Being Their Baby (10 page)

Charlie tilted his head to fix his “serious face” on Josh, who was being a clown.

Josh calmed down and then shrugged again. “So what?” he replied simply, waving Charlie’s worry off. “I mean, so she likes eating mushy things. There are worse pets to have.”

Something occurred to both men at the same time. They looked at each other, exchanged an incredulous expression, and then groaned, “There’s something wrong with her teeth!” as if it was the easiest riddle in the world to solve and they’d failed to guess it, anyway.

“Sophia Lynn! Get your little butt down here!” Charlie immediately barked at the ceiling.

Josh rubbed at the back of his neck, looking unsure and awkward. “We should wait for Liz to come home after her dinner-meeting-thing tonight,” he told him. “This is sort of her area. You know, she’s been really trying to get Soph to open up more and to voice her needs. It’s a trust thing, so—”

Charlie didn’t agree. “Sophie! Right now!”

“
What
?” Sophie shouted back from the balcony on the upstairs landing.

Charlie shook his head. “If I have to come up there, young lady, it’ll be to introduce you to my belt! Do not ‘
what
’ me.”

Sophie made a very unhappy huffing noise and then bounded down the stairs as noisily as possible. “I don’t respond to threats, Charlie,” she scowled, although her actions stated otherwise. She put her hands on her hips like she was going to chide them as she’d seen Liz do.

“Then tell me what I
can
say to get you to do what I tell you to without you acting like a brat,” he growled back, trying to intimidate her by towering right over her with his full height. “Now I’m going to ask you a question, and I don’t want you side-stepping and I don’t want you lying to me. Do you have something wrong with your teeth?”

Her eyes shifted as she looked for a better response than the truth. Every single girlfriend and baby-girl he’d ever been attached to had been a better liar than she. She took far too long to respond and she wore her panic on her sleeve. Still, eventually she snorted, “No, of course not!”

“Charlie, give the kid a bre—” Josh began.

Charlie put up a single finger to signal his brother’s silence before turning toward the fridge. He pulled out a bag of baby carrots from the vegetable drawer, opened the bag, and presented it to Sophie. “Go ahead,” he challenged, “eat one.”

Sophie stilled before she said, raising her chin haughtily, “I don’t want one.”

“Eat one anyway,” he demanded.

“No,” she refused firmly and turned to Josh. “Uncle Josh, put a leash on this guy, will ya?”

Josh didn’t glance up at all from his magazine. He merely flipped the page, replying, “I choose my battles, bunny babe.” His tone sounded apologetic, but not too much so. At least he was on Charlie’s side, after all! “All you have to do is eat a carrot and he’ll leave you alone.”

Her lips puckered at Josh’s betrayal and she snapped, “Fine.” She reached into the bag, picked up a carrot and popped it into her mouth. She raised her eyebrows as if she’d just proven something, and now she wanted Charlie to get bent at his earliest convenience.

“Now
chew
,” Charlie instructed between gritted teeth.

She didn’t, and as Charlie waited for her to try, her expression became more and more sour. She’d attempted, then winced, then attempted again, then winced, and then just stared at him with raw hatred.

Charlie put out his hand out by her mouth. “Spit it out. I know you can’t chew it,” he said, exasperated by her stubbornness.

Never wavering in her look of disdain, she finally spit out the carrot into his open palm, her cheeks flushed with heat.

He threw out the carrot and washed his hands, saying firmly, “Now, while I’m calling the dentist, I want you to stick your nose in that corner,” he pointed toward a corner in the living room that was very empty, very white, and lacked furniture, “and think about how we’ve only been supportive and nice to you, and how you need to stop hiding everything from us, particularly when it regards your health.”

Getting ordered to the corner obviously rattled her a bit, because she stepped back and started to yammer, “Look, Charlie—it’s only a bruise…”

He dried off his hands with a dishtowel. “A bruise in your
mouth
?” he echoed. “From what?”

She hesitated for a second and then eyed the floor. “My stepdad,” she admitted quietly.

He raised his eyebrows. “You mean two-and-a-half weeks ago when he beat up on you?” he clarified, aghast.

When she nodded in response, he continued, “You haven’t been able to eat solid foods for nearly
three weeks
now?” He walked up to her. “Show me this bruise,” he demanded, and she dutifully showed to him where she’d been hit, moving back her lip a little. He grabbed her face and held it with his hands until he got a good look at it, and for a second it was apparent that either his hands were huge or she was
tiny
.

It wasn’t pretty. In fact, it hurt his own mouth just by looking at it. “That is not a bruise, baby girl,” he told her. “That looks like a cracked molar to me, made apparent by the infection that’s set in around it. Congratulations for obtaining the most outrageous case of personal neglect I’ve ever seen,” he added irately. He let go of her and pointed toward the corner with a rigidly straight arm. “Corner,
now
.”

Suddenly her hands were wringing her sweater, stretching the knitted yarn. “You’re not gonna tell… um—” she gulped, “—M-Mommy, are you?” she asked nervously. As soon as his eyes flashed threateningly at her, she launched toward him and her hands desperately grabbed his sweatshirt. “No, Charlie—please! Don’t tell her! Please don’t! Don’t? Don’t, don’t, don’t…”

He pried her hands off of him. “Corner by the count of three,” he warned. “Three… Two…”

Sophie, defeated, immediately pouted and shuffled toward the corner, hanging her head and wringing her hands on the front of her sweater again.

Charlie watched to make sure she made it to the corner without speeding away upstairs, and then shook his head, pulled his cellphone out of his pocket, and called the dentist. Luckily, they were able to “squeeze her in” as soon as Charlie dropped his name—the dentist was a huge football fan.

“Sophie,” he said to get her attention.

She quickly spun around, looking at him with big eyes.

“Get your shoes on, we’re going right now.
No
,” he swiped his hand through the air when her mouth opened in protest, “we’re not going to discuss
going
or
not going
. We’re not discussing
when
we’re going, and we’re going right
now
, so move it!” He clapped his hands so loudly that she jumped and rushed around him, out of the kitchen, and up the stairs.

“And Daddy’s
back
,” Josh announced with amusement, flipping another page in his magazine. “Good for you on not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

“I’m just backing Liz up,” Charlie replied simply. “Sophie needs to realize that she’s not on her own anymore. Her pride is going to be her downfall if she can’t let it go.” Unable to hold it in, he added incredulously, “That shit looked
painful
. What’s
wrong
with her? How can someone be quiet about something like that?” He shook his head. “Thank God she got in Liz’s path. The girl must have a guardian angel or something.” He grabbed his coat and shrugged it on. “You coming?”

Josh shook his head and looked at his watch. “Nah, I can’t.
Uncle Josh
needs to be at the hospital in an hour for two cesareans scheduled this afternoon. That’ll be okay, though, because my surgical nurse is a real ten.” He glanced up and added, “Don’t be too rough on her. Remember, she’s coming from a place where if she complained about something, she’d get smacked in the mouth. She didn’t survive this long by being dependent, so we all need to be patient and help her overcome her trust issues.”

“Thanks,
Dr. Phil
,” Charlie replied, but smiled before turning toward the door. “C’mon, Sophia, stop stalling,” he called up the stairs, looking up toward the second-story landing.

She came out of her room and to the balcony, pulling her sneakers on. “You’re not
really
making me go, right, Charlie?” she pleaded.

“Why this hesitation?” he asked with a sigh as he was subjected to another puppy-dog look. “Look, we’ll go, he’ll fix it, and then you can finally eat a full meal, and then we can finally add some well-needed weight to that bottom of yours. Easy-peasy.”

“It’ll hurt, right?” she worried, sounding like she wanted him to give her some truth so she could get her mind around the experience ahead.

He looked at her, confused. “You mean… You’re worried about going to the
dentist
?” Suddenly, he had a realization. “You’ve never gone to the dentist, have you?” he asked flatly.

She shook her head.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering if her mother figured that her job was to give birth and then just stopped while she was ahead, or what?

He walked up the stairs, being careful not to frighten her, and she just stood pigeon-toed, nervous, and ashamed. He knelt down on his knee so that he could look at her face-to-face and scooped her hands up in his. “Look, sweetie,” he told her gently. “I promise you that when we come back, you’ll feel a lot better than you do now. Depending on the drugs they give you, you’ll feel
amazingly
better.” He smirked and she grinned and bit her lip. “I know we got off to a bad start because I’m bossy, but you have to believe I’m only bossy because I want what’s best for you. You’re part of this family now, okay? When you’re part of this family, I’ll keep you safe and well-cared for, whether you like it or not. You have to trust me.”

She took a deep breath, but when she exhaled she nodded. “Okay,” she finally agreed quietly.

He smiled and then walked hand-in-hand with her down the stairs.

* * *

Liz walked into the house with mixed emotions. She knew she should be particularly pleased with herself about landing a well-sought-after client account, and she was. Still, everything had a damper on it after Charlie had called her from the dentist office, where they were in mid-argument about Sophie getting an emergency root canal, in which Sophie was claiming very loudly that she didn’t want one and refused, and Charlie was assuring her that she was going to get one, because she needed one, and that she was going to do it and like it.

Charlie wasn’t Sophie’s “daddy”; Sophie didn’t recognize him as someone who had any authority or deserved any respect. This, in turn, was driving Charlie insane, and although Liz could tell that Charlie was trying to be very patient through the whole thing, that even after the two weeks, Sophie’s rudeness toward him was beginning to get old.

Liz assured Charlie that this situation was very new to her, very different, and that the teenager had been through a lot. Sophie hadn’t had any good male role models in her life, she was jealous of both Josh and Charlie for having sex with Liz so frequently, and that eventually she’d relax a little when she got used to the situation.

Liz was already worried that she was just lying to herself. It was possible, she knew, that Sophie’s tough outer shell couldn’t be cracked.

Most of her worry evaporated upon going into the living room, where ESPN was blaring on the big-screen television, and seeing Charlie with his head tilted backwards on the sofa and snoring; on his lap was a very comfortable and sleeping Sophie, who was curled so much into a blanket that she looked like a giant caterpillar.

It was a warming sight, and Liz was unable to keep from smiling at it until she quietly walked to the television and turned it off.

The lack of commentating about what to expect on Sunday afternoon woke Charlie up immediately. He grunted, his head tilting back up, and seemed surprised to see Liz in front of him.

She bent over to give a very wifely kiss on the lips. “How’d everything go?” she asked quietly, so not to wake Sophie up.

He gave a heavy sigh. “Well, the dentist earned his gift of my two box seats Christmas day, which he was undoubtedly after,” he began. “We were nearly the last patients for the day, but he fit us in, and then he was willing to keep his staff there three hours late to do the emergency root canal. I think he would have sucked my dick for me too, if I’d asked for that,” he added with a slight chuckle.

“So your ego’s doing well,” she gathered, smirking. She brushed her fingers through Sophie’s hair. Sophie didn’t wake up from it; she was very much out. “How’s my girl?”

“Well, I wrapped her up like this when she tried to microwave a slice of pizza with the Blu-ray player.” He gestured to the fact that her arms and legs had been cocooned safely. “Then I spoon-fed her half of a milkshake before she conked out.” He glanced at his watch; it was nearly midnight. “Well, you’re late, missy. Got something to show for it?”

“Landed the RGE account,” she grinned.

“Congratulations,” he told her. He grinned back. “Pretty soon I can stop doing all this football stuff and be your arm candy. Take care of your brat full-time.” He motioned toward Sophie with a jerk of his chin.

In reality, Liz already made enough money that Charlie didn’t have to work anymore. The problem was that wild horses couldn’t pull Charlie away from football. “You look so cute together,” Liz mentioned adoringly. “You must have bonded pretty well if you gave up your tickets just to save her teeth.”

He shrugged. “It’s just one game,” he replied modestly.

“You want to put her to bed and then come back to my place?” she asked, meaning her bedroom. She smiled in a way that she knew Charlie would make no mistake about—she was making a booty call. There was something about the way that Charlie played the daddy role that made her just want to jump his bones.

Charlie gave a reciprocating grin, but then he looked down at Sophie and sighed. “I can’t. Somebody needs to watch her closely for the first twelve hours—he was very clear on that. In fact, if she needs to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you need to supervise,” he added, pointing to Liz. “I don’t understand what could happen, but supposedly the guy had heard some interesting stories of things going wrong in there…”