or bad?” Holly asked.
Sophie looked at her and drooled.
“She’s fine,” Zane laughed. “Actually, she’s in a pretty good mood.” He smiled at his daughter. “Aren’t you, princess?”
“Princess!” Holly clapped her hands.
Zane tossed her a worried look. “What was that?”
Holly put her hands behind her back. “Nothing.”
“Holly…”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, you might as well know. I own a boutique in Katie’s beauty shop. I outfit people. I’m kind of like their personal shopper?”
“You’re into clothes,” he stated.
“Very. Which means that I would love to dress Sophie.” She made a happy face at the baby. Sophie giggled and drooled some more.
“Dress her in what?” Zane asked with concern.
“Never you mind. But trust me, by the time I’m done with her, she’ll be a new baby!”
“Holly…” he said in warning.
“I don’t have the clothes now. I ordered them this morning. They’ll be here in a few days. I got priority mail.”
“Holly, what did you get her?”
She grinned. “You’ll see.” She looked at Sophie. “Want to come to your Auntie Holly?”
Zane kissed Sophie on the cheek, then handed her over. “Okay, let’s see, her diaper bag is in the bathroom, so is the changing pad.”
Holly cuddled Sophie. “She smells so good! I love the smell of babies.” She cuddled her again.
“You’re an expert,” Zane said with a smile.
“Like I said, I’ve had a lot of practice with Katie’s kids. Now go have your visit, get your business done, and come back. But not too soon. I want to have fun with this angel.” She bounced Sophie in her arms. “We’re going to have such a good time!”
“Don’t have too much fun,” Zane warned. “She’s liable to throw up on you.”
“Oh, yuck, that’s right. Do they still need burping at eight months? Yes, they do,” she said with a nod to herself.
Zane laughed again. “I don’t know who was more excited to do this, you or Beatrice.”
“Speaking of which, she won’t say anything to anyone will she?” Holly asked.
“Beatrice? Never. Not with this. To her, Sophie is as much her grandchild as my parents’.”
She nodded. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. Beatrice always did treat you like the son she never had.”
“And still does,” he said with a wink. He watched them for a moment before grabbing his wallet off the desk. “It looks like she’ll be fine with you. I guess I better go.”
Holly’s heart went out to him again and she gave him a sympathetic look. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. They’ll want to know everything about her. In fact, I expect you to come back here, pack up your things and head to their house tonight.”
He took a deep breath. “Maybe. We’ll see. Wish me luck?”
She fought the urge to hold the baby in one arm and hug him with the other. “You’ll be fine. You’ll see. Good luck.”
He shoved his wallet into his other pocket, turned and headed out the door.
Holly went to the window, bouncing Sophie all the way, and pointed at Zane as he crossed the parking lot. “Look, Sophie, there goes your handsome daddy. He’s going into the lion’s den,” she said in a singsong voice. “Maybe we better pray that he comes out unscathed. Better yet, we should pray that your Grandma Janet doesn’t scare you.”
Sophie looked at her, her mouth half open, and smacked a hand onto Holly’s cheek.
She laughed. “Look at you, is that how you say hello?”
Sophie smacked her again.
Holly laughed. “You and I are going to get along just fine. I can’t wait to dress you!” She looked around the room. “Now, what say you and I play on the bed with some of your toys?”
She went to the playpen, put Sophie in it, then took some toys and brought them to the bed. That done, she sat the baby in the middle of them. This might turn out to be the longest two hours she’d had in a while. She didn’t know what was worse. Waiting for Zane to find out how his parents reacted to the news of their granddaughter, or playing with her and entertaining thoughts of doing the same thing long-term.
Holly shuddered. She’d have to keep reminding herself that even though she had no problem with other people’s kids, she wasn’t ready to raise any of her own. That made Zane Brody off limits in her book.
Sophie gurgled and reached for a small stuffed giraffe.
“Oh, look at that, Mr. Giraffe.” Holly picked it up and tapped the toy’s nose on Sophie’s. The child smiled and blinked a few times.