Hijinks, Holdups and Harrows

Chapter 35

It was only a few seconds since Murray went into the nursery that Stella stopped crying.

"Hey. He got her to stop" said Greg.

"That was so fast" said Jill.

"Well, you know Murray. He knows his stuff" said Anthony.

"Probably the best with kids out of all of us" said Jeff.

"Yes... I s'pose so" Jill whispered.

"You alright there, Jill?" said Anthony.

Jill took a breath. "Not really."

"What's the matter?" said Jeff.

"How come Murray can get her to stop crying, but I can't?" said Jill.

"It's like we said; he's great with babies; he has four of his own" said Anthony.

"Well, maybe so. But I feel like I might be failing Stella as her mother" said Jill.

"Don't take it so personally" said Greg sympathetically.

"Yeah; maybe your baby's just a jerk" said Jeff.

This made Jill feel even worse. She buried her face in her hands and cried quietly.

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"So how does the story end? Is the baby a jerk or is Jill failing her?" said Charles Wallace.

"What? Charles Wallace!" said Calvin.

"What? Is there another twist coming? Is the baby not hers at all?" said Charles Wallace.

"Ignore him, Jill. Did Muzz ever tell you how he got the baby to stop crying?" said Sam.

"I asked. He said he just talked to her" said Jill.

"Makes sense to me. When I was married to him, the sound of his voice always lulled me to sleep" said Sam.

"But why was Paul rehearsing then? Shouldn't the baby spend time with her father?" said Batman.

"Yeah, but I was stressing over work and it kept making Jill stressed so she insisted I go see the lads and get some peace and quiet. Only..." Paul began.

"You didn't get any peace and quiet, Paul?" Charles Wallace guessed.

"No. The lads were fighting over our song" said Paul.