Instant Daddy

Looked like he wasn’t ready to cry uncle anytime soon. She laid a diaper and pj’s on the changing table in the corner of the small room and stepped out of the way.

Peter climbed to his feet, abandoned the towel and laid Jake on the changing table without a hitch. He picked up the diaper, turning it in his hands as he studied it.

Not one to stay still for long, Jake began rolling onto his side.

Jessie lunged toward him.

“Whoa, there, fella.” Peter grabbed Jake to stop him from falling.

Jessie gave a sigh of relief.

“You need to lie down, so I can get this diaper on you,” Peter explained as if he expected the eighteen month old’s complete cooperation.

“Wan Os.” Jake swayed his head and upper torso back and forth to make his point.

“After we get you dressed,” Peter said.

Jake wailed, struggling to free himself.

Jessie grabbed the towels on the floor and began wiping up the water near the tub. If Peter wanted her help, he could ask for it. But she kept a keen eye on his progress.

He held a squirming Jake with one hand while he spread the diaper on the changing table with the other. Then he plunked Jake on the diaper and somehow got it between the little boy’s legs, but he couldn’t seem to figure out how to fasten it. At least, not before Jake kicked free of the diaper and sent it flying.

Things couldn’t be working out better. Suppressing a grin, Jessie flipped the drain and scooped toys into the net bag attached to the wall. “Are you going to get that diaper on him or not?”

Peter raked his free hand through his hair. “A demonstration might expedite things.”

“Are you asking for my help?”

“Please?” He gave her a pathetic look. Well, as pathetic as a strong, handsome, intelligent man can look, anyway.

With an exaggerated sigh, she ambled over to contain Jake while Peter retrieved the diaper from the floor and laid it on the changing table.

Jessie gave Jake a toy car to keep him occupied, lifted him onto the diaper and secured it.

“You sure make it look easy,” Peter commented.

“Experience. Can you handle putting him in his pajamas?”

Peter picked up the train-printed pj’s and looked them over. “Snaps go back or front?”

“Front.” She took the garment and matched top to bottom to show him.

“Got it.”

She wiped down the tub-surround, glancing back to see how things were going.

Shoulders flexing, Peter worked to get the small, struggling boy into his pajamas, then concentrated on matching snaps. “We’re almost finished, Jake,” he promised several times.

Jessie perched on the side of the tub to wait. He must be realizing he wasn’t cut out for parenting by now. One would think, anyway.

Finally, he lifted Jake in the air as he checked his work. “Mission accomplished,” he announced. He did look like he’d been on a mission—a very wet one. His dark hair was soaked and as mussed as short hair can get, and his soaked shirt clung to his chest.

Jessie noticed one lone, unmatched snap on Jake’s pajamas and considered not mentioning it. But only for a second. “You missed a snap.”

“Are you sure?” He gave her an exasperated look as he folded Jake in his arms.

“Of course I’m sure.” She reached for Jake before his dry pajamas were as sodden as Peter was.

Jake hurled himself into her arms. “Wan Os, Mama.”

“Okay.” She concentrated on righting the snap and tried not to feel sorry for Peter in his wet shirt, but she did anyway. “If you want me to throw your shirt in the washer, you can wear one of Dad’s.”

He looked down at his soggy shirt. “That would be great. But I doubt your father wants me wearing his clothes.”

“He won’t mind.” She opened the bathroom closet her mom had converted from linen storage to hold her dad’s clothes. “Take your pick.”

Giving her a wary eye, he chose a worn denim one she hadn’t seen Dad wear for years. “This looks comfortable. It isn’t his favorite, is it?”

Jessie shook her head.

Peter hung the hanger on the shower curtain rod and unbuttoned his shirt. He glanced at Jessie.

She realized she was watching as if a good-looking man taking off his shirt in her bathroom was an everyday occurrence. And not just any man…but the man who’d made a baby with her sister? “I’ll just…uh…” She motioned toward the door.

He raised an eyebrow.

Flustered, she set Jake on his feet on the floor and darted out of the room after him. Well, wasn’t that just lovely? Now Peter would probably think she was attracted to him.

Well, what woman wouldn’t be? After all, he was a very attractive man, wasn’t he?

By the time she got to the kitchen, Jake was pushing a chair to the cupboard. “I’ll get your Os for you.” She took the box from the cupboard and grabbed a small bowl from another shelf.

Peter strode into the room, powerful and in charge but looking a tad more relaxed in Dad’s old shirt. His own wet shirt in his hand, he stopped by the table and studied the wall of family pictures. “Looks like you were a busy girl in school. Plays, proms, cheerleader.”

She looked up from pouring cereal. “You know which pictures are me and which are Clarissa?”

“Sure.” He turned to her. “You’re very different from your sister, you know.”