What Child Is This

Chapter 5

On second thought Garret decided not to call his father for a lift. His parents were probably busy setting up the portable crib they'd used when Duncan was little. Hopefully the baby would settle in fine for the night. But chances were she would only sleep a few hours before waking up to be fed again. Had his mother realized what she was getting them all into?

The snow had stopped and the moon was out now, helping to light his way as he left the town behind him. He'd walked home many a night when he was younger and had been out drinking with his friends. His parents had discouraged such evenings, of course, but to drive and drink would have been completely unacceptable.

Lily had surprised him today. At work she was always so collected and assured. But at Frosty Frolics she'd seemed tense, her normally beautiful smile strained. Finding that abandoned baby had tipped her over the edge. He'd assumed she was just over-tired and anxious for the event to be a success. Now he wasn't so sure.

He wished he knew her better. He'd tried a few times, to get her to talk about her past, but she was very guarded. She'd told him her parents lived in Denver near her sister who was married with three children.

But she wasn't planning to fly to Colorado to spend the holidays with them.

Was there some sort of estrangement?

That didn't seem to fit with what he knew about Lily, either.

But then, he really didn't know her, did he?

* * *

Breakfast at the farm the next morning was mayhem. At seven a.m., Garret woke to the sound of a baby crying. His first conscious thought—after he'd remembered the events of the previous evening—was to wonder how Lily was doing.

But then, his father turned on the radio in the kitchen—playing it much too loud, so he could hear the news over the crying baby. Then the front door slammed and Joey was home from Montpelier, chattering excitedly about the fabulous course she'd taken on Emergency Animal Sheltering. The final touch came from Duncan, whose footsteps echoed as he ran down the stairs, crescendoing with a major announcement: "We had a baby last night, Aunt Joey, and guess what? I'm going to the North Pole!"

Well, Garret had no choice but to get up after that.

Bleary-eyed, he put on jeans and a flannel shirt, then quickly washed before joining his family in the kitchen.

His parents were still in their robes, cradling their first cups of coffee and looking a little stunned.

His blond-haired younger sister was holding the baby, her expression a mixture of incredulity and awe. "She's so pretty. Did you really find her in the manger?"

"Yup. Instead of Jesus." Duncan grabbed a box of sugared cereal from the cupboard. Garret turned down the radio, then whisked the box from his son's hands and replaced it with a cereal with more fiber and less sugar.

"Aw, Dad."

"You know you have to eat the healthy stuff first." Garret filled a bowl with the cereal then added milk. "Did you get any sleep at all?" he asked his parents, feeling guilty that he hadn't taken the night shift with the infant. If the baby was still here, he'd do it tonight.

"She slept from midnight to four in the morning," Sylvia told him. "We gave her a bottle and changed her diaper, then she slept another two hours. Not bad, considering all she's been through, poor thing."

"I can't believe this," Joey said dramatically. "The one year I miss Frosty Frolics and something like this happens. Did anyone see who put the baby in the manger?"