Cindi Myers - The Baby Surprise / The Father for Her Son - The Baby Surprise

She shook off the memories and the regrets and reminded herself that she’d learned an important lesson from her father—how not to parent.

She’d thought, when she first saw Zach in his uniform, that he would be like her father. After knowing him only a few days, she’d realized she was wrong. Zach was nothing like the colonel. His determination to be a father to Emma was proof of that, and Paige knew that she couldn’t continue to interfere with his efforts.

So when they got back from their appointment at Cam’s office and Zach suggested a trip to the park, Paige surprised him as much as herself by suggesting that he and Emma go on their own. And she took advantage of the unexpected time to herself to enjoy a book and the quiet outside in the sunshine.

If Zach knew nothing else about Emma, he knew that she loved the park. And since he’d started accompanying her on her daily excursions there, she seemed to be willing to transfer some of that happy feeling in his direction. But today, she wasn’t nearly as pleased with their outing as usual.

When he took her over to the swings, she seemed more interested in playing in the wood shavings that were spread on the ground. Which was okay until he caught her trying to put them in her mouth. He told her “no” and forced her to unfurl her fists to brush the chips away, which of course caused her to express her displeasure at the top of her lungs with huge tears thrown in for dramatic effect.

After she’d finally finished crying, she decided that she wanted to go on the swings, but as soon as he settled her in and set it in motion, she was squirming to get out again. So he took her to the slide instead, then she ran to the climber then back to the swings.

He tried to be patient, but it seemed that nothing he did was making her happy. When she started rubbing her eyes, he finally figured out that she was tired. She’d gone down for her nap at what he now knew was her usual time, but she’d been awakened early so they could make their appointment for the DNA testing. Although she’d seemed happy enough then, he was paying for it now.

When he got her back to the house, Paige was in the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of iced tea.

“You look exhausted,” she commented. “Both of you.”

“Why do you find that amusing?” he asked, inexplicably irritated by the hint of a smile lurking at the corners of her mouth.

She shrugged, not denying that she did. “Because I know what you were thinking when you waltzed in here that first day.”

He had never “waltzed” anywhere in his life—except on a dance floor—but he ignored that fact for the moment to ask, “What is it you think I was thinking?”

“That considering your extensive military training and the ability to maneuver an F-16 jet, taking care of a baby would be a piece of cake.”

“I’m not sure I thought it would be a piece of cake,” he denied. “But I certainly didn’t expect it to be this hard.”

“She’s teething,” she reminded him.

“She’s crankier than a constipated general,” he grumbled.

Paige broke a Popsicle in two, gave one half to Emma and put the other half back in the freezer for later. Emma immediately began gnawing on the icy treat.

“How is it that you instinctively know what she wants?”

“It’s not instinctive,” she denied. “Or not entirely. Mostly it’s practice. Five-and-a-half-months ago I was as ill-equipped as you are now.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

She lifted a brow. “Because I’m female, you assume I was more automatically prepared to deal with a child?”

“No, because you’re obviously so good with her.”

She was somewhat mollified by his response. “As I said, it’s practice. I’ve been around her since Emma was born, so I learned to read her signals. You’ll figure it out, too, if you stick around long enough.”

He leaned back against the counter, folded his arms over his chest. “You do that a lot, you know.”

“Do what?”

“Take those not-so-subtle digs at me.”

“I’m not trying to be subtle,” she told him. “I want to make sure that you realize what kind of commitment parenthood requires.”

“I’m getting a pretty good picture,” he assured her.

“And how do you think child care is going to fit in with your career?”

He ignored her question to ask his own. “What branch of the military was your father in?”

“Army,” she answered automatically, then glared at him as if it was his fault she’d revealed information she obviously hadn’t intended to share. “But we’re not talking about me, we’re talking about Emma.”

“Except if your concerns about her future stem from your personal history,” he guessed.

“They don’t,” she said, but he knew it was a lie.

When Zach suggested that he wanted to try to put Emma down for another nap, Paige willingly went back outside to her book and the sunshine. She’d only read a few pages when she realized she’d forgotten her drink, so she set the paperback on the table and traipsed back into the house again.

She didn’t return to the house intending to spy on him. But when she went into the kitchen to retrieve her glass, she heard his deep voice through the baby monitor on the counter.

“Do you think I can’t handle a challenge?” he was saying, apparently to Emma, who, of course, didn’t respond. “Do you think I can’t manage to change one poopy diaper just because you’re pumping your legs and flailing your fists?

“I know Paige thinks I can’t handle it. In fact, she’s probably counting on me giving up on the whole fatherhood thing. But I’ve got news for both of you,” he continued, still speaking in the same even tone. “I am a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force and there’s no way I’m going to let a fourteen-month-old baby see me crumble, no matter—

“Oh my Lord, child, what did you eat that turned into that? ”

Paige smiled, picturing the look of complete horror on his face that she heard in his voice.

For a few minutes, she heard only background noises. The whisper of wipes being tugged out of their container, some muted gagging, the click of the latch on the diaper disposal, the crinkle of a new diaper being unfolded, a quiet gurgle of appreciation, the snap of buttons being refastened. Then Zach spoke again.

“We’ve already made progress, haven’t we?” he was murmuring softly to her now. “Only a few days ago, you would have rather screamed than smiled at me, and although we might have had a little setback at the park, now you’re snuggled in my arms and your eyes are drifting shut.”

He was right, Paige realized. He had made a lot of progress with Emma in a short time, so much so that the little girl looked around for him when she heard his voice and smiled when he came into the room. And she wondered, not for the first time, if she’d made a mistake in inviting Zach to stay with them.

Because Paige was beginning to realize that not only had he made progress with the little girl he was currently rocking to sleep, he was making progress with her, too. She was actually starting to like him, and that wasn’t just foolish, it was potentially dangerous.

“I said ‘your eyes are drifting shut,'” Zach repeated, and Paige smiled, easily picturing Emma’s big blue eyes stubbornly wide open, staring up at him as he tried to coax her to sleep.

She wondered what his air force buddies would think if they could see him now, attempting baby hypnosis. But the silence from the baby monitor told her that he’d not only attempted but succeeded, forcing her to accept that there probably wasn’t anything the man couldn’t do.

Considering that he might seek custody of the little girl, the realization was hardly reassuring.