“It's all right,” Laura assured him. “You're here now. A lot of the stuff was gifts from family and friends, anyway. Everyone really came together when Annie was on her way.”
“How did you choose the name?” Michael asked her with interest.
“After my grandmother,” Laura told him.
“Hey Dan, isn't that your mom's name?” Sam asked him.
Daniel nodded and shot Laura a warm smile. “Yes, it is. I don't think I ever told you that. That's a nice coincidence.”
“Ah yes, we were led to believe it was something of a whirlwind romance,” Sam said with raised eyebrows. Dan nudged him in the ribs with an annoyed glance and Sam chuckled. “I'm not judging,” he said.
Laura didn't take offense. She’d learned to grow less bashful since she'd been pregnant with her daughter. The question of Daniel's absence had been raised so many times that she'd gotten used to confessing her infidelities and now looked back on the event without batting an eyelid.
She'd always been so responsible and level-headed, that everybody had supported her when Annie was on her way. Most had been shocked to hear that she had that kind of an encounter with a man, but nobody had thought any less of her.
She poured juice for the laboring men and when she handed a glass to Daniel, she felt herself blush as he looked up at her from where he knelt on the floor. The memory of a droplet rolling down a soot-covered arm came to mind, and she remembered with a giddy feeling, how she had fallen for his looks that day. He was no less handsome now.
Soon the men had baby-proofed her house and every drawer, cupboard, outlet, and doorway was locked down. Her house looked like some kind of plastic obstacle course, but Laura was glad that she wouldn't have to worry about Annie's safety when she began to crawl.
Sam and Michael said their goodbyes and wished her well when the baby-proofing was done and left her and Daniel alone for a while.
“They seem like nice guys,” Laura said as way of starting the conversation.
“We've been good friends since training,” he told her. “I knew they'd do anything to help me. We all helped Sam when Helen got pregnant with the twins and then again when Michael's son was born. It's what friends do.”
“Sophie is the same,” Laura smiled. “I don't know how I'd have done this without her.”
“I'm grateful for her, too,” Daniel told her. “I owe that girl a huge thank you for looking out for you while I was gone.”
A faint cry from upstairs caused Laura to rush to her bedroom to take Annie from her crib. That familiar look of wonder settled over Daniel's face when he first saw his baby girl appear around the corner once more.
“I can't get over how beautiful she is,” he said.
“Do you want to try feeding her?” Laura asked.
Daniel brightened and grinned. “I'd love that!”
Laura handed Annie to him once more and had to show him how to hold her in a cradle position now that he was feeding her. She prepared the bottle for him and handed it to him so that he could feed her. The expression on his face as he held the bottle for his daughter was of a man completely mesmerized. No matter what Sophie said about this man and his intentions, there was no way that he could fake that look of wonder.
“Was it ever part of your plan to have kids?” Laura asked him softly.
He looked up at her and smiled warmly. “Someday, definitely,” he told her. “I always thought of myself having a little boy to play sports with. I pictured him wearing my helmet around the house and playing with a little toy fire engine, wanting to grow up to be a fireman, just like his dad.” Laura smiled as he spoke and Daniel smiled back. “But I think I'm going to love having a daughter,” he said sentimentally. “Do you think she'd play with a fire engine?”
Laura laughed. “I think we could get her interested in one of those,” she said. “We can raise her to be a little feminist who wants to fight fires. Although I picture her as a doctor.”
“I wouldn't mind if she became a doctor,” he agreed. “I bet she's going to be smart. Don't you think?”
“Yes, I think so.”
Daniel finished feeding Annie and when she was soundly sleeping once more he followed Laura to the bedroom and laid the baby down on her blankets.
“Wow, she has a lot of stuffed animals, doesn't she?” he said, his eyes widening at the vast array of teddy bears arranged at Annie's feet.
“That would be Sophie,” Laura said.
Daniel told her to wait a moment and he ran to his car. He returned with several bags full of things for the baby and from one of them he pulled a little soft pink rabbit with floppy ears.
“I wanted her to have something from me,” he told Laura. “Although she has a lot of animals to choose from...”