The Rose Garden (3) - Taylor Swift

41

The loud sound of crying woke Grace up instantly. She'd barely fallen back asleep after feeding five day old Adrian, having settled into the feeling of having a child just a little more. Andrea was still helping out during the day when they got stuck, but Taylor took a lot of the night shift because she was usually up until the early morning hours anyways.

"I've got him," Taylor was already on her feet to walk around the bed. She carefully picked him up from the bassinet and held him, taking him down to the nursery that Grace once insisted they wouldn't need. The rocking chair, most of the clothes and supplies, it had all ended up just down the corridor in that room.

"He just ate," Grace called back. Taylor knew that, that's why she'd volunteered. Worst case, she'd grab some pumped milk from the freezer and use it but she was pretty sure he was just annoyed about being put down.

Because they'd had a baby that refused to sleep or stop crying if he was put down. It was a nightmare— just a little bit of a nightmare.

"And look at that, Adrian, you stop crying as soon as you're held," Taylor chuckled as she spoke quietly, "What do you think, buddy? Maybe you're a little warm in the swaddle, it's a little warm tonight."

Taylor set him down on her knees and started to undo it. As soon as he was loose, his legs and arms started to squirm rapidly and she laughed. She couldn't believe how fast his limbs could fly around. She'd kind of been under the interpretation that newborns slept and were still, and he did a lot of that, but when Adrian was awake, he was wiggling and all those kicks she'd felt on her hand throughout Grace's pregnancy made more sense.

"There," Taylor carefully supported his head as she set the blanket aside, "Look at you go, you're gonna dance! Should I sing you something to dance to? What about... hmm... what song would you dance to? Do you like Shake It Off, bud? Mama won't tell people this, but she's so tired of singing it already! You have one really big hit and people expect you to play it forever, it'll make every set list I ever have for a tour. Isn't that annoying? Yes, it's very annoying."

She knew he wouldn't respond, just like she knew the cats would never respond, but hey, it didn't hurt to talk to him. In fact, she was pretty sure it was good to talk to him.

Adrian had his eyes wide open, they were a grey-blue colour and his hair still looked pretty dark brown. He had stopped throwing his arms around, so Taylor offered him her finger and he wrapped his entire hand around it tightly. She smiled and let him hold onto it, gently using the other hand to brush between his eyes and coax him to sleep. That had worked for her a couple times now that Grace was letting him leave the room if he'd eaten enough.

It had taken a couple days for her to fully get behind the idea, but when the sleep deprivation truly settled in, she was more than willing to let someone else deal with him for a few minutes.

"The good news is, I also get to be your mama forever," Taylor whispered as he started to drift off. She sat with him and continued slowly rocking as he was placed carefully on her legs, his tiny feet jammed into her stomach as he stretched out.

A few minutes prior to ten, Taylor rolled out of bed and went downstairs after using the bathroom. Grace had Adrian in his wrap again, standing over the sink as she rinsed a cereal bowl. The other hand was holding a cup of coffee that had turned cold hours before. Taylor kissed the back of her head and glanced at Adrian, before walking over to the coffee maker and pouring her own cup from the pot.

"Where's mom?" Taylor asked after saying good morning to her wife.

"She went to lay down, she said someone's crying through the wall was a little bit annoying," Grace hummed, "I just had cereal and some fruit. There's some berries in the fridge if you want some."