Page 159 of Old Habits
The Forgotten Paradise.
My eyes flick from one to the next. From Clover to St. Louis. To Chicago. To Cleveland and Nashville. Atlanta and Orlando. San Diego. Seattle. Denver. Salt Lake City.
Over two dozen cities representing memories I can never touch but I don’t mean that in self-pity or anger. Far from it, in fact. Rediscovering Jovie as she slowly revealed bits of her journey to me over the last several years has made me love her even more, a fête I once thought impossible.
The details of that journey…
Well, that’s no one’s business but ours.
I reach the final postcard with a smile on my face.
Clover, Kansas.
Jovie looks up from the rocking chair as I peek into the room. Her arms are full with the tiniest human being I’ve ever seen in my life. My heart skips as she struggles to keep the swaddled lump balanced in her inexperienced hands. She manages it fine in the end. Baby steps. Literally.
“Did you see Dad?” she asks, exhaling the panic from her lungs.
“Yeah,” I say, keeping two protective eyes on my daughter. “Did he wake her?”
“No.” She scoffs. “You weren’t gone two minutes before she started screaming again. You may have missed the first tantrum.”
“I’m sure she’ll throw another one at some point.”
“Not hers,” she jokes. “Mine.”
I kneel beside the rocking chair. “I don’t think the baby calendar has a sticker for Mommy’s first tantrum.”
“Well, it should.”
“She seems to have calmed down, though.”
“For now.”
“What’d he bring?” I ask, glancing at the gift basket in the corner.
“He said, and I quote, ‘baby junk.’” She chuckles. “So, I can only assume a few onesies, maybe some pacifiers and stuff.”
“Good.” I nod. “Can never have too many of those.”
She smiles at me. “Have I mentioned how grateful I am that you’ve kinda sorta already done this before?”
“Only every day since the strip turned pink.” I lean in to kiss her forehead. “But no amount of babysitting Andy prepared me for the breast pump.”
“Prepared you?”
I smirk. “Sounds like Mommy’s second tantrum is well on its way.”
She glares at me. “Ha, ha, ha.”
“There’s that beautiful laugh again.”
“Don’t think that I won’t kick your ass just because I have a six-pound baby in my arms.”
“Oh, I won’t make that mistake again.”
“Damn right.”
I kiss her cheek as I stand up. “Want me to take over for a while?”