,” Monica said when she walked in.

“Dean.”

Monica dropped her duffel bag at the door and sniffed the first bouquet. “Did you fight?”

Katie laughed. “No. He wants me and Savannah to move in with him.”

Monica moved to the second set of flowers and sniffed. “All this to convince you to change your address?”

Smiling, Katie said, “Yeah. He sent stuff for Savannah, too.”

“Wow.” Monica moved into the room and flopped onto the couch. “Hold out for something that won’t die or get used up,” she told her with a laugh.