Chapter 69

Ailee


“ Are you ready to see your new home?” Lug asks Katrina. She answers with a yawn. We say bye and head out. Lug decided to take his bike since the back seat would be crowded since I have two extra guards. It is a smooth ride home and Katrina didn’t fuss at all even though she was surrounded by strangers. Lug and I arrive at the same time. Callen tells one of my guards Blake to escort us in and the other Keenan to help him unload the truck. Lug grabbed Katrina and I grabbed the diaper bag.

Once inside I sat on the couch and turned to Lug. “ Let’s get her out of that and get comfortable. I’m sure she needs a diaper change by now.” Lug undoes the buckles showing none of the nerves from before. While he is doing that I look through her bag. I grab a diaper, some wipes and I find a set of footy pajamas to change her into. I take Katrina and lay her down on the couch beside me, Lug stands on the other side protectively hovering. Poor Katrina is trying so hard to look around but her eyes keep closing. She hardly moves as I remove her tee shirt and pants. By the time I change her into a dry diaper and her pajamas she is sound asleep.

Poor thing. I can’t imagine what she has gone through these past few months and at such a young age. I pick her up and hold her close as Callen and Keenan bring in her belongings. Everything she owns is in three boxes and two bags. I’ll go through those after I get her settled. Lug goes over and sets up the play pen. I look at him and he smirks “ I may have had to help Axel set one up a few times. Then Tank. We can set one up in less than two minutes.” I laugh “ Did you time yourselves?” Lug turns away from me and I laugh harder. “ You guys did, didn't you?” “ Only a few times. Tank said he could beat us. We had to put it to the test.” Strangely I have no problem picturing it in my head.

He was right; he had it set up in less than two minutes. He goes to the hall closet and pulls out some extra blankets. He lays two at the bottom for extra padding keeping one to cover Katrina with. “ Honey, lay her down so she can get a good night sleep. You can hold her again in the morning.” Lug says. I know he is right but I hate to let her go. I stand and be as careful as I can so I don’t disturb her. I lay her down. Lug covers her up and we sit down on the couch watching her. I grab Katrina’s diaper bag and go through it getting out her bottles, formula and food. I want to make sure we don’t have to dig in the morning to find her something to eat.

I place it all in the kitchen after reading on how to mix the formula. I sit back with Lug on the couch and relax with him. I look over at her things thinking about getting up to go through it. “ Ailee, it can wait till morning. I will help you make a list of everything we need. I’ll even call some ol’e ladies to come help if you want. I know you are thinking about all the things we need to do but it can wait. We all need rest.” Lug says.

The man knows me too well. “ Aye. But we can’t leave her in here by herself.” I said. I turned my head to see him smile. He gives me a sweet quick kiss. “ The playpen has wheels. We can bring Katrina in our room for tonight so we can keep an eye on her. And be there if she needs us.” he said. I nod and stand up. I open my mouth to tell him to help me but all that comes out is a yawn. Lug stands and wraps his arms around my waist. “ Go get ready for bed. I’ll get Callen to help me move Katrina.” I nod against his chest and yawn again.

I pull away, giving him a kiss. “ I’m going.” I said. “ Good. But one more thing.” he said. I tilt my head “ What?” He smiles and his eyes light up “ I love you. And thank you for helping me make the right decision.” “ I love you too. I’ll always have your back.” I say before I head to our room.

Lug Nut

I woke up the next morning and I immediately knew something was off. First, Ailee’s side of the bed was cold. I look over and see Katrina isn’t in her playpen. How did I not hear them moving around? I never heard Kartina wake up last night. Did she sleep through the night or did Ailee attend to her while I was sleeping? Man, I’m slacking at this dad thing and it is only the first night. I toss the comforter off me and get out of bed. After using the bathroom I throw on some sweat pants and go hunting down my girls. My girls, I think to myself. Wow. I’m a dad now. And I’m about to be a husband. And I’m not freaking out. Ailee had talked about having children but I figured it would be a little ways down the road. I would get a year, maybe two of having Ailee all to myself. But life is strange. You never know what it is going to throw at you. I may not be sure what I’m doing but taking Katrina is never going to be a mistake.

I walked down the hall to the living room. Off to the side is the dining room and kitchen.It is an open floor plan so you can see in the kitchen over the bar. Ailee is sitting at the table with her tablet and a notepad. Callen is bouncing Katrina on his knee and Finn is in the kitchen making breakfast. Ailee looks up and says “ According to this Katrina should be eating mostly solid yet soft foods. And she should be able to feed herself a little using her fingers.” Finn shakes his head and chuckles. “ That is why we are having scrambled eggs. You can spoon feed her until we get a high chair.” Finn says.

Ailee writes something on the paper. “ And we need to get her all plastic utensils, plates,and bowls. And she needs a training cup. The book suggested one with handles.” Ailee said. She is reading a baby book and taking notes. Why does that not surprise me? I knew she would jump into parenting with both feet when we agreed to do this. Finn just nods. He sets the spatula down and goes to the toaster that just went off. He grabs the toast and I notice he cuts it in half. He walks around to Katrina and holds it in front of her face “ Here you go lass.Nibble on this.” As soon as she sees it she grabs at it.

Finn waits patiently for her to grab it before he lets go. Katrina smiles and shoves a corner into her mouth gnawing on it. Ailee looks up “ Finn. What are you doing? The book said soft food.” Ailee jumps up to take it from Katrina when Finn places his hand on Ailee’s shoulder. “ Ailee, you forget I have been with you since the day you were born. These books you are trying to speed read is a great idea. It is just an idea. Not a rule. You learn things along the way. You learn from people who have been there before.” Finn said. He points to Katrina who is still gumming the toast as happy as she can be. “ As you can see she is doing just fine. I saw she had teeth so I knew she could eat it. If not she would have gummed it.”