to Ted. “All done.”
Ted signed the paperwork, Byron rang Ted up, and they started out. The girl turned to Orlando one last time and smiled weakly. “Have a good one,” he said to them.
Ted didn’t even turn to acknowledge him, but she did. “Have a better one,” she said softly. Those haunted eyes stayed on his mind for a while longer until he got back to thoughts of Baby O. “Now that you’re here I can leave,” he said to Nine, grabbing his keys. “I need to go finish moving in.”
“You sure you don’t need help?” Nine asked.
“Nah, I left most the furniture here and just bought new stuff for the house. It’s mostly clothes and small stuff in the truck. I’m good.”
That evening, after unloading his stuff, Orlando sat in his room, staring at the screen on his laptop since the cable wouldn’t be hooked up for days. It didn’t matter. As usual, he was lost in thoughts of Baby O. Once again, he wracked his brain, trying to remember a Maria or Angelica, maybe even Angie he’d been with in the last year. Closest he could remember were a couple of one-nighters he’d had with two different girls around the time it’d make sense. But he couldn’t remember either of their names. All he remembered was neither of them struck him as junkies. Neither had even been heavy drinkers. At first, he’d worried that her popping pills had affected the baby’s health somehow. But according to the birth records, aside from the baby’s heart murmur, he was otherwise perfectly healthy as the note had indicated. He hated to sound coldhearted, but the more he thought about it, the more the fact that the mother was dead was a relief. At first, he’d worried about the possibility of her having a change of heart and coming back to try and take him back, despite his lawyers trying to ease his worries. Given what Orlando now knew about her criminal record, the judge would’ve likely not gone easy on her for abandoning her child. That had eased his worry but admittedly not his curiosity.
As far as he was concerned, Baby O was perfect. The heart murmur scared the shit out of Orlando. But the doctors had assured him it wasn’t anything uncommon or serious for that matter. Just something they’d have to monitor to make sure nothing more became of it. The social workers had explained why such a thorough physical check was required. “Sadly, lots of abandoned babies are rejected by their parents when there’s a medical issue, something the parents don’t want to be burdened with. It’s necessary that we rule that out and make sure he gets the care he needs if that’s the case.”
Obviously, that hadn’t been the case here since she was dead. But he still wondered about who cared for him after she’d died, and why they’d waited to bring him to Orlando? If they’d known he was the father all along, why not just show up and explain the circumstances, instead of leaving him at his doorstep? His phone lit up, making him wince when he remembered he was supposed to call his mom back. “Hey, mom,” he said, answering it before it finished ringing the second time.
“Hi, Mijo. How are you? Getting excited?”
“Yeah, all moved in.” Taking his beanie off, he made a mental note that it was time to wash it again. “Now we just wait and pray it happens this week.”
“It will. I’ve been praying every day. I can hardly wait to meet him. From what you described, he sounds just like you. Big ole Baby Huey.”
Orlando smiled, remembering the doctor’s comments on how, if it weren’t for the note and vaccination records that led to his birth certificate, he’d think the baby at least two months older. He really was a big little guy. “Yeah, and he’s growing fast.”
“Listen, Mijo. I wanted to talk to you. Have you given much thought to daycare? I’d love to help as much as I can, but most of the time my hands are full with Abuela and Abuelo, so I’ll likely only be able to watch him a couple of days out of the week. What are you gonna do the rest of the time?”
“I’ve started looking into daycare, but the ones in the area of the shop I’m not crazy about. I already let Beast and Nine know I might have to take some time off until I can figure something