H is for Hawk (Men of ALPHAbet Mountain)

I nodded and went out to the car. It was an older-model four-door sedan, and it was absolutely packed with trash. I shook my head as I dug through the fast-food containers and empty soda and water bottles to get to the suitcase in the passenger’s seat and the cooler in the back. At least the area around the car seat seemed pretty clear of clutter, so there was that. Since I didn’t own a crib, I figured I should grab that too and unhooked it from the seat.

I brought everything inside and sat the suitcase on the bed. Kim opened the cooler and pulled out a baby bottle and held it out to me.

“Could you heat this up?” she asked.

“Can these go in the microwave?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” I asked.

She shook her head and looked down at the baby, a mixture of sadness and confusion on her face. “I was nursing her but I think with all the stress, my milk is drying up. I bought formula to try, but I haven’t yet.”

Shrugging, I walked into the living room and grabbed my phone, pulling up a video on how to warm baby bottles. As it was heating, I walked back into the bedroom and sat down on one of the chairs across from the bed.

“I’m sorry to drop this on you,” she said weakly.

“I just don’t understand,” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant when we texted?”

“I thought you would judge me.”

“Judge you? You’re my sister. I’m disappointed in the mess you seem to be in, but I still love you. And I will help you. But you have to be honest with me for that to happen.”

“I know,” she said. “I just thought things would work out.”

I nodded. “Where is the rest of the baby’s stuff?”

“That’s it,” she said. “That’s all I have. A couple of bottles, her diaper bag with a couple of diapers left, and some changes of clothes. I didn’t have much to grab, but I got everything I could.” She paused for a moment. “The baby was kind of a surprise. We didn’t know until I was almost eight months pregnant. By then, he was already in jail.”

“How old is she?” I asked.

“Seven weeks,” she said. “Manny blew up when I told him. He said it would make our life so much harder. But then he got out and was so sweet. I thought things were going to work. I really did. Then he blew up the police station.”

I put my face in my hands. She said it so casually. Like it was normal.

“Alright,” I said. “So, she is going to need some stuff. Why don’t we get that car seat in my car, and we’ll go down into town and pick out what she needs.”

“I’m broke,” she said. “I left with nothing. I barely had enough gas to get here.”

“I’ll pay for it. Come on. We can’t leave your baby without her necessities.” I paused and then leaned forward a bit, trying to get her to look me in the eye. “What’s her name?”

“Rose.”

“Like you,” I said, smiling a little. She returned it and nodded.

“I always wished I had been named Rose instead of Kim,” she said.

“I know. I’m surprised you didn’t go by that when you moved out.”

“I did, for a little while. Then I had to change it,” she said.

I looked into her eyes for a moment and decided not to ask questions as to why she would suddenly have to change her name. It wasn’t worth whatever disappointment would come from finding out.

After feeding the baby, we stopped in a few places downtown and then at the department store on the other side of it. At first, Kim was tentative about picking things out, choosing the generic brand of everything and looking back to me for confirmation. Finally, I grabbed a generic brand of diapers from the cart and put them back, grabbing the giant-sized name brand instead.

After that, she loosened up a bit and went about picking things that she thought were nice and not paying as much attention to the price tag. I didn’t mind. I had done well with the rest of the money I had from Mom’s house sale and invested it. The dividends had paid off rather handsomely, especially the bitcoin, and I had a little nest egg I could draw from without worry.

Once we had everything we thought the baby might need, we piled into my truck and took it all back to the cabin. I also bought her a burner phone, since she had left hers in her old place, and a prepaid card that I put some money on so she could buy some things she wanted or needed and not have to ask me for the money.

Kim seemed to be in a better place, calmer and more content if a bit spacy when we got back. I built the crib we bought for Rose and set it up in the corner of her room. After outfitting it with the baby monitor and setting up a changing station with the fancy diaper trash can next to it, it was looking like a functional nursery, even if it wasn’t terribly decorative.