Turning slightly in his chair, he leaned his head against his hand and looked at her. “What is it, my princess?”
Picking up her bottle of formula, she started to smack it on the table. Yeah, something terrible had happened this morning that put a slight cloud over what had happened between me and Ellis last night – I’d gone to feed Liv like I normally did when she woke up, and there was no milk. Hearing me panicking through the monitor, he’d come in and guessed what was going on, and then informed me he hadn’t been aware of any last night either. My mammaronis were barren, I was now back to plain ol’ nippola woman, and this was a sad moment for me. I’d expected to have more time to get my head around the change, maybe even have a chat with my boobies and thank them for the service they’d given, but it had been taken away in the blink of an eye. While I was getting the coffee started and fighting back tears, I’d looked it up online and found out it wasn’t unusual for this to happen. Not unusual? Tell that to my feelings, to the part of me that wanted to wear my #LivingMyBestMammaroniLife t-shirt with pride. No, that was a lie, because I had no intentions of ever wearing that thing outside the house, but still. I’d just wanted to enjoy that time and closeness with her for a while longer, even if it was just once a day. And now it was all over.
Answering him back with a slew of baby babble, she continued hitting the bottle on the small table of her highchair. Every time she jerked in it, the chair would move and Ellis would raise a hand like he was going to catch her if she fell. When she did it for the third time, he hooked his foot around the leg of it and pulled her right in front of him.
“Princess, you’re about to give me a heart attack doing that. Can you calm it for a second so I can understand what you’re saying?” And she did, staying still and just smiling at him. “Now, you may continue.” No sooner had he finished the last word, she started up her excited shrieks and da, ba, na noises. “You don’t say,” he hummed, like he understood it. “I’m not sure if I agree, Livvy, that’s a lot of big words for a baby of your preciousness,” he tweaked her nose. “’Lis,” she squealed, and I gasped loudly and glared at him over my shoulder. She did it again! Motherhumper – which I guess he was, damn it – she’d said his name again, and I still hadn’t… “Ma! Ma, ma,” she yelled, using her hand to hit the table now.
She could use a rare diamond to hit it for all I cared, because she’d just said my name! Well, my new name, but it was mine all the same. Turning around to make a fuss of her, I watched as she broke into a huge grin, showing me the three tiny white teeth that were coming through, making her look like a total goof. “Did you say mama?”
“That she did,” Ellis agreed, leaning back and smiling at her with pride. I was just taking my first step toward her when the front door opened and slammed shut loudly. Not missing a beat, Ellis jumped up out of his seat, unclipped Liv, and sat back down again with her held close to his chest as he glared at the entrance to the kitchen.
“Hello, cherubs,” Rissa called. “Are you guys awake?”
Frowning at the door, Ellis muttered, “She can smell the coffee, so she knows fine and dandy we’re awake. What the hell?”
We could hear whispers coming from the living room, and then we heard footsteps making their way down to where the bedrooms were. “What are they doing?” I mumbled, moving to walk around him and look. I was stopped by him grabbing my arm, though, and giving it a gentle tug, his eyes still glaring in the direction our guests had gone.
“Those freaking baby thieves,” he hissed, looking back at me. “I can’t believe it. Well, I can, but I still can’t. They know we’re in here, but they went to get Liv so they can hog her.”
He looked so appalled by it that I almost burst out laughing, but then Hogan and Rissa’s voices came through the baby monitor which was still on and sitting on the table beside us. “I can’t find her, Rissa,” Hogan whispered loudly, sounding confused. “Did you check in the blanket on the floor?”
“She won’t be under it, but yes, dear, I checked.”
There were more rustling sounds as he moved the bedding in her Pack ‘n Play around. “Check in the wardrobe, Ris.”