Call Her Mine

by Melissa Foster

  “Yeah. No problem.”

  Bea let out a loud wail, causing Kase and the other workers to look over. Aurelia cringed. “Sorry!” she called out to them. “I’m so sorry about this, Lazarus. I know how unprofessional this looks, and I assure you, working here won’t be like this all the time.”

  “That’s okay. I have a three-month-old niece and three younger siblings. Have you tried laying her on her belly across your legs and . . . I can show you, actually.” He looked around and pulled over a chair, then sat down and held out his arms. “I babysit a lot. My mom got remarried and had two more kids. They’re four and five now. I learned this trick for when they had bellyaches.”

  “Oh. Um, sure, thank you.” She handed Bea to him.

  “Hello, baby girl,” he said with the confidence of a boy who’s had loads of experience with babies. He laid her on her belly across his legs and began bouncing his legs as he patted her back.

  Aurelia dropped to her knees beside him. “Are you sure about this? Will that hurt her brain? You’re not supposed to shake babies. What if she pukes?”

  He chuckled as Bea’s whimpers became softer.

  “It does something good to their stomachs.” He patted Bea’s back, and soon she quieted. “It would make me puke, but I’m not a baby.”

  “Holy cow. You’re hired.”

  He grinned. “For real? ’Cause I would love to work here.”

  “Yes, for real, but you’ve got to tell me all your baby secrets.”

  They finished the rest of the interview in blissful quiet, and when she took Bea back, she was fast asleep. She walked Lazarus out and went to check on Everly’s progress. She didn’t dare put Bea down for fear she’d wake up.

  Everly stood on a ladder painting the background, which was mostly done. The right side of the wall was varying shades of light blue with fluffy white clouds, which blended into darker blues as the mural progressed toward the left, ending in midnight blue with sparkling white stars forming the words, OH, THE THINGS YOU’LL SEE . . . She’d painted bubbles to give the lighter blue skies a sealike appearance. The final picture would include colorful fish, a smiling crescent moon, green plants with bright pink and white flowers, and in the center an ark filled with characters from children’s books: Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Cat in the Hat, one of the monsters from Where the Wild Things Are, and several others.

  “That’s beautiful,” Aurelia said softly.

  Everly continued painting, and Aurelia realized she had earbuds in. She moved toward the wall and waved to get her attention.

  Everly pulled out her earbuds and said, “Sorry. I plugged in when Bea started crying.”

  “It’s okay. Sorry about that. The mural is amazing. Kids are going to love it.”

  “Thanks.” She smiled at Bea and said, “She finally tuckered herself out?”

  “Lazarus, the guy I just interviewed, showed me a trick that worked like a charm.”

  “I hope you hired him.”

  “Damn right I did. I’m glad my other interview rescheduled. It was embarrassing trying to interview while she was screaming.” Bea whimpered again. Aurelia patted her back, bouncing a little in hopes of soothing her, but her cries escalated.

  “Wanna run after Lazarus?”

  “Ugh. I’m going to try the thing he showed me. I feel so helpless not knowing how to help her.”

  “Good luck.” Everly climbed down the ladder and headed for the bathroom.

  Aurelia sat down, laid Bea across her lap, and bounced her legs while patting her back exactly as Lazarus had shown her—but Bea continued wailing. She tried bouncing slower, faster, rubbing her back in circles, up and down, and straight across, but nothing helped. Finally she gave up and put the baby on her shoulder, patting her as she paced. Her phone vibrated, and she pulled it from her pocket and saw a voicemail from Ben, only now remembering that it had vibrated when she was interviewing. She put it on speakerphone and set the phone on the counter, needing both hands to try to soothe Bea.

  “Hey, Rels,” Ben’s deep voice boomed from the phone. “I’m on my way back from Mason’s. He was great.” Bea’s whimpers quieted. “How are things going there? I miss you guys. I hope everything’s okay.” Bea stopped fussing. “Love you both.”

  The message ended, and Bea let out another bloodcurdling wail. Aurelia fumbled with her phone, replaying the message, and Bea quieted again. Holy shit. Every time the message ended, Bea cried, but the sound of Ben’s voice silenced her.

  Aurelia spotted Everly coming out of the bathroom and called out, “Ev! Come here!” She played the message again. “Do you see this? She misses Ben. I need to find an audiobook that sounds like him. Can you help me?”

  Bea cried again, and Aurelia restarted the message as they headed for the boxes of audiobooks.

  “Find anything by Zachary Webber. I think he narrated Anything for Love by Charlotte Sterling.”

  “Wait until Ben hears you have a thing for Zach Webber.”

  “Hey, it’s not that easy to conjure a sexy voice, but you can bet your butt it was Ben in my fantasies, not Zachary. I pray this works before we all lose our minds.” She restarted the voicemail while simultaneously scanning titles. “Here it is! Wait! I can listen to the audio on my phone. That’s easier. Can you hold Bea for one sec? She’ll cry, but hopefully Zach’s voice will remedy that.”

  Everly took the baby as Bea let out another shrill cry. “Holy crap. Hurry!”

  “I’m trying!” She navigated to the audiobook and hit play, turning it up as loud as it would go.

  She took Bea from Everly as Zachary’s soothing and commanding voice filled the air, sending chills down Aurelia’s spine at how similar it was to Ben’s. Bea’s crying hitched and, after a few short gasps, dialed down to sporadic whimpers. Aurelia rocked from side to side.

  “We need rocking chairs,” she said.

  “The heck with rocking chairs. You need Zachary Webber’s voice box.” Everly hiked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the mural, and then she turned and headed back toward her paints.

  Zachary’s voice did wonders, but the book had a male and a female narrator, as it was told from both the hero’s and heroine’s points of view. Every time the woman’s voice came on, Bea cried. Aurelia fast-forwarded through those sections, making a mental note to find a book narrated by only Zachary.

  After twenty minutes she got brave and set Bea in the bouncy seat with the phone beside her. She listened contentedly as long as Aurelia skipped the woman’s narrations. After the first few times, Bea only whimpered briefly at the sound of the woman’s voice, as if she knew Aurelia would quickly make the transition. She might have lungs like a hyena, but she was definitely the smartest baby on the planet.

  When Ben walked in more than an hour later, Bea had finally fallen asleep. Aurelia sat in the middle of several stacks of books, holding a slice of pizza, and shushed him with a finger over her lips. “She just fell asleep.”

  His brows slanted. He cocked his head to the side, his eyes serious. “You let her listen to porn?”

  “What?” She realized Zachary was narrating a sexy scene. “It’s not porn. It’s contemporary romance, and for your information, Bea cried almost all day.” She told him about her chaotic afternoon. “When I listened to your message on speakerphone, she quieted right down. Zachary sounds a lot like you, so—”

  “You listen to this stuff? Wait. Don’t answer that.” Ben pulled her into his arms and said, “I’m sorry you had a bad day.”

  “It wasn’t bad, but it could have been better.” She kissed him, and then she held up the slice of pizza for him to take a bite.

  “I’ll have her all day tomorrow, so you can make up for lost time today.” He took a bite of the pizza and said, “It’s cold.”

  “Welcome to our new normal.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  BEN CRADLED THE phone against his shoulder Wednesday morning, talking to Bridgette as he fed Bea. She had gotten up three times last night, and
he felt like a walking zombie. “Four to six months of sleepless nights? I was hoping you’d have a few tips that might help her sleep through the night.”

  “Don’t you remember how exhausted I was when Louie was a baby?” Bridgette asked. “Oh, wait. My memory of those crazy days is starting to come back to me. As I recall, you scoffed at me and said that you were used to staying up half the night and you couldn’t understand why I was so tired. So even if I had tips, why should I share them with you?”

  He knew she was only joking, but she was right. He had been an arrogant twentysomething when Louie was born, and though he didn’t remember saying that to her, he probably had.

  “You’re right. I deserve to be light-headed with exhaustion in my meeting this morning.”

  “Believe it or not, that’s going to be easier than watching Bea. How’s Aurelia this morning? Do not leave without giving her time to shower first, or she’ll never get one in. Are you letting her get any sleep? I know you’re a new couple, and there’s the whole insatiable-appetite-for-each-other thing going on, but the girl needs her sleep if she’s going to help you with the baby.”

  “Bridgette,” he warned.

  Bridgette laughed. “Oh my God, Ben. Don’t even pretend you’re not all over each other. Everyone noticed the other night at dinner. It was like you were two just-uncorked champagne bottles. Lust bubbled out of both of you.”

  He closed his eyes, remembering how Talia had walked in on them making out in the pantry when they’d offered to do the dishes. “Stop,” he said. “She slept as late as she could, and she’s taking a shower.” He knew Aurelia had a full day’s work ahead of her, including an interview and book deliveries, and she was also hoping to get a jump on filling the bookshelves. He worried about how much she had on her plate, but Aurelia assured him that she could handle it.

  “Why don’t you just ask Mom to watch Bea for a few hours?”

  “No. I’ll be working from home the rest of the week. We’ve got this, Bridge.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said lightly. “You know, both of you are used to doing everything on your own, but it’s okay to ask for help.”

  He heard Aurelia in the bedroom and said, “That’s why I called, asking for tips. Remember?”

  “Okay, you’re right. Here they are. Hire a night nanny, which you can easily afford, or sleep in separate rooms so one of you can get some sleep. You do have a house you can go to, Ben. Give the girl a break. She’s gone from being a single woman opening her first business to basically being the stepmom to a baby inside of two weeks. That’s a lot to deal with.”

  He gritted his teeth as Aurelia came out of the bedroom looking a little more bright-eyed than she had earlier—and sexy as sin in a tan miniskirt and a thin white sweater. He dragged his eyes down her body to the black high-tops on her feet and spotted the red ink of the quote she’d written on them. A quote he knew by heart, because she’d written it there when she’d first moved back to Sweetwater. It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.

  She pointed to Bea and mouthed, Want me to take her?

  He shook his head and smiled. “Bridge, I’ve got to get to my meeting. Thanks for the help, and tell Bodhi that Mason was awesome.”

  After ending the call, he kissed Aurelia. “Good morning, beautiful.”

  “What did Bridgette say?”

  “That it’ll be four to six months before she sleeps through the night.”

  “That’s okay.” She put her hand on his waist, kissed Bea, and said, “We’ll just start going to bed earlier. What’s four to six months in the grand scheme of things?”

  “I couldn’t love you more, you know that?” He kissed her again. “I could take her with me today,” he suggested, imagining himself as Superdad, cradling the baby while negotiating schedules with Aiden and the staff.

  “Ben, no. We’re a team. Yesterday you were in the game. Today it’s my turn. Tomorrow you’ll be in it again.” She rubbed Bea’s back and said, “We’ve got this, right, sweet pea?”

  He set down Bea’s bottle and lifted her to his shoulder. Then he put his arm around Aurelia, pulling her in closer. “Isn’t it supposed to get easier to leave you two with time?”

  “You’re just in daddy mode right now. Once you get into the office, the fiercely aggressive businessman inside you will come roaring out, and you won’t even remember why you didn’t want to leave this morning.” She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of him and the baby. “I’ll text this picture to you so you can stare at her during the meeting.” Her eyes flicked playfully up to his and she said, “I’m sure Aiden will appreciate you being sidetracked and getting all googly-eyed in the boardroom.”

  “I’d like to get you all googly-eyed in the bedroom.” He slapped her ass. “Swap with me.” He handed her the baby and took her phone, snapping a picture of the two of them. “That’s the picture I want to stare at.”

  Aurelia hammed it up as Ben took more pictures. She puckered against Bea’s cheek with smiling eyes; then she held Bea above her head, which Bea loved.

  “Let’s both kiss her cheeks at the same time and take a selfie,” she said, moving next to Ben. “That’s the picture I want to stare at.”

  It took five tries to fit them all in the picture, and they both ended up laughing. He might be exhausted, but everything he had never known he’d wanted was right there in that room, and he wouldn’t trade either of them for the world.

  “Can you text me all of those pictures?” he asked as he set her phone on the table. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “A surprise? I was hoping for another one of your fabulous foot rubs tonight.”

  He leaned in for a kiss. Monday night Bea had fallen asleep on his chest while he was reviewing documents for his meeting on the couch and Aurelia was reading another baby book. They’d had their feet in each other’s laps, giving foot massages. Aurelia had fallen asleep with a small smile on her face, and given the chaotic day she’d had at work, that smile meant the world to him. They’d slept there, with both his girls safe and happy, until Bea had woken up to eat.

  “Nothing will preclude another foot rub, babe. Promise.” He went to the bookshelf and retrieved a small handheld recorder from the top of a row of books.

  “You hide things up there?” Cradling Bea in her arms, she said, “I’m making a mental note to have a library ladder installed.”

  “Oh, so you don’t want me to give you surprises?”

  She pretended to zip her mouth closed.

  “You said that Bea was calm when she heard my voice, so while you were in the bookstore yesterday, I taped myself reading to her.”

  “Are you kidding? You did that?” She cradled Bea in one arm and pulled him closer. “You’re the best daddy in the world, you know that?” She pressed her lips to his and said, “Thank you!”

  “I’ve got a lot to learn, but I’m hoping that might make things easier for you today. Now you can stop listening to Zachary Whatshisname.”

  “You mean Bea can stop listening to him,” she said.

  “I meant you. At the end of the tape there’s a reading meant for your ears only.” He kissed her again, and she smiled so big, it illuminated the room.

  “Benjamin Dalton, did you read something naughty for me?” she asked with a lift of her brows.

  “You’ll have to listen and see.” He grabbed his keys. “Text me if you need anything. I’ll keep my phone on vibrate during the meeting. I love you, babe.” He kissed her. Then he kissed Bea’s head and said, “See you soon, peanut. Be good for”—holy shit, he almost said Mommy—“Relsy, okay?”

  Ben downed coffee throughout the day as he met with their finance and legal teams about the offer they were preparing for Barrister Hotels. His mind whirled as they went over figures and discussed travel plans and schedules. Ben had worked his ass off to make this deal come to fruition. His head should be in the game so deep, nothing else registered. This was the American dream, finally see
ing all his hard work come together, and yet his mind wasn’t even in the outfield. It was miles away with his daughter and Aurelia, and rehashing his earlier conversation with Bridgette.

  “Ben?” Nadia Clayton, the head of their financial team, was a cutthroat redhead. She sat ramrod straight, wore her hair in a tight bun, kept their finance department on an even tighter rein, and she was staring at Ben over the rims of her black-framed reading glasses.

  Shit. He’d zoned out and hadn’t heard the question. He glanced around the table at the rest of their financial and legal teams, who were watching him expectantly. He looked at Aiden, hoping to catch a sign of what he’d missed. But Aiden was staring down at his phone, thumbing out a message, his brows slanted angrily.

  “Sorry, Nadia,” Ben said. “I missed the question.”

  She smiled inquisitively and said, “It wasn’t a question. I wanted to be sure you heard the figures. By conservative projections, if we follow the outlined strategies, we should see a thirteen percent profit within the first twelve to eighteen months, with a four- to five-year projection netting one point eight billion dollars.”

  “Thank you, and the wholesale partnerships?” he asked.

  “We went over the partnership agreements again from the two lower-earning locations,” she said, “and we concur that bringing in new wholesale partnerships should create an immediate increase in revenue.”

  “Ben, we’ll need teams ready to deploy as soon as the deal is done,” director Garth Anziano added. “As you know, two of the locations have had declining reviews for the past several months. We’ll need to focus on restaffing immediately in the European and island locations.”

  “Got it,” Ben said. “All of that was to be expected—”

  “Sorry,” Aiden interrupted, pushing to his feet with an anguished look on his face. “I need to take this call privately.”

  Ben wondered what was going on to have caused that look and said, “We’ll hold discussions until you return.” He was thankful for the break. As the others talked quietly over documents, Ben sent Aurelia a quick text. Hey, babe. How’s it going? Her response came in the form of a picture of Bea’s tiny hand with the caption, Can you see me wrapped around her tiny fingers? She’d added a kissing emoticon and a heart.