AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His expression softens. “Ava, you could never look terrible.”
My skin prickles. I say nothing and continue to feed Isa.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him, as if it’s not obvious from his tennis outfit and racket.
“I wanted to meet Isa.”
Hardly the answer I was expecting. My heart melts like chocolate. His gaze drops to my feeding baby. He stares at her much longer than necessary. It’s like he can’t tear his eyes away from her.
“Wow! Just wow!”
Gabe looks up at me, his eyes imploring. “Ava, can I hold her? I’m her godfather, after all.”
Making Gabriel Isa’s godfather was a no-brainer. Neither Ned nor I have any male blood relations, and Gabe’s his very best friend and business partner. Their friendship goes all the way back to their college days, and he’s financially equipped to take care of our child should anything ever happen to us.
Shoving that dark thought away, I ask, “Are you sure you want to?” In my mind I think of how much my husband avoids holding her. How uncomfortable he is.
Gabe chortles. “Of course I’m sure. It’s time for Isa to meet her godfather.” He hops up from the stool. “But first let me wash my hands.”
I watch as he jogs over to the sink, squirts a bit of dishwashing liquid on his palms, and rubs them together under hot water.
“My mom always says cleanliness is next to godliness.” Grinning, he dries off his hands with a dish towel. “And the last thing I want to do is give my goddaughter any germs.”
My heart warms at his words. So thoughtful! So caring!
He returns to his seat at the island. “Okay, I’m ready.”
On my next breath, I put the baby bottle down and hand Isa over to my companion. To my utter delight and amazement, he cradles her in his arms, her tiny head resting against his defined bicep. I don’t even have to tell him how to hold the baby and support her head.
He gazes down at her. “Hi there,” he says in a voice so soft and sweet I could melt. “I’m Gabriel, your godfather. My job is to watch over you, little one…and when you’re old enough, give you your first surfing lesson.”
Gabe lives on the cusp of Malibu. His oceanfront house—or beach shack as he likes to call it—overlooks the Pacific. He’s an avid surfer, the reason for his bronzed skin, gold-flecked stubble, and sun-kissed hair.
His twinkly ocean-blue eyes lift to mine. “Do you think she can call me ‘uncle’—maybe Uncle Gabe?”
I give a warm smile. “Yes. I’d like that. You’ll be her only uncle…”
“And, fingers crossed, her favorite. I’m gonna spoil her like crazy.”
“You better not,” I say, though secretly pleased that Isa will have this wonderful man in her life forever. Sadly, except for my mother, she’ll have no other relatives. Ned’s an only child, like me, whose parents perished in a tragic yachting accident a year before we met. I lost my father at an early age, and neither of our sets of parents had siblings. While the thought sits in the far corner of my mind, maybe one day I can give Isa a brother or sister so she won’t be so alone in this world. Spare her the loneliness I grew up with. I just have to convince Ned…
My baby girl fusses for a second, but my husband’s business partner gently rocks her and calms her down. I observe how comfortable he is holding a newborn. How paternal. “Have you been around babies before?”
He laughs. “I grew up with them. I have three younger sisters. Both my parents worked and we didn’t have help. So, I was the one who had to help my mom feed them, change them, bathe them, play with them. My friends teased that I was a male nanny and called me Manny.”
I can’t help but laugh as Isa’s wails start up again. Gabe is unfazed. “Ava, I think she’s still hungry. Can I feed her?”
“You can try.” I hand him the half-empty bottle. Softly hushing her, he adjusts my screaming daughter in the crook of one arm and then puts the nipple to her lips. She instantly latches on to it and quiets, sucking voraciously. “Manny” was right…Isa is still hungry.
“You’re so good with her!”
“I get a lot of practice…all my sisters have kids. I have six nieces and nephews with two more on the way…twins!”
“Wow. Where do they live?”
“In Indiana. Not far from my parents’ house. I’ve been there for every birth and go home every Christmas to see them.”
A family man. “That must be a lot of fun.” I hear the melancholy in my voice. It’s been so long since I had a family Christmas. The memories of the merry, present-filled ones when my father was alive have grown vaguer and vaguer. After he died when I was nine, it was just me and my mother. And she never went out of her way to make the day festive. A cheap plastic tree and a few bargain-store presents was about it. This year I’m going to get a real Christmas tree—a big one—and decorate it. And pile lots of presents under the boughs for my baby—even a little wooden rocking horse with a big red bow—though she may not be old enough to understand their significance or open them.
