Read Online Her Two Dads by Ariel Tachna - Free Book Online

out. She refused a bottle; her diaper was clean; he’d checked to make sure her clothes weren’t pinching her anywhere. He’d walked with her, sung to her, rocked her as much as he could—everything he could think of, and still she screamed. So he started over, with no success. When he was just about ready to admit defeat, Jaime appeared in his doorway.
     
    “Give her to me,” Jaime said. “Go for a run or something to get a break.”
     
    “But—”
     
    “My sister had colic, and when she got like this, all we could do was take turns so no one threw her against the wall,” Jaime insisted. “She’s going to keep screaming whether you’re here or not. Take a break and you can try again to calm her down when you get back.”
     
    Srikkanth hesitated a moment longer, but his frustration level was getting high. A short run would do him good, restoring his patience if nothing else. He hoped so, anyway. With a sigh and a kiss on Sophie’s forehead, he passed her to Jaime, only to have her screams redouble in volume. He made to take her back, but Jaime shook his head. “I’ll be fine for fifteen or twenty minutes. Go for a short run.”
     
    Quickly, before Jaime had time to change his mind, Srikkanth pulled on his running gear and headed downstairs. Nathaniel intercepted him before he reached the door.
     
    “I told you this was a bad idea,” he snapped. “How am I supposed to study if she’s screaming like that?”
     
    “I don’t know,” Srikkanth said, running out the door before his roommate could say anything else. He wanted to believe Jaime and trust that loving Sophie would be enough to make up for all his ignorance and inexperience, but Nathaniel’s negativity was more immediate, more real. Far easier to accept. He obviously couldn’t take care of Sophie, or she wouldn’t be upstairs screaming her head off. She was a baby. She wasn’t old enough to scream just to be difficult. If she was that upset, something was wrong. His feet hit the pavement in a steady rhythm as he tried to clear his thoughts and forget everything but the exhilaration of his run. His thoughts weren’t as easily left behind as the sound of Sophie’s screaming.
     
    The nurse at the hospital said she was a happy baby, but her first night home with him, she was already inconsolable. He didn’t think he’d done anything to upset her, but he didn’t really have any way to know other than to compare the way she was acting now with the way she’d acted at the hospital. He certainly hadn’t seen her fuss like this at the hospital. Maybe she missed the nurses? She’d been with them far more than she’d been with him.
     
    He couldn’t take her back to the hospital, though. He’d committed to rearing her, and now he had to follow through. He just wished he knew how. He supposed he could call his mother, but that would mean explaining the situation, why he hadn’t told them about the baby sooner, and all the rest. He’d have to tell them eventually because he couldn’t very well keep his daughter secret from her grandparents all her life, but he needed a few days to get used to the idea of being a father before he tried to explain everything to his parents.
     
    Feeling guilty for leaving Jaime with his problem, Srikkanth cut short his usual circuit, simply circling the condo complex instead of taking his usual route around the neighborhood. When he arrived back at home, he paused for a moment on the doorstep, steeling his nerves to return to Sophie’s screaming. Opening the door, however, he heard only silence.
     
    He frowned as he climbed the steps, wondering where Jaime had taken Sophie. When he reached his bedroom, though, Jaime sat on the bed, Sophie cradled in his arms. He lifted a finger to his lips and gestured for Srikkanth to go back downstairs. Standing carefully, he set Sophie gently in her napper and slipped from the room, shutting the door behind him.
     
    “She fell asleep about five minutes after you