Life Unexpected Read online

  “What do you know about her?”

  “The nanny service I hired thoroughly investigates the background of each candidate, so I don’t have to worry about her being a psycho or anything.”

  “But do you like her?”

  “I only met her once. She’s German. She seems very efficient and very no-nonsense. She has impeccable references.”

  “Not exactly like Ethel.”

  “Not anything at all like Ethel.” Corey thought fondly of their old housekeeper, who’d practically raised Diane and Corey. Ethel was a tall, imposing black woman with very little education, who cooked and cleaned and ran the house in Marianna as if it were her own. In many ways, Corey supposed, the house in Marianna had been Ethel’s, and the beach house had always been their mother’s.

  Corey was very thankful as they pulled up to her condo that she’d made it home without becoming sick. Nancy, Kathryn, and Gary were waiting there to welcome Stella and her home. Corey was happy that Romeo and Gary had gotten over their initial antipathy toward Stella and were now proudly promoting themselves as her new uncles. Her heart warmed to the sight of her pseudofamily welcoming this new addition.

  During the next few days, Stella was the best baby ever. She slept almost all the time, waking only to eat, have her diaper changed, and look around in a bemused manner at whoever might be holding her. Diane took the lead in caring for Stella, but Corey tried to do her share. However, if she hadn’t been breast-feeding, Diane likely would have taken over completely. Corey gradually began to relax. Perhaps it wasn’t going to be that difficult to be a mother, after all.

  One afternoon about midweek, Corey and Diane stood watching Stella as she slept in her bassinet. Corey was thinking that she’d never realized how good babies smell, when Diane interrupted her pleasant thoughts.

  “Babies almost always sleep like this for the first few days.” Diane’s mind was obviously on less benign thoughts than Corey’s.

  “Well, I didn’t think she would sleep around the clock for the rest of her life, you know,” Corey said with a slight smile. Diane always seemed to be focusing on the negatives, and Corey was determined to keep the conversation light. “I may not have a lot of experience with babies, but I did know that,” she added.

  “What I meant is . . . it’s not always going to be this easy,” Diane began. “I just want—”

  “I know.” Corey stopped her. “You just want me to be prepared. Let me enjoy her right now, Di, and have faith that I’ll be able to figure out the other stuff as I go along.”

  Unfortunately, the week passed all too quickly, and Jack was back to take Diane home before Corey felt she was ready for her to go. Then, exactly thirty minutes after Diane and Jack pulled away that Sunday afternoon, Stella stopped being the best baby that ever was. It was as though she recognized that the experienced caregiver was gone. Stella opened her eyes and rooted around as if hungry even though she’d eaten only an hour earlier.

  Corey had intended to go down the street to visit Ralph and Judy, who’d just come home from the hospital with their new son, Alex. But Corey decided she’d better try to breast-feed Stella again. Stella nursed for a while but still seemed fretful and not that interested in eating. In fact, Stella only seemed content when Corey was walking her or rocking her. They spent a difficult night walking, rocking, and feeding.

  By the time Mildred, the German nanny, arrived at eight the next morning, Corey was near tears. The night had passed excruciatingly slowly, with Stella only napping for short periods—thirty minutes or less. After explaining about their sleepless night, Corey was more than happy to hand Stella off to Mildred and head for a shower. Hot water had never felt so good, and Corey stayed in the shower for an extremely long time. As she was drying off, she thought she heard Stella crying. Corey finished quickly and pulled on a clean pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. When she opened her bedroom door, she could hear Stella screaming loudly from her room. Corey went into Stella’s room and saw her lying on her back, red-faced, crying angrily. Corey picked her up, and Stella immediately calmed down. Corey carried Stella into the den where Mildred was sitting on the sofa watching The Price Is Right on television.

  “Why did you let Stella get so worked up? Couldn’t you hear her crying?” Corey asked angrily.

  “You said she’d been fed and was just being fussy. You have to get babies on a schedule. She would have eventually cried herself out and gone to sleep.”

  “You know, Mildred,” Corey said, “I’m not much for letting a baby cry itself to sleep. One of the books I read said that you can’t love, hold, or feed a newborn baby too much during the first six weeks of life.”

  “Pooh on that,” said Mildred haughtily. “You need to get a baby on a schedule right from the first. It’s better for the baby, and it’s certainly better for you.”

  “I’m sorry, Mildred, but I want to take a more flexible approach to raising Stella.”

  “You can’t do that,” Mildred warned. “Babies need a schedule.”

  Mildred’s superior attitude was too much for Corey’s already frazzled nerves. “Mildred, I don’t think it’s going to work out between me and you.”

  “Well, I never! Do you realize I’ve got over twenty years of nannying experience, and you’ve got what? Eight days of experience in being a mother?”

  Corey walked to the front door and opened it. “Thank you, Mildred, for coming today. I’ll call the service and suggest that they find you another more suitable placement.”

  Mildred grabbed her purse and stomped out of the house, shooting daggers of hatred as she went. Corey didn’t care. She wasn’t leaving her precious Stella with anyone who would just leave her to cry when she was upset. Corey’s exhilaration over sending Mildred packing was short-lived. Now what? The day stretched endlessly before her, and Stella was beginning to root around again. Corey called the nanny service. The exasperated woman on the phone said that they would do their best to find her a suitable replacement, but she could make no guarantees about how long it would take. They also reminded her that she owed Mildred two weeks’ pay since she was supposed to have given her two weeks’ notice before letting her go. “What kind of nanny do you think would be more suitable?”

  Someone like Ethel, Corey thought. “I want someone different from Mildred, someone more loving, more motherly, more southern.”

  “We’ll see what we can do.” The woman didn’t sound very hopeful.

  Corey laid Stella down on the bed and quickly tried to comb out her still-wet and tangled hair. Stella looked at her angrily, as if to say, “What do you mean putting me down on the bed?” Before she could start squalling again, Corey decided it really didn’t matter if her hair was a tangled mess. She picked Stella up and walked with her into the great room where The View was now on. Corey sat down, still rocking Stella back and forth, and proceeded to watch Barbara Walters bring the other hosts down a notch or two. Whenever she thought Stella was sound asleep and tried to put her down in her crib, Stella would start screaming again. “What is wrong with this baby?” Corey wondered after a while.

  During the brief times that Stella would sleep, Corey lay on the sofa and tried to nap. But it always seemed as soon as she drifted off, Stella would begin to cry. It wasn’t a whimper but a loud, piercing cry. By two o’clock that afternoon, Corey was convinced there was something seriously wrong with Stella. It couldn’t be normal for a baby to sleep so little and cry so much. Corey was in tears when she called Kathryn.

  “There’s something wrong with this baby. Can you drive us to the pediatrician’s office?”

  “Of course I can. I’m over on Peachtree Industrial, but I’ll be there in thirty minutes. What’s wrong?”

  “She won’t stop crying, no matter what I do. She does better when I’m holding and rocking her. But if I put her down, she just starts the scream cycle all over again.”

  Once in her car seat and on their way to the doctor’s office, Stella immediately fell asleep and slept through the
entire trip. Sitting in Dr. Carrington’s office, waiting to be worked in as an emergency, Stella continued to sleep peacefully, and Kathryn looked at Corey as if she were crazy. “Maybe she just has her nights and days mixed up.”

  “Then she would have been sleeping all day, right?” Corey replied defensively. “I’m telling you, this is the first time she’s slept in almost twenty-four hours. I know there’s something wrong with her.”

  Finally, when Corey stood before the doctor with the still-sleeping baby in her arms, she burst into tears. “I promise you she has been fussing and crying for over twenty-four hours. I’m not crazy.”

  As the doctor examined Stella, he said, “Does she draw up her legs as if she’s in pain? Does eating not seem to satisfy her?”

  “Yes, yes,” Corey said worriedly. “That’s exactly what she does. What’s wrong with my baby?”

  “I’m afraid your baby has colic.”

  Corey thought she remembered reading about that in one of her baby books, but it hadn’t sounded anything like what she’d been going through. “I don’t think so.”

  “It’s a fairly common condition in which babies become fussy for no reason. There’s some thought that it’s a milk allergy, so let’s try Stella on soy milk.”

  “But I want to breast-feed!” Corey sobbed.

  “Well, the soy milk might help the colic. And I’ll give you some drops that you can put in the bottle at night to help her sleep.”

  “I’m going to drug my baby?”

  “It’s not really a drug; it will just relax her. And you only give it to her for as long as you feel that she needs it, or when you really feel like you need it.” He smiled at her with a fatherly expression as he handed her a tissue. “She’s a beautiful baby, and she will be fine. You just need to give her a little time to grow out of this colic, and try to relax. Babies can sense when the mother is feeling stressed.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Carrington. I appreciate the counseling.”

  “Part of being a pediatrician is counseling new moms. I promise you, everything will be fine. Just hang in there.”

  Corey handed the still-sleeping Stella over to Kathryn while she paid the receptionist. She felt really foolish, but also greatly relieved that Stella didn’t have appendicitis or some other more severe condition.

  Later, Corey felt like a failure as she mixed the soy milk for Stella that Kathryn had bought on the way home from the pediatrician. Kathryn insisted on staying the night and taking care of the night feedings so that Corey could get some sleep. Corey accepted her offer and then went to take a shower, where she cried until the hot water ran out. What had she gotten herself into? Taking care of a baby was a big job. No wonder there were two parents.

  After several uninterrupted hours of sleep, Corey did feel better the next day. Kathryn looked at her apologetically. “I hate to leave you, but I’ve got an appointment in Norcross that could be worth thousands to me.”

  “Of course you have to go; don’t be silly,” Corey said, trying not to feel panicky at being left alone again.

  Three hours later, when Corey had yet to take a shower, she started fantasizing about having Kathryn move in with her. Around lunchtime, Judy called and wanted to know if Corey could bring Stella down for a bite of lunch. Corey was embarrassed that Judy’s baby was a week old and she had yet to go and see him. Corey should have been bringing her lunch rather than being invited to lunch. “Stella and I are about to take a nap,” Corey lied. “Let’s do it another day.”

  Finally, Stella did go to sleep, and Corey went to take that much-delayed and much-desired shower. She hoped the hot water would relieve the pain in her breasts, which she assumed came from stopping breast-feeding. Corey had just shampooed her hair when the baby monitor sprang to life. “Wah . . . !” Stella cried out intensely. Corey hurriedly rinsed her hair and washed the remainder of the soap off her body. She longed desperately for the peace of the law office and the life she used to have.

  After only a few days on the soy milk, Corey noticed a change for the better in Stella. And the one drop of medicine Corey put in Stella’s bottle at night guaranteed that they both could get several hours of uninterrupted sleep, which also seemed to be improving both of their dispositions. When Corey talked to Diane at night, she stressed these positives and tried to sound more upbeat than she felt. But she had a feeling she wasn’t fooling Diane because she could hear the anxiety in her sister’s voice as she promised to come back as soon as she could. When Corey talked to Nancy, she tried to sound even more positive because she didn’t want her mother-in-law to get a taxi, as she’d been threatening to do, to come and help her. Nancy would require nearly as much care as Stella, and she just couldn’t do any more than she was already doing.

  On Friday morning when Corey woke up for Stella’s six a.m. feeding, she didn’t feel so well. Her right breast was hard and swollen, and Corey thought she might be running a fever. It was seven a.m., much too early to call Dr. Byrne’s office. Corey took some Tylenol after feeding Stella and then put her back in her crib. Corey lay down on the floor next to Stella’s crib because she didn’t have the energy to go back to her own bed, and then she promptly fell asleep. She woke up to Stella’s fidgeting and realized she felt dizzy. She grabbed her cell phone and called her obstetrician’s office. Frantically, she described her condition to the doctor’s answering service and asked to have the doctor call her immediately. It seemed like an hour, but was probably only minutes, before the phone rang again.

  “Ms. Bennett?” Dr. Byrne’s familiar voice asked.

  “Yes,” she said anxiously. She felt so dreadful that she thought she must have the flu or something worse, and she worried about infecting Stella.

  “You likely have an infection in your breast. It’s fairly common among mothers when they stop breast-feeding. I’ll call you in some antibiotics. Use cold compresses on the breast, and take Tylenol every four hours. If it isn’t substantially better by tomorrow, come to the office first thing in the morning. However, I’m sure this will take care of it.”

  Corey tried calling Romeo and Gary to see if they could pick up her prescription, but neither answered their cell phones. So she had no choice but to call Kathryn once again, desperate for help. An hour later, Kathryn arrived with Corey’s medicine and a pile of groceries. “Okay, I’m moving in until this nanny situation gets fixed.”

  Corey burst into tears. “I really don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “I know, I know,” Kathryn said. “Just call me Florence Nightingale from now on.”

  By the next day, Corey knew that the antibiotics were clearly working, as she felt much better. The good news continued when the nanny service called and said that they’d found someone for Corey to interview on Monday. They warned her that the woman was probably not suitable to be Stella’s long-term nanny, as she had to maintain a rather fixed schedule. But for the short term, she was all that was available.

  “The cavalry is arriving to rescue us on Monday,” Corey said to Kathryn when she put down the phone. “And I promise you, if this woman isn’t an ax murderer, I will welcome her with open arms.”

  On Sunday, it was hard for Corey to believe that it had been just a week since Diane and Jack had left her. She felt as if she’d lived through an eternity since then. However, Stella was doing much better on the soy milk, even if she continued to be somewhat fussy at times, and was beginning to develop a schedule of sorts with her eating and sleeping. With help from Kathryn, Corey finally felt able to make the walk down to Ralph and Judy’s on Sunday afternoon to see Alex. When she saw Ralph proudly holding up his son, she felt uncomfortable. Didn’t Stella deserve to have a father hold her like that as well?

  She convinced Kathryn to go home Sunday night. Corey didn’t want to abuse Kathryn more than she already had, and she knew Kathryn had an installation out in Norcross the next day. Once she was gone, the condo echoed with emptiness. Corey put Stella on the sofa with her, and they both dozed off and on, w
ith the television keeping them company. It wasn’t a practice encouraged in all the good parenting books Corey had read, but it felt good to her, and obviously to Stella as well, because she slept contentedly on Corey’s chest.

  When Corey opened the door the next day to the new nanny, she felt an immediate connection with the slender black woman standing on the steps. “I’m Millie Simpkins,” the woman said in a soft southern voice that Corey knew must have come from Alabama, or south Georgia, or maybe even Mississippi, but definitely not from Germany.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” Corey said. “Come on in and let’s get to know each other.” As if on cue, Stella’s cries could be heard on the baby monitor in the great room. “I think Stella is eager to meet you too. I’ll go get her and be right back.”

  When Corey returned, Millie was seated on the sofa, looking nervous but very proper, with her feet crossed at the ankles. Her eyes warmed as they rested on Stella. “My goodness gracious, she’s a little one.”

  “Stella’s just a little over two weeks old.”

  “Can I hold her?” Millie asked, stretching her hands out toward Corey. “I just love holding newborn babies. I could hold them all day long.”

  Without realizing that she’d been holding her breath, Corey exhaled as she handed Stella over. Stella looked curiously at this new person, but she didn’t cry. Millie, on the other hand, looked as if she might start crying as she looked down at Stella. “She’s just a little angel!” Millie exclaimed. A sliver of hope was born in Corey. Millie might just be the answer to my prayers.

  “Can you drive?” Corey asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. I have a license, but I don’t have a car.”

  “I’m going to need you to drive us to doctors’ appointments for the next week until I’m allowed to be driving.”

  “Does that mean I’ve got the job?” Millie asked in disbelief.

  “I know a good thing when I see it.” Corey decided it was time she started trusting her own instincts, and her instincts told her that Millie was the right nanny for Stella. Besides, she would be here with Millie for the next few weeks to make sure that her good feelings about her were right. It really was a no-brainer.