She would be the mother of my baby.
My baby.I caught myself smiling every time I thought the words.
I knew I had to talk to Lauren.
Chapter 15
Lauren
I went home and got straight into bed, sleeping for several hours straight.
When I woke up, I felt disorientated and a bit out of sorts.
Then I heard the knocking on the door.
I pushed myself out of bed. It was after six and normally my mother would have been home already. I opened the door to a rather disheveled-looking Doris from next-door.
“Oh,” she said. “I was expecting your mother.”
“She’s not back yet,” I looked over my shoulder in case I’d missed her sitting in the kitchen, but our place was as empty as it had been when I’d gotten home. My mother had a way of making her presence known, whether it was by leaving shopping on the counters or kicking off her shoes in the middle of the room.
“It’s just… ah… never mind,” she turned to go back to her place.
“Can I help?”
Doris turned back, a desperate look in her eyes. “I was hoping she could babysit Shay for a bit? I need to go see my mom in Harlem, she’s not feeling well and I need to check up on her. I didn’t know who else to call, usually Phil can do it but I’m not sure where the fucker’s gone off to this time, he hasn’t been home since yesterday.”
“I can help,” I said.
“Really?” Her whole face lit up. “You’d have to come to ours, I’m afraid. Make sure the others get dinner and do their homework. You sure you don’t mind?”
“Let me just grab a sweater,” I said. I left a note for my mom and followed Doris to her place, a few doors down.
Doris had two older children, a boy named Mickey who was seven and another daughter Angelica, who was nine. I had seen them run past me on the stairs. The baby was eight months old. Doris pointed out bottles of milk in the fridge, warned me about a pot of pasta boiling on the stove and then she shoved the baby in my arms and was out the door.
She must’ve still been in the building when the baby started wailing. I had no idea what to do. The older kids sat in front of the TV, oblivious to the baby’s cries. Doris said she had just been fed and wouldn’t be hungry. I tried to change the little one on the bed in the main bedroom and struggled to get her to lie still enough for me to get the clean diaper on her. By the time I was finished, I was bathed in sweat and feeling quite nauseous.
The apartment, which was like ours in size, was a complete mess. There were clothes strewn all over the furniture and papers littered every surface. Some were bills and old magazines, others were drawings made by the kids. Toys and stuffed animals competed with hockey sticks and soccer balls. Empty candy wrappers and bread crusts were stuffed into the sides of the sofa.
“Have you guys finished your homework?” I asked the older kids, who gave me blank stares and went back to watching their series. Meanwhile, the baby continued to cry. I tried everything to get her to calm down and after a while, started to think that it had to be me. She didn’t want to be rocked or sung to. I was out of options and beginning to be quite freaked out when Angelica gave me a bored glance and suggested I bathe her.
In the bathroom, I found a small plastic tub, and I filled this with warm water. As soon as I sat her down in the tub, she stopped crying and stared in fascination at the bubbles and the small toys. I had only been there for about half an hour, and I already felt exhausted.
Who was I kidding? I couldn’t look after a baby on my own!
While Angelica watched the baby, I grated some cheese over the boiled macaroni and sliced apples for the older children’s dinner. Then while they ate, I finished bathing the baby, dressing her snugly in warm pajamas, and put her down in her crib in the main bedroom. Within minutes she’d started crying again though, and I had to pick her up and try to rock her to sleep.
My mother came over a bit later and started laughing when she saw me with the baby.
“It’s not funny!” I cried out. “She hates me! She’s been like this since I got here!”
“Where’s Doris?”
I told her the story and my mother took the baby from me.
“There, there,” she soothed the little one, sitting down with her on the couch, letting the baby rest comfortably in her arms. She settled down right away, her eyelids drooping and finally closing.
“How did you do that?” I asked, astonished.