Thursday, September 30, 2004
Rose looked up as the doorbell rang. Setting Daniel’s food aside, she left the baby in his high chair while she went to see who was at the door.
A UPS delivery man stood at the door, an oversized box beside him. "I have a package for Jack and Rose Dawson," he told her, gesturing to the box and holding out the electronic clipboard for her to sign.
Rose signed it quickly, wondering what it was. I haven’t ordered anything recently, so it must be something for Jack, she thought, wondering why it was in both their names. Shrugging to herself, she handed the clipboard back and looked at the package.
"Could you please push it in here?" she asked the man. She didn’t think she could carry something so large, especially not with her protruding middle.
He nodded, opening the screen door and wheeling the package inside. Rose directed him to put it by the table, then thanked him. He nodded and hurried on his way.
Daniel screeched, banging his fists on the high chair tray. Giving Rose a grin that showed his new tooth, he tried to reach for the dish she had set out of his reach. Rose hurried back to resume feeding him. Daniel was usually given dinner around five o’clock, before everyone else came home. At dinner, he sat in the high chair beside his mother, who would slip him baby-sized bits of food or allow him to chew on a teething cracker.
Rose dipped the spoon back into the small amount of food, offering it to the baby. Daniel opened his mouth, allowing her to put the spoon inside, then spit half of the food out. Rose quickly cleaned him up and tried again.
Giving her a melting smile, he reached for the dish again, then frowned when she moved it out of his reach. He couldn’t break the dish—it was plastic—but his attempts to feed himself usually meant that most of the food had to be mopped up off the floor, since the eight-and-a-half month old baby tended to drop things. Rose sometimes let him hold the spoon and try to put the food in his mouth, but he usually wound up spilling the food on himself, the floor, or the tray. Plastic wasn’t too difficult to clean, but Rose would just as soon avoid the mess. If baby food wasn’t cleaned up quickly enough, it dried into a thick, disgusting mass that had to scraped and soaked off.
Rose spooned the last of the strained squash into Daniel’s mouth, then removed his bib and carried him to the kitchen sink to be cleaned up. After wiping the squash and rice off of his hands, face, and hair, she carried him into the living room and set him in his playpen, giving him a ring of brightly colored teething keys to keep him busy while she cleaned up.
At least, Rose thought as she washed the plastic dish, baby spoon, and high chair tray, taking care of Daniel has prepared me for taking care of my own baby. She knew how to feed a baby, change diapers, play games to keep the baby entertained, soothe a sick or fretful infant, and keep an eye on the baby while getting other things done. Daniel was usually easy enough to care for—he was a calm baby for the most part, though when he was cranky everyone knew it. He liked her, too, smiling and waving his arms when she went to pick him up.
When she was finished cleaning, Rose quickly warmed a bottle of formula and brought it to him, watching as he got a grip on the bottle and brought it to his mouth. Helga still nursed him, but she had to work during the day, so Daniel had learned to drink formula. He hadn’t liked it at first, but when he got hungry enough he took it, and had eventually gotten used to it.
Rose glanced at the clock. It was nearly 5:30, so the others would be back soon. She smiled as Daniel dropped the bottle and got his hands on the plastic keys, waving them around and grinning at the rattling sound they made. Putting them in his mouth, he rolled over, managing to push himself into a sitting position.
He dropped the keys when the front door opened, turning his head toward the sound. A moment later, Helga came around the corner, setting her purse aside and scooping up the infant, who gave her a delighted grin and cooed.
"How was work?" Rose asked, watching Helga make faces at Daniel. The baby giggled, putting his head on his mother’s shoulder.
"It was fine. It’s so nice to work in a doctor’s office instead of the hospital. Less running around and more time with this little angel." She bounced Daniel up and down, making him laugh more.
"Your little angel tried to teethe on an electric cord this morning. He scooted across the floor and started chewing on it before I knew what was happening."
"You do have to watch him, especially at this age. Everything goes in the mouth, and everything is worth examining. He tasted some Vaseline last week."
"Wait until he learns to walk."
"That reminds me." Helga set Daniel back in the playpen and picked up her purse, pulling a bag from it. "I got some locks to put on the cabinets. Daniel’s moving around now, and there’ll be another baby here soon, so I thought it would be a good idea to try to childproof the doors. I’ll put the locks on tonight, before Daniel has a chance to try tasting cleanser or medicine."
The front door opened again, and Jack called to Rose. "Rose! I’m home! Where are you?"
"I’m in here, Jack." She waddled around the corner, into the kitchen. "You got something from UPS today."
"I did? That’s odd. I didn’t order anything."
"Let’s see if it’s ticking," Rose joked, squatting down and putting an ear to the box. "Nope. Not ticking."
Jack brought a knife over and sliced open the tape. "Did you look for a return address?"
"Not yet." Rose examined the box, wondering who had sent it to them. Upon seeing the return address, she frowned. "It’s from my mother."
"Your mother?"
"Yes. I wonder what she could be sending. I thought I’d gotten everything from the house when I left a year and a half ago."
"Maybe it’s something for the baby." Jack set the knife on the table and opened the box, removing the packing.
Rose shook her head. "No. She thinks I shouldn’t have gotten pregnant. Why would she send anything for the baby?"
"This certainly looks like it’s for the baby." Jack pulled a hooded, basket-like container from the box. Digging deeper, he removed a wooden frame to place it on.
"It’s a bassinet!" Rose exclaimed, digging into the box and removing a thin mattress and several baby blankets.
Jack took an envelope from the basket, handing it to Rose. Curious, she opened it.
Jack, Rose,
I congratulate you on the impending arrival of your firstborn. This bassinet was Rose’s when she was an infant, and was her father’s before that. Now, it is being passed on to a third generation. Rose, I know that you don’t believe that I care about your coming child, but I do. Please let me know when she is born.
Love,
Ruth
"I don’t believe it!" Rose exclaimed. "I never would have thought she cared. She seemed so unconcerned about the baby. It seemed to me that she only cared about the fact that it would put a damper on my career plans. I’ll have to thank her for this. I didn’t know I slept in a bassinet as a baby. This is nice of her."
"When did you tell her you’re pregnant?"
"I didn’t. She saw me in the supermarket a couple of weeks ago and confronted me about it. Maybe I should have told her, but we so seldom get along..."
"Maybe there’s more to her than you thought."
"Maybe. I’ll have to tell her when the baby is born. Maybe she can be a real grandmother, even if we have trouble getting along."
*****
That night, Jack slipped into bed beside Rose. She was lying on her back reading, the book propped up on her belly. She set the book aside as he lay down beside her, pulling the covers up and trying to find a comfortable position.
"I am so sick of being pregnant," she complained, rubbing her back. "I want this baby born."
"You’re due tomorrow, aren’t you?" Jack asked, moving closer to her. "Here, roll over."
Rose did as he asked. "Yes. I just hope the baby comes on time."
"It won’t be much longer," he assured her, rubbing her neck, shoulders, and back. "Even if it’s late."
"I feel like I’ve been pregnant forever."
"Not quite." He massaged her lower back. "Your muscles are really tight."
"My back has been aching off and on since dinner," Rose told him, putting her head down on her pillow.
"Maybe it means you’ll have it soon."
"I hope so." She looked at him. "I have a good idea."
"What?"
"Next time, you carry the baby."
He chuckled. "I don’t think that would work too well."
"Why not? Seahorses do it."
"We’re not seahorses."
"How about you just carry it the second half?"
Jack laughed. "Trust me, Rose. If guys had to be pregnant and give birth, the species would die out."
Rose sighed, giving him a look of mock annoyance. "All right. I guess I’ll have to be the strong one here."
"You’re always strong." He lay down beside her, wrapping his arms around her from behind.
"Jack?"
"Hmm?"
"I’m a little...scared of being a mother. I mean, I’ll have this baby to take of, and it’ll be depending on me. What if I can’t do it?"
"You can do it. Daniel loves you, so there’s no reason why this one won’t. Besides, you won’t be doing this alone. I plan on being there every step of the way."
"I’m so lucky to have you. A lot of men think that taking care of children is just women’s work, even though they contributed half to the child’s existence."
"Was your dad like that?"
"No...but Cal was. I wouldn’t have gotten much help from him if we’d had a baby."
"Aren’t you lucky, then, that you didn’t? I don’t think much of him anyway."
"Me, neither." Rose turned back over, snuggling as close as she could. "Just a little while longer, and we’ll have our own baby. In spite of everything, I’m not sorry."
"Neither am I." He pulled the covers up over them. "Good night, Rose. I love you."
Rose hugged him. "I love you, too."