SUSAN MEIER - Prince Baby

But Seth didn’t panic. If he wanted Owen to play in Little League, have friends, walk the streets of a town without fear or paparazzi, then he had to prove to Lucy that he could take very good, very normal care of their son. So he sneaked into the laundry room with his cell phone and called Ron.

“Here’s what you do,” Ron said after Seth explained why their original plan hadn’t worked. “Owen’s probably going to get up about ten times tonight. That doesn’t sound like good news except by then, all the company will be long gone and Lucy will be alone. So you’ll get your chance to prove yourself. You don’t want to look obvious by running into Lucy’s room the first time Owen cries, but I’ll bet she’ll be damn glad to see you at 2:00 a.m. Plus, taking your turn with the baby is a very gentlemanly thing to do. Not only will you give Lucy a break, but also you’ll show her that you intend to teach Owen to be a gentleman.”

Liking the two-birds-with-one-stone strategy, Seth stayed awake until Owen got up the first time, around midnight, to make sure he could hear the baby’s cries so he could take his turn. Confident Owen was loud enough to awaken him, Seth went to sleep. But in what seemed like only a matter of minutes, he felt the warmth of the sunlight streaming in between the slats of the lemon-yellow horizontal blinds on the windows of the spare bedroom he was using and he bounced out of bed.

It was morning! He’d slept through the night! He hadn’t heard Owen cry!

He scrubbed his hand down his face, then jumped into jeans and pulled on a T-shirt before he grabbed his cell phone to call Ron. He wasn’t a complete idiot, but with the exception of Sabrina, he’d never held a baby in his life. He’d also never dealt with a new mother. He could “guess” what his next move should be but he didn’t think he could afford the risk that he would say or do the wrong thing and alienate Lucy even before they’d spent twenty-four hours together. It was better to be safe than sorry.

When Ron answered, Seth simply said, “I never heard Owen cry.”

“Easy, there, big guy,” Ron said with a laugh. “Don’t panic. You still have plenty of opportunities to chip in and help out. Especially in the morning.”

“Yeah, right. The baby’s in Lucy’s bedroom. It’s one thing to go in in the middle of the night when the baby’s screaming and she’ll be glad to see me. It’s another to barge in in broad daylight.”

“That’s true, but you can turn the whole situation around if you bring her a cup of coffee. She’ll think you’re being a good host, but she can’t hold Owen and drink coffee, so you offer to take Owen and finish whatever she’s been doing, like feeding him or burping him or changing his diaper. And, voilà, you look like a natural at being a dad.”

Seth said, “Okay,” then disconnected the phone and scrambled down the hall. Unfortunately, even before he reached the middle of the back stairway that led to the kitchen, the scent of fresh coffee greeted him. Confused, he rushed down the remaining steps and found Lucy sitting at the table, holding Owen, as she flipped through the Sunday paper.

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