Wrong Bed Baby (Crescent Cove 10)

Ivy rested a hand on her head and sighed. “It’s been a day. You don’t even know. The next time Rory even jokes about knocking me up again I’m going to give him a home vasectomy.” She seemed to notice Luna then, who had gone quiet and still. “Oh, hey, Luna, is it? Do you work here too?”

“Yes, it’s Luna. Hi, Ivy. No, I don’t. Actually, I think we met at Kinleigh’s once or twice.” Luna gave my sister an easy smile that didn’t change the momentary squalling child-induced terror in her eyes.

I’d been there many times, and I was a teacher. At least the ones in my chosen age group didn’t fling themselves on the ground and pound their hands and feet.

Usually.

“Oh, yes, that’s right. I remember talking to you there. You have such amazing style. That off-the-shoulder top with the moon cutout in the center was so gorgeous. I debated looking for one like that but maybe with an ice cream cone instead. You know, for my truck Rolling Cones?”

Luna nodded, her pupils growing larger as Rhiannon continued to scream. Her mother just talked over her about ice cream shirts as if it was an ordinary day.

Bellowing child, what? I don’t hear one.

Red-faced and soaking the collar of her Disney princess T-shirt with her copious tears, where? I don’t see her.

It was probably a parental self-defense mechanism. I had to deal with cranky kids all school year, but I could send them home to their parents at the end of the day. When they were yours, you were screwed. Only choice was to ignore them or perish.

Maybe even ignore them and perish. Lord help my sister.

Crouching in front of Rhiannon, I produced a surefire crying quencher from my pocket and held it out to her—a red sucker.

She didn’t even look at it. She just pressed her chubby face into my sister’s leg and cried.

In the midst of her tears, I heard something that sounded suspiciously like “Dabnit.” “What is she saying?”

Ivy sighed and stroked her little girl’s wavy blondish-red hair. The hue seemed to change every few weeks. “Daddy. It’s always worse after we leave him.”

“Her father isn’t here?” Luna asked, keeping her voice low.

“He comes back and forth. He’s a producer with a lot of clients on the west coast. I keep wondering if maybe we’d be better off traveling with him. If having my ice cream truck here is hurting my daughter.” She bent down to lift Rhiannon onto her hip. “Rhi, your Uncie Caleb has a sucker for you. Don’t you want that?”

She knuckled her eyes and kept right on sobbing.

Luna stepped forward and laid her hand on Rhiannon’s arm. Rhi turned her face into her mother

’s shoulder and peeked out from behind her hair, still crying.

“May I hold her? Just for a minute.”

“By all means. Rhi, Luna’s a new friend of Uncie Caleb.” Ivy couldn’t unload her fast enough. “If you yearn for more than a minute, that’s acceptable too.”

The odd phrasing made me blink until I remembered how Ivy had said Rhiannon was picking up more words from being around adults so she had to change things up to keep Rhiannon on her toes.

From what I could tell, Rhiannon was the one doing that to my sister.

Luna shifted Rhiannon in her arms. She was all arms and legs and usually preferred to not be lifted too much anymore, but when the waterworks started, all bets were off. “Hi, sweetie. I’m Luna. What’s your name?”

Rhiannon glanced tentatively at her mom before saying in a whisper, “Rhiannon Ferguson.”

“You know your whole name? Such a smart girl. And pretty too. Do you like Disney princesses?” Luna touched Rhi’s T-shirt. “My favorite is Ariel. Who’s yours?”

Rhiannon instantly brightened, the tears in her big blue eyes drying up. “Ariel too! I have her on my bed.”

“Oh, you do? I’m so jealous. I had a bed like a car when I was your age. It had a steering wheel and you could press a button for the horn. I loved it so much.”

Rhiannon pursed her rosebud pink lips. “Like a red one?”

“Yes. Mine was red. Kinda like your hair.” Luna tugged Rhi’s curls. “But you’re blond too, like me.”