Jane Godman - Colton 911 - Family Under Fire

Slowly, he shook his head. “I compared it to samples of Delilah’s writing, as well. Neither of them wrote that note.”

Kennedy woke up just after Everett told Alyssa about the suicide note, and he was glad for a break so he could rein in his emotions. Although he had submitted a report to his senior special agent expressing his opinion that Sean and Delilah’s deaths were suspicious, he had not yet been given the go-ahead to officially investigate further.

As he cleared away the remnants of the takeout meal, he watched Alyssa with the baby. Kennedy got more food on her face and bib than she did in her mouth, but she appeared to enjoy holding her own spoon and hammering out a drumbeat on the tray of her high chair. When she was finished, Alyssa deftly wiped her down and scooped her up. The little girl chuckled delightedly.

“She needs to get into a bedtime routine.” She looked across at Everett. “How about we do bath time together?”

“You mean just you and me in the tub, right? Because I’m not sure I’m ready for the three of us.” Alyssa gave an outraged snort and he held up his hands. “I’m new to this parenting thing, remember?”

She quirked an eyebrow at him, letting him know he wasn’t fooling anyone. “I’ll get her bath ready.”

Seconds later, his arms were full of warm, wriggling baby. Kennedy gave a delighted squeal as she tried to poke a finger up his nose.

“Hey.” He caught hold of her hand. “I think you and I should establish a few ground rules. Firstly… Whoa! What is that smell?”

It was like a combination of bad eggs and rotting garbage. He regarded the baby with suspicion. Surely that aroma couldn’t be coming from such a cute little body? As if to confirm his worst fears, Kennedy’s stomach gave a loud gurgle. It was instantly followed by a series of popping sounds in the diaper region. The smell grew stronger.

He held the little girl at arm’s length. “Alyssa?”

She emerged from the bathroom with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows. “Yes?”

“I think there’s something wrong with Kennedy.”

Coming to the sofa, she leaned over his shoulder. Kennedy greeted her with an aimless wave and a fresh volley of stinky blasts.

“What makes you think that?”

Was it possible Alyssa had lost her sense of smell in the time they’d been apart? “Are you serious? I’ve supervised a drunk tank full of men who have spent a night consuming Mexican food and cheap beer. It didn’t come close to that level of toxicity.”

Alyssa laughed. “Her digestive system is immature and she’s still adjusting to solid food. A little gas is hardly surprising.”

She headed back into the bathroom.

“A little gas?” Everett studied Kennedy’s face. “I dread to think what you can achieve when you decide to fill a diaper.” She gave him a cheeky grin. “That wasn’t a challenge.”

A few minutes later, the complex preparations were complete. There was a brief power struggle when Kennedy seemed to feel that parting with her clothing was unnecessary. Everett watched in admiration as Alyssa won the battle with ease and placed the red-faced infant in the bathtub inside something that resembled a medieval torture device.

“It’s a bathing seat,” she explained in response to his raised eyebrows. “It means she can sit up safely without slipping around. And we have our hands free to wash her.”

It was yet another item on the growing list of “things Everett didn’t know about babies.” He wasn’t given any more time to ponder his inadequacies. Within seconds of Alyssa beginning to rub baby shampoo into Kennedy’s hair, most of the water had left the tub and was sloshing around on the floor.

Washcloth in hand, Alyssa fought on, attempting to clean every part of the shrieking, laughing little girl while Everett helped hold her still. In the end, she turned to look at Everett. “I think she’s clean enough now. At six months, she’s not mobile enough to get really grubby.”

“Shouldn’t you at least try to wash the, uh, delicate parts properly?” Everett wiped soapy water off his face and plowed back into the fray. “They get the dirtiest, after all.”

Although she was giving him a look of dislike, he couldn’t help noticing the way Alyssa’s drenched blouse clung to her curves. He’d missed those curves.

“ You try.” She handed him the cloth and stepped back.

Kneeling at the side of the tub, he approached with caution. Kennedy, clearly aware she was dealing with a rookie, waited until he got in close, then grabbed him by the hair.

“This may be a two-person job, after all.” Alyssa came to his aid, freeing him from the chubby-fisted death grip.

“I’ll lift, you clean.”

To howls of protest from Kennedy, they completed the maneuver before collapsing side by side against the tiled wall.

“You know what?” Everett panted. “In future, I think a thorough clean each diaper change should take care of those bits.”

He ducked just in time to avoid the washcloth Alyssa threw at his head.

Once she was warm and dry after her bath, Kennedy was drowsy and ready for her bedtime bottle of formula.

“Why don’t you give it to her?” Alyssa held the onesie-clad baby out to Everett.

He paused for a moment, then took Kennedy from her and tucked the little girl into the crook of his arm. As soon as she saw the bottle, she reached for it, pulling it to her mouth and sucking greedily. Within minutes she was asleep.

Alyssa eased the bottle away from her and placed it on the coffee table. When she looked up, Everett was watching her face.

“She’s a lucky little girl to have found you.”

The lump in her throat was less about the words and more about his tone of voice. Don’t do this to me, Everett. This is day one. We have years ahead of us. Birthdays, holidays, starting school, boyfriends, graduation… The thought frightened her less than the intensity in his eyes.

“She has us both.” She brushed a stray curl off Kennedy’s forehead, and raised the question that had been at the back of her mind all day. “I know why I’m doing this. What about you?”

“Oh, come on, Alyssa.” A corner of his mouth lifted. “When you asked Ray Torrington what would happen to Kennedy if we said no and then you gave me that look, you knew I wouldn’t be able to resist you.”

She shook her head. “Not good enough. That answer might work if we were still together and deciding where to eat out or go on our next vacation. But this is about being mom and dad to a baby. It’s a lifelong commitment.”

He was silent for a moment or two. “First of all, you did influence my decision. Because there is no way I would have done this with anyone other than you.”

And there goes the last of my composure…

When he spoke again, his voice was little more than a whisper. “But you’re right. Just like you, I will be doing this properly, starting with a request to my boss for a leave of absence. And the reason I’ll be doing it is that it’s for Sean.”

“Because you don’t think he killed himself?”

“Even if he did—and despite his crimes—we were friends once.” He tilted his head back against the cushions. “I remember one summer when we were in high school, we got into a prank war. Neither of us could back down from a challenge. Sean thought it would be funny to use duct tape to fasten the handle of my school locker closed just when we had an important assignment due in. In revenge, I coated the seat of his bike in peanut butter. The jokes got wilder, until, one day, I enlisted Casey’s help. We were holding Sean down and filling his shorts with ice cubes when my mom walked in. She took one look, said, ‘I’ll give you boys some privacy,’ and walked out again.”