A long lane at night

2.13. BEAUTIFUL BOY Part 3

'Uncle Henry, you're a life saver!' That was the welcome he received from the twins, who were ready to help him unload the sodas. Apparently, they knew well enough that there would be none of them had I been bringing everything by myself. Jack wasn't there with them, so I took the two large paper bags in my arms, locked the car and made my way to the kitchen. As I took my shoes off, feeling the cool surface of the wood tiles against my ugly fluffy socks (black with smiley rainbows and singing cacti), I noticed Jack wasn't there as well. I started unloading the burgers and the nuggets and the sauces and the chips and the onion rings on to the kitchen counter when uncle Brian arrived next to me.

'Jack knows you're home,' he said, 'but he's having a hard time making Alice eat after her bath, so I'm afraid he'll be stuck in the nursery for a while.'

I reached inside one of the cabinets and took a large breakfast tray from it. I placed our burgers and sodas and fair portions of all the sides on it. I also opened the fridge to take an assortment of options and made my way upstairs after I threw the fridge contents in a thermal bag.

'Do you need help with that, Nate?' Asked uncle Allan.

'I can manage, thanks.'

I should have accepted his offer, though, because it would have been much faster and easier, but I eventually arrived at the nursery's barely ajar door and pushed it open with my foot.

'Hey, stranger,' I whispered, 'how long have you been locked up in this tower?'

'Hey you,' Jack came closer to me and gave me a quick kiss. 'It feels like forever. I've tried milk, fruit juice, and mash. Nothing works.'

I turned my attention to my daughter. My conversation with my dad earlier rings in my ear, but I don't care about when exactly we'll all sign a piece of paper, Alice is my daughter and end of discussion.

'Hello, Princess!' I reached for her and she opened up a smile. 'Is your dad only giving you boring food? Is he? He is! Come to papa, let's get something in that tummy!'

'Eat, Jack,' I said to him when I sat on the nursery chair and placed Alice on my knee. 'She'll feel encouraged to eat if she sees us all doing it.'

I reached for the bag I had dropped next to me and retrieved a bag of steamed baby carrots I had prepared only this morning. I also opened a package of lightly salted cream cheese and dunked the first carrot in it. Instead of offering it to Alice, I threw it in my own mouth. It was bland, but it still tasted good. Sure, next to all that delicious stuff on the tray, it felt rather offensive, but at least the baby needs a healthy diet.

I made yummy sounds, which sparked her curiosity and she tried reaching for the baby carrots.

'Do you want it?' I asked. 'I'll give you one.' I dunked another carrot in more cream cheese and offered her to take a bite, which she gladly did. I didn't wait for her reaction and hurried to praise her on eating the delicious carrot and right away I asked if she wanted more. I offered her the cream cheese package and she stuck the half carrot she was holding in it. I helped her get a portion of the cream and guided it to her mouth.

As I assisted her, Jack would help me by offering me bites of burger or nuggets as he also munched on his dinner. At some point, when I wanted a sip of soda, I had her drink from her juice first. All the time, I celebrated how delicious everything was and by the time I finally gave her some yoghurt for dessert, she was in an incredibly good mood.

'Do you want to join everyone downstairs?' I asked Jack when it felt safe to remove Alice from that meal environment. By then, only our large soda cups still had anything left in them. 'My dad will spend the night, maybe we could all watch a movie or something.'

'We can catch him later and I like the movie idea, but let's stay here for a—'

'Knock kno-ock,' uncle Allan had stuck his head inside the nursery and called out. 'Is this a good time?'

'It's always a good time for you, Uncle Allan,' I said, then I turned to Alice, 'look who's there! It's grandpapa!'

'Can I carry her?'

'If you want to burp her, sure,' I answered. 'She just ate.'

Uncle Allan shrugged and reached for his granddaughter regardless. Jack placed a piece of cloth on his father's shoulder and he started walking around the nursery, slightly bouncing her up and down and gently patting her diaper.

'Jack told me you're having a hard time finding a secretary and how it's eating away your time to do your actual work,' he said, not looking directly at me, because that would force him to turn his head at every few seconds. It's weird, the things you start deeming normal once you have a child.

'I'm grateful to be able to have a secretary, but as of now, it's having the opposite effect I was hoping for.'

Jack came next to me and sat on the chair's arm. He placed a hand behind my shoulder and started to gently rub the area. I leaned against him, only now fully realising the amount of energy I needed to let out of my system.

'Can I help?' Uncle Allan asked. 'I don't think I'd make a good secretary, but I am in-between seasons at the production company and all I have on my plate now is your wedding. I can interview the prospects for you and report to you at the end of each day until you've found the right one.'

'That's a great offer, Uncle Allan,' I said, taking all the possibilities in, 'and I really want to accept it—'

'But?'

'But you're rather famous. Won't that scare them away?'

'I did think about that, Nate,' he said, cleaning Alice's mouth. 'But you're part of this family. Brian and I are bound to eventually find ourselves inside your office. I expect this kind of reaction from strangers, but some sense of normalcy from your employee would be appreciated. Also, I believe you're soon to find yourself having far more famous clients than your old uncle here. Do you know Brittany Clandoe?'

'Of course, I do. Everyone knows her and her sappy TV drama,' I answered.

'She was a guest on the channel a couple of months ago and we kept in touch,' uncle Allan said, 'especially after she learned I have three adopted kids and one adopted grandkid. She told me that she and her husband want to start adopting because they don't want to put more people in this world and I highly recommended you and she got onboard immediately. If you want to take her case, I have her number to pass on to you. If everything goes well, you're not only getting paid higher fees, but it will also open more doors for you.'

It felt like Christmas had arrived earlier! Well, not that much early, it's coming in three months, it's just round the corner, but it's still so awesome!

'Thanks, Uncle Allan! I'll gladly take her case!'

'Great! So, let's make an exchange, shall we? I give you Brittany's contact info and you give me the pile of CVs I'm positive is lying on your car's back seat as we speak. Deal?' He stretched out his hand and I shook it.

We seized that Alice had fallen asleep on her grandpapa's shoulder (we were already using different names for him and for Uncle Brian, so she learns how to address them better than the mess her father makes) and put her down in the nursery cot. We had "AliCam" ready on her should we need it and the three of us grown-ups headed downstairs for a boys' night of bad horror films with lots of popcorn. All through the night, I couldn't hide my excitement about this new big and high pay case and Jack would share lots of excited kisses with me in the dark.