Prince Baby. SUSAN MEIER

      Chapter Three

      Five minutes after Madelyn and Lucy returned to the kitchen, Seth’s house began to fill with people eager to see the new baby. Seth was glad when Ty suggested they leave the noise and confusion and hide in the garage, but he was surprised when his older brother took Sabrina from Madelyn’s arms and also asked Madelyn’s dad to join them. It wasn’t until Ty returned from a side trip to his SUV with Sabrina’s diaper bag and spread a clean blanket on an empty worktable that everything came into focus for Seth.

      “Penney might be the Gentry family strategist,” Ty explained, referring to his future mother-in-law. “But Ron was a sergeant and he knows all about boot camp and basic training. So he’s going to teach you how to care for a baby.”

      Ron laughed. His once brown crew cut had grayed but he still had the muscular arms and chest of someone in the military. In under a half hour, using Sabrina as a model, he taught Seth enough baby-care basics that he could change a diaper, feed a bottle and burp with the best of them.

      But Ron didn’t stop there. “If your objective is to demonstrate to Lucy that you can give your son a normal life,” Ron said, sounding as if he was briefing troops for a battle, not preparing a new dad for an encounter with the mother of his son, “then you have to prove that parenting is a natural fit for you. That means you’ve got to be involved with Owen’s care right from the get-go. So I suggest you take the baby from Lucy as soon as your company leaves. That will give Lucy a break and also prove you can slide into the role of dad as if you were born to it.”

      Seth agreed, but even though Penney and Ron, and Ty and Madelyn and most of the morning guests left just after noon, a steady stream of visitors—women from one end of Porter to the other who came bearing gifts—never stopped. Seth didn’t get two minutes alone with Lucy or his son. Forget about generously caring for Owen to give Lucy a break. There were so many women ogling Seth’s baby that even Lucy didn’t get to hold Owen. That evening, a small crowd actually gathered to get the baby ready for bed. Seth was lucky he got to kiss his son good-night before they hustled him out of the room.

      But Seth didn’t panic. If he wanted Owen to play in Little League, have friends, walk the streets of a town without fear or paparazzi, then he had to prove to Lucy that he could take very good, very normal care of their son. So he sneaked into the laundry room with his cell phone and called Ron.

      “Here’s what you do,” Ron said after Seth explained why their original plan hadn’t worked. “Owen’s probably going to get up about ten times tonight. That doesn’t sound like good news except by then, all the company will be long gone and Lucy will be alone. So you’ll get your chance to prove yourself. You don’t want to look obvious by running into Lucy’s room the first time Owen cries, but I’ll bet she’ll be damn glad to see you at 2:00 a.m. Plus, taking your turn with the baby is a very gentlemanly thing to do. Not only will you give Lucy a break, but also you’ll show her that you intend to teach Owen to be a gentleman.”

      Liking the two-birds-with-one-stone strategy, Seth stayed awake until Owen got up the first time, around midnight, to make sure he could hear the baby’s cries so he could take his turn. Confident Owen was loud enough to awaken him, Seth went to sleep. But in what seemed like only a matter of minutes, he felt the warmth of the sunlight streaming in between the slats of the lemon-yellow horizontal blinds on the windows of the spare bedroom he was using and he bounced out of bed.

      It was morning! He’d slept through the night! He hadn’t heard Owen cry!

      He scrubbed his hand down his face, then jumped into jeans and pulled on a T-shirt before he grabbed his cell phone to call Ron. He wasn’t a complete idiot, but with the exception of Sabrina, he’d never held a baby in his life. He’d also never dealt with a new mother. He could “guess” what his next move should be but he didn’t think he could afford the risk that he would say or do the wrong thing and alienate Lucy even before they’d spent twenty-four hours together. It was better to be safe than sorry.

      When Ron answered, Seth simply said, “I never heard Owen cry.”

      “Easy, there, big guy,” Ron said with a laugh. “Don’t panic. You still have plenty of opportunities to chip in and help out. Especially in the morning.”

      “Yeah, right. The baby’s in Lucy’s bedroom. It’s one thing to go in in the middle of the night when the baby’s screaming and she’ll be glad to see me. It’s another to barge in in broad daylight.”

      “That’s true, but you can turn the whole situation around if you bring her a cup of coffee. She’ll think you’re being a good host, but she can’t hold Owen and drink coffee, so you offer to take Owen and finish whatever she’s been doing, like feeding him or burping him or changing his diaper. And, voilà, you look like a natural at being a dad.”

      Seth said, “Okay,” then disconnected the phone and scrambled down the hall. Unfortunately, even before he reached the middle of the back stairway that led to the kitchen, the scent of fresh coffee greeted him. Confused, he rushed down the remaining steps and found Lucy sitting at the table, holding Owen, as she flipped through the Sunday paper.