Leave a Trace: Book Two

Chapter Twenty Seven: Talking

"Can I change him?" Zane reaches for him. I pass Logan to him.

That was the first time Zane really saw them crawl. Last night they were in the high chair and then we went and got remarried and they went to sleep on the way home.

"He's going to squirm." I warn. "You have to tell him no."

"Okay." He says, and he looks upset.

I don't have to ask why. I already know.

"Hey." I say softly. "It's okay. You'll get the hang of it really fast. They already know who you are."

"They do?" He whispers.

"I made sure." I nod. "And..." I swallow. "After...the divorce they had some trouble without you...and I showed them videos of us and it helped calm them down. Even today if they're fussy I use videos of us to calm them down. They know your voice, at least...and I tell them it's you when you come on the screen."

I hear Liam getting angry since he can hear our voices down the hall and I can hear his crib gate rattling as he screams.

"Okay." He says. He kisses my cheek and nods towards Liam's room. I walk out and Liam reaches for me with one hand, cooing loudly.

"Hi baby." I pick him up. "Did you sleep good?"

"Nom nom." He whines.

"Just a minute, okay? Let's change your diaper."

I lie him down on the changing table and lift his shirt up a little bit, undoing his diaper. He starts to squirm right away.

"Liam, no." I scold gently. "You stay still so I can change your diaper, okay?"

He starts whining so I grab a baby phone with buttons and lights and hand it to him, hitting a button. He takes it from my hand and stares at it, hitting buttons when the lights go out. I change his diaper and put a fresh one on him.

He dangles his arm over the edge of the changing table and drops his toy.

"Nom nom!"

"Soon." I say.

Usually I nurse them in the morning and at night.

I hear another baby cooing behind me and I look over my shoulder to see Zane standing there with Logan.

"Lo lo!" Liam squeals.

"Li li!" Logan says.

They both start cooing back and forth to each other, communicating with baby babble.

Smiling, I pick Liam up.

A door downstairs slams and I see Zane's eyes widen.

"Belle?" Finn calls.

Finn hardly comes over because his daughter is a month old and him and Vanessa are busy with Rylee all the time.

I hear footsteps, a lot of footsteps.

"I can't Rose, I'm not ready to see them. They're going to be mad." Zane whispers. "Please, don't make me go down there. I'm not ready."

"Okay." I say. "You stay up here."

I take Logan from him and balance both babies, carrying them downstairs.

The whole family is here, including Madison and James. Alice is here too and she has red eyes.

"We need to talk to you." Dad says.

Madison and James have been ignoring me and I haven't figured out why.