Unimaginable Joy

What Do I Do With A Baby?

After a few moments, Daisy started to squirm in the car seat. Deacon took one look at her and then at Sutton. He asked, "What do I do with a baby? My brothers didn't even let me around my nieces and nephews until they were almost crawling. She is so tiny."

Sutton took a deep breath and said, "Don't be an idiot. You forget that I know you better than you know yourself. You took me to the hospital with you to meet the last three. You are great with babies."

"But apparently this one is mine and we are going to be having one in a couple of months."

Sutton stood up and started pacing the room. "Please don't make me get rid of the baby. I can't give the baby up either. I'll leave. You won't have to see us. I'll figure something out. I just had to tell you."

Deacon took her in his strong arms and held her to his chest as she sobbed. "He said you are not getting rid of this baby unless you want to. We'll figure something out. It's going to be the two of us. I just have to figure out what to do with this baby, since she is already here and all."

The two of them separated and looked at the tiny girl. Sutton held his hand and said, "The first thing you need to do is have a paternity test done. I personally think she looks just like you, but that is the first logical step. But before you do that you need to set off the bat signal or whatever it is that you all do when you need to get together here. You are going to need to talk to the guys. This little girl is going to be around the guys here at least until you figure out if she is yours and what your plans are."

Deacon had already pulled his cell phone out. He texted all the guys. He sighed, "They should all start racing in here in about ten minutes."

"Do you want me to take her for a little while?"

"No. This is my responsibility. I'm not going to lay any more on you than I already am."

"I want to help. It will be practice for eight months from now."

"Oh gosh. I'm going to have two kids under one. I'm an idiot."

"Please for the love of all things good and beautiful, tell me that this has taught you a lesson."

Deacon held his hand up like a boy scout. "I swear!"

Daisy started fussing. Deacon asked, "What do I do?"

"Umm... Pick her up."

"Oh, right."

Deacon carefully got the little girl out of the car seat and held her to his chest. He said, "Well, according to this letter I guess I'm your dad. No offense little thing, but I'm going to have a doctor test that out and make sure."

"Deacon!"

"What?"

"Don't tell her that!"

"Sutty, she is a month old. She won't remember."

"Still!"

"Fine." Daisy started rooting around and rubbing her nose against Deacon's chest.

He asked, "What is she doing?"

"Looking for food."

"Sorry kid. I'm not made with that kind of equipment."

Sutton was going through the diaper bag and pulled out a container of formula. She was getting it ready, "You are going to need to get more diapers and some more formula. You are going to need some wipes. She could use some bibs. Another blanket or two. She is going to need clothes. It looks like she only has two more outfits in here."

"Hold on a second. That's a lot of stuff."

"Yeah? She's a baby. They come with a lot of gear."

"No joke."

Sutton handed the bottle to him and he awkwardly rearranged the little girl so that she could get to the bottle.

All the guys came in. Deacon's roommate, Preston, said, "Dude! What is going on? There hasn't been an SOS in a hot minute."

Another football player, Trevor, said, "Yeah. Whoa. What's with these two cuties in the house?"

Deacon stood in front of all the guys and replied, "Guys, it's been one heck of a day and I could really use my buddies. Sutton and I were hanging out and someone left a baby at the door!"

Preston said, "No joke?"

"Nope. With closer investigation it looks like her mom doesn't want anything to do with her. Oh, and she is mine."

"Um. Excuse me?"

"I'm going to take her to have a paternity test done tomorrow, to you know, make sure it's legit. Umm. But guys I'm going to need your help. I don't know what the heck I'm doing."

Trevor told him, "I have three little sisters. I have your back. I'll help where I can man. It's going to be coach that you have to worry about. Where is the mom?"

"She apparently doesn't want anything to do with her. She signed away her rights. I glanced at her name on the documents, but I seriously couldn't remember her. I'm the perfect example of what not to do."

All the guys couldn't believe it. Another guy on the team, Nate, asked, "Are you going to introduce us? I mean, she is going to be hanging out with us, right? Don't you think we ought to know her name man?"

Deacon held Daisy up and said, "Guys, this is Daisy Elyse Langley. Daisy, meet the guys. I'm sure you will get to know most of them individually soon."

All the guys were crowded around Deacon and the baby. Sutton loved just how wrong everyone was about the football boys. They may have been a hot mess that partied a little too much, but there was nothing like watching all of these guys turn into mush around the little girl. It was an unexpected development, but she was sure they were all going to be there for Deacon when he needed them. And from the looks of it they were going to be there for when Daisy needed them to. She could only hope it would be the same when her baby came into the mix as well.

Sutton was watching everything going down and all the big, muscley men pass around the tiny baby. Then she felt the odd feeling in her stomach that had made her take the pregnancy test in the first place. She took off running to the bathroom and just barely made it in time before she had the small amount of contents that were still on her stomach.