Canvas & Keys

26. I Could Get Used To This...In A Few Years, Of Course

Chapter 26

I Could Get Used To This...In A Few Years, Of Course

Emmy spent the next three days in the hospital before heading to Juliet and Theo's house. She was recovering quickly, even for just getting into a car accident and having major surgery. I had a hunch she'd forgotten all about it since she now had baby Eddie to keep her mind on other things.

I was one of the regulars who visited her, John, and the baby before they left. I should've just stayed the night with them since I got there bright and early and barely left until later that night. Once they were at Juliet and Theo's, they weren't going to ever get rid of me.

Though Emmy was spoiling the kid rotten by holding him all the time, he was regularly in someone else's arms before he was in another's after a round of Pass the Newborn. No matter what, he always ended up with me after the third. Just like with Emmy and John, no one dared try and take Eddie from me until I willingly gave him up.

Which, let's face it, I wish was never.

Though I wasn't the only one willing to take the first week of night shifts with him, Emmy and John wanted it to be just them and Eddie. Multiple times I caught myself waking up whenever I heard the faint cry down the hall. Drake ended up waking, too, only to pull me back into bed, pinning me against him with an arm around my waist.

"Don't go see if they need help," he mumbled. "I'm sure Holly or Kate or Juliet or any of the other women in this house are doing the same, only to have John lock the door on them."

"But they need sleep, too. Emmy's exhausted and John's on the verge of becoming a giant, cranky pain in everyone's butts..."

"But then they both look at the little boy and forget all about the sleepless nights. They're all for the trade-off."

I mumbled under my breath as I turned around under his hold, only to start grinning when I saw his hair sticking up in every direction. You know it had to have been bad for me to be able to make it out in the darkness. I reached up and ran my fingers through it anyway, while being careful not to poke him in the eye by accident.

When I did, a deep hum reverberated through his chest as he pulled me closer. I grinned again. I found out a few weeks before that he absolutely loved it when I did this.

And it pretty much put him straight back to sleep.

With his grip on my waist slacking, I wiggled out of the bed and tiptoed to the door. When I left our room, closing the door behind me as quietly as I could, I wasn't the only one who was creeping out into the hallway.

John had Eddie wrapped loosely in a blanket in one arm and a cloth and pacifier in the other. Eddie was whining as John put the cloth over his shoulder before propping him up and patting his back to burp him.

"Hey," he whispered when he saw me approaching in the dim light of the hallway. "What are you doing up?"

"What do you think?" I asked, peeking over at Eddie.

"Got it," John laughed softly. "Both Mom and Holly came in right when he woke up, too. Emmy's got the I've-got-this-go-away look down, so one of those looks and they were gone. She just fed him and I offered to change him, burp him, and get him back to sleep. I've got one out of three done, though I'm sure another diaper will be needed soon. I want to let her get some sleep, too, so we're going downstairs for a little while."

"He looks a little milk drunk," I said as I looked over at him again. His headful of dark hair was sticking up almost exactly the way John's was at the moment.