A Fool and his Honey Page 0,49

for words. "So you'd already heard?" Martin asked.

"The counterman at the hardware store said he'd heard it from Hugh Harbor, yes. But we didn't think we knew the Harbors well enough to call and ask them what the facts were. We heard Hugh is really sick... and we didn't see Craig's funeral announcement in the paper."

"The body hasn't been released by the medical examiner yet," I said, finally managing to strike the right tone. Sober concern, that was appropriate. For the first time, I realized I was sleep deprived in a serious way. As if hearing his psychic cue, Hayden began to make noises upstairs. It was amazing how clearly his little voice came over the receiver, which I was clutching in my left hand. I'd been afraid to put it down.

I half turned to Martin, said, "I'll check, honey," (as though Martin had moved). I plodded up the stairs, to see the little arms and legs nailing above the edge of the bumper pads.

He wasn't crying, so I figured he wasn't hungry. Maybe you were supposed to hold off on the bottle until they asked for it? Since the only way for a baby to ask for a bottle was to cry, wasn't that kind of mean? On the other hand, sticking food in their mouth every time they were awake would create a bad pattern... Gosh, there was nothing easy about this. You might as well get your answers by interpreting the pattern of chicken bones tossed under the full moon. I propped Hayden back on his side and began to pat him. To my pleasure, he went back to sleep.

While I'd been tending to Hayden, the Granberrys had been establishing common ground with Martin. I'd hoped they'd be a source of information about Regina and Craig, but I knew we'd have to let a polite conversational time lapse before questioning them. They'd been talking about the possibility of snow during the night, and I came in on the tail end of the weather discussion. Margaret liked babies. I could tell by the way her eyes latched onto the nursery monitor as I came into the room.

"I didn't realize you and Martin were parents," she said slowly. "How old is your baby?"

Martin, who'd gotten a straight chair from the kitchen, looked resigned. I said, "He isn't ours." After they refused a drink, I eased back into the chair, tired as I'd ever been in my life.

"You're baby-sitting?"

"This is Regina's baby," Martin said.

"Regina's baby?" If such a thing were possible, the pale Margaret, whom I was beginning to warm to, turned a shade whiter. She stared at us, stunned. Even her next-door neighbors hadn't known Regina was going to have a baby? My doubt that Regina had ever given birth was beginning to consume me. "Regina's baby?" Luke asked. He seemed just as startled as his wife. "Where on earth has it been?"

"With Regina missing and Craig dead, we had to step in," Martin said smoothly, as I opened my mouth to tell them the whole story. "That was the best plan," I said, just to justify my open mouth. Obviously, the Granberrys were curious, but too polite to ask any more questions. After some idle talk about how long we might stay, and a polite offer on our visitors' part to help in any way they could, the Granberrys rose to leave. Margaret was holding Luke's hand, and I thought that was sweet. I love to see people who've been married a while still act like lovers. Though, I considered, she might actually need the support. Margaret was looking a little shaky.

"We didn't know Regina was going to have a baby," I said, kind of throwing out a line, as Luke and Martin were shaking hands.

Margaret nodded. "She was very secretive about it, apparently. Listen, if you get lonely, give me a call? Our number's in the book. If Martin has catching up to do with friends here in town, you may be at loose ends. Or maybe you'll need me to baby-sit."

"Thank you," I said. "I'll call you. And thanks for coming to check on the house. We appreciate your being concerned."

"We've tried to keep an eye on the house since we heard about Craig," Luke said. He looked from Martin to me, to make sure we both understood his sincerity. "If you need anything, anything, while you're here, just let us know. We'll be glad to see you."

As I gave Hayden his bottle later, I said,