Bittersweet

~ ~ Don't get Attached ~ ~

~ ~ Gabriele ~ ~

I finished dressing Baby Elijah, lifting him to hear a squeal and a cute gurgle.  "Hungry little man?" 

He had been with me now for three weeks—and for three weeks I'd been his surrogate dad.  And in those three weeks my world had been flipped upside down.

Was this what it was like for all new parents?  Wow—parent.  Was I?

I wasn't sure what the hell I was.  Checking the temperature of his bottle like Jenna had shown me, He latched on as if he hadn't eaten for days. 

"I'll take that as a yes."  I sat down as his eyes watched me. Even in these few short weeks, he had grown so much.  I had to go out and buy more clothes.

Correction, Jenna had taken me shopping to buy him more clothes.  I smiled. She had been a godsend and every time I thought I knew how she would react to something; she surprised me a little more. 

True, the first few days following her turning up without warning, she had been mightily pissed off and upset. She'd even cursed as she gave me what for.  But I'd deserved every word she threw at me.  I should have trusted her the second I got the call from Child Services. I'd been an asshole and I admit I grovelled unashamedly.

And lucky for me Jenna being Jenna forgave me pretty quick and without a second thought to who his mother was, she dived in, making sure I knew how to look after him. 

And the way she threw herself into caring for him too had me falling a little harder for her—if that was possible.

I'd have gone crazy without her. 

But I already knew she was a fantastic mom, her relationship with Ava proved that and she reminded me so much of the way my mother was with us as kids.  Jenna was born to love and nurture.  You could be fooled into thinking Elijah was her own child, the way she would rush to pick him up to soothe his cries and carry him around singing and cooing, her face lighting up every time he gurgled or smiled, just as mine did.

It was clear she was becoming just as attached to the little guy as I was.  Which I wasn't so sure was a good thing for either of us.

But I couldn't sit here and worry. We could only deal with the situation a day at a time.  "You are hungry."

A knock at my door grabbed my attention as I rose, still feeding Elijah.  I knew it wasn't Jenna, as she had a busy day, and I would see her later.  "C'mon let's see who's come to visit."

Opening, I found my best friend standing with his eyebrows arched. "I know you told me, and Janelle told me, but I didn't believe."  He shook his head. "Can't deny the truth when it's right in front of you."

I'd rang Jake the day after Jenna found out.  He lectured me about being a soft touch and I would live to regret it.

"C'mon in." I said, but he was already walking past me.