“I’ll get their clothes.” She hurried to the table and came back with diapers and T-shirts that said,I’m a sweetie. He took a towel, laid it on the blanket and picked up Emily. She frowned. “Uh-oh.”
“She’ll be okay. She likes men.”
“I’m not sure Ilikethat.”
“Friends. My dad.”
Anabelle scooped up Lucy. He followed suit when she laid Lucy down and dried her off. “Wow,” she said. “This takes me forever when I do it alone.”
“Are they walking?” he asked as he put a diaper on his baby. The t-shirt took longer because Emily kept batting him in the face and giggling.
“Not walking yet. But they crawl like Olympic athletes. And Emily likes to play, so she’s giving you a hard time.”
Finally, they were dressed. He carried Emily to the table where two seats were clipped onto it. They both put the kids into respective ones. “Peas and carrots first.” The unopened jars were in the middle of the table out of the sun. She gave him a bib and began to fasten one on Emily. “You don’t have to feed one. I can do both.”
“Are you kidding? Give me a spoon.”
Both girls devoured the food, though to him the peas were, well, disgusting. He talked to Emily the whole time. Then Anabelle poured cheerios on the trays. They were fun to watch, as they picked them up and stuffed them into their mouths.
“Bottle time.” Two were also prepared and within reach. Oliver leaned back into the chair with Emily and stuck a nipple into her mouth. She sucked greedily. There was something calming about holding a baby that warmed him inside. He caught a glimpse of Anabelle. She was gazing at Lucy with such joy on her face that it took his breath away. “They’ll fall asleep drinking.”
“Then what happens?”
“We wait till they poop. I change them inside.”
He stood.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to change a poopy diaper.”
The nursery was down a hall to the left. He followed Anabelle. It was the cutest room, with life-size bunnies and deer and birds on the walls. “Wow, did you do all this?”
“No. My dad’s an artist. He went to town in here.”
“It’s beautiful.”
When the kids were changed, she put them in one crib.
“Not two cribs?”
“I tried that. I thought it would be better for them, but they screamed their heads off. As soon as I put them together, they stopped.”
By now, they had both zonked. Was there anything more amazing than sleeping babies?
“We can eat our salads outside. I have a monitor and the front door is locked.”
On the way back down the hall, he got a glimpse of a bedroom with peach walls and taupe accents. In the kitchen she grabbed two bottles of water and they went outside.
“I’m starved,” she said, opening the bag and pulling out two salads, two croissants and two chocolate chip cookies.
“Hmm. I love croissants.”
“Me, too.”
They put spicy dressing on the salads and she dug in. He watched her for a few seconds then speared lettuce and chicken for himself. “This dressing is great.”
“Yeah.” She buttered the croissant and took a bite. “Oh, yeah.”