Not much scared me in life but bath time with a small, infant. She was wiggly and slippery when wet. I would offer to pay Disa for coming over every night to give Asia a bath if I didn’t have to do it myself. I had fears of her slipping beneath the water in the baby bath and drowning before I could lift her out.
Not a reasonable fear since she laid on an incline and the most water was at her feet but I still worried. Fretted. Obsessed. Was paranoid. All the above applied. I was acting like Elijah and that scared me more than anything.
My brother was an anxious child. The gentle giant hadn’t changed much as a grown man. He was a helicopter husband and father to his small little family. Elijah loved with his entire big heart and that is why I loved the big guy.
Me, I hated bath time simply put.
After I had all the dishes put away and the leftover pizza was stashed in the fridge I headed down the hallway to the bathroom where Asia was lying in her pink plastic tub. Everything mom purchased that was for India, who got her name after the female doctor Danni had, and for Asia was pink.
She loved having little girls after having so many boys. She thought for sure that Elijah and I were going to have boys too. She was tickled that I had a daughter while only Elijah had a son, so she had two granddaughters now and two grandsons.
Walker and Danni’s child was the only one she knew for sure was going to be a girl, even before Danni had an ultrasound. When asked why she would simply say because Walker needs a girl the first time. She never clarified what she meant by that.
Dad would laugh at her. Danni seemed to know what she meant and Walker, he didn’t care what she meant. Walker was the calmest father to be I had ever seen. When I said India had brought him to his knees…it was because he was the most adoring, loving father on the planet. I think Danni had taken second place in his life and I don’t think she even cared.
Maybe I was talking to wrong sex. Maybe I needed some tips from Walker not the women in my life. He had it down as a new father. He was even better than Matt was when Justin was born. That declaration always made Matt snort in disgust.
On her knees, beside the tub, Disa carefully washed my daughter’s face. She was gentle and sweet with Asia. She was loving but this woman had the most tender heart of any woman I knew. That is why I had fallen in love with her six years ago.
A man could fall once again, watching this woman with his child and I was on the edge with Disa and needed to be cautious for both our sake’s.
Her hands were small and delicate. Her voice was seductive and low while she cooed at Asia. She didn’t know I was here. She was saying the usual. Aren’t you beautiful? Who knew Ben would make such a pretty girl? That one almost made me laugh out loud. I refrained though because I was enjoying seeing her uninhibited.
“Careful now,” Disa warned Asia. “You don’t want to get soap in your mouth. That would taste yucky.”
“Had soap in your mouth before?” I asked. I couldn’t help myself. I had to let her know I was here. I went to the bathroom and sat on the closed lid of the toilet that was behind her. I propped my chin in my hand and watched her.
“Many times, Benjamin,” she told me. “I was the sassy daughter.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Sassy to your family would be different than sassy to mine,” she said. She rubbed the cloth across Asia’s belly. “Does that feel good?” She cooed to my daughter.
I chuckled because I could almost see the euphoria on Asia’s face. “She’ll be nice and relaxed for you, Ben.”
“Seth and I moved her crib to Elijah’s old room. Jenny thought that would help me not jump up and get her at every whimper.”
She chuckled at me, but she kept her eyes on my child.
Then Disa finished washing Asia. “Grab the towel off the sink, Daddy. I’ll hand you the freshly washed baby, so I can dump out the bath water.”
“Sounds good.”
I snatched the towel off the sink top and sat back on the toilet. Disa laid Asia in my arms. I covered her with the towel and rubbed her dry. “Let’s get some clothes on you before you decide to bathe me in pee,” I declared knowing my child.
Disa chuckled at me as I left the bathroom with my daughter. Soon, she joined me in Elijah’s old room as I was wrapping up with Asia. She glanced around the room that was now the baby’s room. I knew what she was thinking. The same thing I had been earlier. It needed work, so it looked like a baby’s room. “Help me fix it up,” I challenged her.
She looked skeptical for a moment. Then she replied with a shrug, “Why not.”
“We can go shopping one night this week then grab a bite to eat…as friends, of course,” I added as soon as I saw her eyebrows shoot up over those eyes of hers.
After a moment, she said, “Of course, as friends.” I didn’t believe that statement anymore when it came out of her mouth than when I thought it myself. We were more than friends. She needed to get used to the idea.
Disa stayed while the baby took a bottle then I laid her in her crib. She was going to leave when I was returning from Asia’s new room. She had her purse in hand and she was standing at the door waiting on me, so she could say goodbye.
“Stay, Disa. I’m just going to watch a movie.”
She hesitated like she wasn’t sure what to do. We were supposed to be just friends, but friends could watch a movie together. I reached out and took her hand. “Come on, you know you want to.”