Jenalyn: Disconnected (#5) [Complete]

Chapter 41: Hayden

Wed. 1/07/09 • 6:14 P.M. PST
About a week later...

Work has been crazy this past week, especially while juggling responsibilities with McKaiden and trying to keep Ev entertained. I'm ready to retire to my bed by about 5 PM anymore, and that is so unlike me.

Tyler said he'd be here at 5:30 to pick the baby up, an agreement we made amongst ourselves upon returning back home to California. He gets her Wednesday until Saturday, and either I or one of my family members have her the rest of the week. We chalk the time we're spending apart up to work for Mama G, though it's really just a part of our attempt to separate for a while.

"I can wait for him if you want to head upstairs?" Evelyn offers from beside me. We sit outside on the second step of my front door, McKaiden cooing playfully in her carseat between us. She must have noticed the exhaustion in my eyes; She hasn't gotten to see the tireless work I put into being Hayden yet because I still haven't figured out a way to explain her presence to anybody other than Harper and Ty, so she's been confined strictly to my house.

"It's alright," I tell her after a moment, rocking Kaiden's carseat a little when I hear her start to fuss.

There are a couple reasons I don't want to leave Evelyn alone with the baby. Call it weird, but my newly found motherly instinct won't allow it, for starters! It's nothing personal to Evelyn; I don't think I'd allow anyone aside from the Gold's or Robson's around my baby at this point. It's just what makes me feel most comfortable right now.

I also know that Ty isn't too fond of Evelyn being around. He swears that she's a bad influence on me despite having no evidence of it whatsoever. I tried to explain that we're actually trying to work on ourselves together, but Ty wants no part of it. Aside from his daddy duties and a couple quickies with me when the opportunity allows, Ty wants no part in anything anymore.

He's taking to our separation better than I would have given him credit for last week; I have mixed feelings about it but ultimately know it's for the best.

He doesn't deserve the tumultuous storm of a life Jenalyn would give him, and she doesn't deserve the undying love he'll always have for her.

"Oh, shoot!" I gasp after a second of silence between me and Evelyn. I quickly scan McKaiden's baby bag and car seat for something- anything I may have forgotten that I can send Ev off for. "Did I grab- oh crap! Ev can you run up to the baby's room and grab her rash cream? I forgot to grab it on our way out!"

Evelyn rolls her eyes the way a teenager would having been asked the same favor by their mother. I honestly don't blame her; The size of my section of our house alone is enough to make the trek between here and the baby's room annoying. It'll take her about five minutes to get up there in the first place, then she's got to try to find a tube of ointment I know for a fact is in the baby bag beside me, before making her way all the way back down here to tell me she can't. That's more than half of the reason I sent her; This transaction with Ty will be a lot easier without her presence.

"Tyler doesn't have rash cream at his house?" She asks after a moment, her tone flat and unimpressed. "He can't just stop somewhere on his way home to grab some? Really?"

I have to hold back a familiar frustration Evelyn always seems to bring out in me. Almost as if on queue, McKaiden's playful coos break into the start of what sounds like tired and cranky cries. I immediately take the opportunity to break up the potential tension between me and Ev by letting out an exhausted sigh and turning the carseat toward me so I can unbuckle the baby.

"Evelyn, please?" I ask with a huff as I heave the squirmy baby over my shoulder. I scrunch my face up as if to be overwhelmed by McKaiden's crying, but truth be told- I've pretty much gotten used to it at this point. "I've had a long day. I'm not going to depend on Ty to grab the right rash cream, okay? He probably doesn't even know what a rash cream is! Just go grab it... please. I've obviously got a lot in my hands right now!"

I extend my arms a little, presenting Evelyn with the wriggly wailing baby.

It works. I knew it would; I've realized I can play "the tired mother card" a lot since being home with McKaiden.

I can see on her face that Evelyn has so much more to say, but instead she lets out a huff and pulls herself from the step to head to the front door. I can't help but let out a small chuckle once I hear both doors of the vestibule leading into my house click shut.

I pull McKaiden from my shoulder and position her on my lap facing me. "What's the matter Kaidybutt?" I ask her, feeling a warm feeling grow in my chest as I notice her crying start to die down the moment she lays eyes on me. "There's nothing the matter with you! You little faker!" I coo as I bring her little button nose to mine.

Her cries are replaced with gurlgly laughs that melts everything inside on me to a pile of mush. I spend a few more moments playing with her before I hear the distant sound of the security gates leading onto the Gold Property gliding open and remember that Ty is on his way.

I give McKaiden one last kiss before strapping her back into her carseat. Her big hazel eyes widen as confusion grows apparent on her face, and I can't help from feeling a sense of guilt wash over me. "It's okay little girl!" I tell her, reaching out to gently stroke the side of her cheek. "You're just going to your daddy's house for a few days! That's all!"

A darkness creeps into my mind when I mention her father. I know it's not Ty, and that thought alone reminds me of Madison and who I have a bad feeling her father is...

No no no... Madison died! I have to remind myself before the panic sets in. Madison died, and so did any question about her father.