Rosie was sitting up staring at them like she was waiting to see what they would do next. In her hand she held the diaper that had come off during the night. She waved it a few times to show them she had learned a new trick of coordination. There was no question that the child in the crib was Rosie, but it was a lot to process all at once.
Her black hair was three inches longer and falling around her pixie face in waves. Her blue eyes had changed color and were going toward green. The yellow nightgown that she’d been wearing when she went to sleep, which cinched like a sack several inches below her feet, now gaped around her chubby little knees and the upper body was stretched so tight it looked like it might have to be ripped away.
The doorbell rang. Litha looked at Storm in a panic.
"It's probably your mother. You're going to have to make up a story. She can't see Rosie."
Storm practically leaped into a pair of jeans and pulled a tee shirt over his head as he was jogging toward the front door.
When he opened the door and didn’t step aside to welcome her in, his mother looked him up and down. "What's wrong?"
"Um. Baby's sick. We were up with her all night." Thank Paddy. Ram's ability to lie on cue must have finally rubbed off on him.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Let me make breakfast."
"No, mom, that's wonderful of you, but we want to find out what the doctor says before we expose her to any more people. You understand."
"Yes. Well. You'll let me know if I can do something?"
"Of course. Thank you. Sorry to shuffle you off. I'll call you soon as we're cleared for company."
"I'm not company!" She sounded offended.
"No... I... ah...."
"Never mind. I know what you meant. Take care of Litha and Rose."
"Rosie," he corrected. "And I will. Talk to you later." He felt like a scumbag for closing the door in his mother's face, but he had bigger problems than a mom with hurt feelings.
Way bigger.
He walked back to the nursery halfway hoping that, when he arrived, he would find a six-week-old baby. No such luck.
The next hour was a blur. Litha estimated Rosie's age at six months. She fashioned a makeshift diaper out of a dish towel and sat down in the rocking chair to feed the baby. Rosie was happy enough to lie in her mother's arms while she ate, but she promptly took the bottle away from Litha and held it in her own two hands. Litha looked down into green eyes that mirrored her own and said, "I wasn't ready to give that up yet, little girl."
Rosie stopped sucking for a minute like she was contemplating what was being said. She smiled, but she didn't offer to relinquish the bottle. That smile stole Litha’s breath. She was sure she’d never seen anything as beautiful since the day the gorgeous knight had walked into the Headquarters building in Edinburgh.
Storm returned home with clothes and diapers to fit a six-month-old and jars of organic baby food to supplement the formula.
"How did you know what kind of baby food to get?"
"I Giggled it."
"Oh." Litha started looking through the selection. "What is Tutti Fruiti?"
"Ah. Mixed fruit?" Litha read the label, looked at Storm like he was a moron, and unceremoniously dropped the jar in the trash. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I’m guessing there's a learning curve."
Elora was eager to see the reported changes in Rosie, so she was invited to come to what had been known for a while as Thursday Night Dinner With Glen.
Glen arrived first. He and the demon popped in as Litha was on the verge of giving Storm a lecture on nutrition. She stopped when she saw that Glen had arrived. Turning toward him with the baby straddling her hip, Litha smiled and opened her mouth to welcome her husband’s protégé, but the greeting was upstaged by Rosie’s delighted giggle. The baby clapped her little hands, making up for what she lacked in coordination with enthusiasm and squealed, "Glen!"
Deliverance, who had dropped Glen and gone back for Elora, arrived with the auntie in tow seconds later. They found three adults frozen and staring at Rosie.
Elora looked around the room. “What’d I miss?”
Sol summoned Storm to Jefferson Unit. It was easy enough for him to get a ride with Deliverance because the demon showed up to gush over Rosie every damn day.
"You wanted to see me?"