"Okay, here we are at home. Rose is coming in with Jenny," Kris said, backing into Ginger's apartment. She had a video camera in her hands and had been taping Ginger since they parked in the apartment complex. "Smile, Mommy! You're home!"
"Kris, I'm tired, I'm irritable, and I hurt like hell," Ginger said, looking up at Kris and away from the camera. "Shut that things off." Kris lowered the camera and shut it off. "Thank you." Ginger walked to the couch and sat down with her new daughter. "I really appreciate you being here. I don't know if I can spend the next couple of days alone."
"It's not a problem," Kris said, waving her hand. "Don't worry about it. When do you think you'll go back to work?"
"I don't know," Ginger said. "When I'm ready." Ginger looked down at her baby, asleep in her arms. Jenny was two days old now�because of Ginger's history of cancer and the fact that this was her first child, the doctors insisted that Ginger stay and Jenny have a number of tests done. Ginger didn't like it at all, but the doctors assured her Jenny wouldn't be harmed and this was just for her well being.
"Do you want to do this now?" Kris asked, pulling out the baby book from Ginger's travel back. Ginger had purchased it just a few days before she went into the hospital. Ginger nodded. They'd already gotten some of it done, the things you could only do in the hospital, but most of it was still blank. "All right. Hair color at birth is red. Eye color?"
"Blue."
"Really? Wouldn't it be so cool if her eyes were violet like yours?" Kris asked. Ginger smiled.
"You never know. My eyes were blue when I was born. We'll see how much she changes as time goes on." Kris nodded.
"Okay. Birth weight I know, length I know�" Kris continued to fill out information. "�People present at birth, me, Auntie Kristina�Doctor was Dr. Alderman�you know I can't help but notice that her name is not Jenny Stevens."
"Why should it be?" Ginger said.
"Your name is Stevens."
"Zac's name is Hanson. She's going to live with me, Kris. She's going to see me all the time. The least I could do is give her Zac's last name," Ginger said. It sounded like a logical explanation but Kris still found herself shaking her head. "What?"
"You are definitely, definitely opinionated, Rosemary. That's what I love about you." Ginger looked down at her baby who had just shifted and woken up, her bright blue eyes looking up at her mother.
"Well hello!" Ginger said. "Good afternoon, sleepy-head. You've been sleeping all day! Are you hungry? I think you are, I can see it in your little eyes." Ginger opened her shirt and pulled open the pad over her breast. Jenny started to eat.
"I can't get over how huge your tits are, Rose," Kris said.
"Kristina!"
"I'm sorry. Your breasts," Kris corrected. "But they're still huge!"
"They kind of have to be, stupid. They're her only means of nutrition," Ginger said. "What I can't get over is how good she is. Two days old and hasn't cried once. Woke up just like that, without a word�"
"Maybe she's a mute."
"Don't say that!
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Kris said. "She is good, though. You're going to have a good time with this one. Doesn't seem like there's an ounce of her father in her."
"Yeah, but she's got his lips. Those big puffy lips�yeah. And she she's got his nose. Other than that, she's all me. Yes you are! Just a little me." Ginger gave her baby a smile. "This is so weird, Kris. I have a little me."
"Yes you do," Kris said. "I want a little me." Ginger immediately shot her sister a look.
"No you don't," Ginger said. "No way in hell do you want a child right now. But then again, at least you have a boyfriend. I don't have anybody." Kris looked down at Jenny.
"Do you think if Zac knew you were pregnant would he have kicked you out of the house?" Kris asked.
"I don't think he would have. He was raised too well to do that. He wouldn't have just abandoned me like that. Well, first he would have had a big fit at whether or not the baby was his, and we would have spent a long time fighting about that. I'm sure if I told him I didn't sleep with Taylor he wouldn't believe me. But once we got that straightened out and he was sure it was his, he'd still be around. I don't know if I'd still be in the house. He'd still support me. We might completely make up after a while and things would be a good again, but then again that could all just be a pipe dream."
"Why didn't you tell him, Rose? You're obviously regretting it."
"I've told you this. There was no reason to. I found out just hours before we broke up and then it was over." Ginger looked up, thinking about it. "I had a whole plan for how I was going to tell him. I found out two days before Valentine's and he had this big romantic dinner planned. We were going to out to one of those really nice restaurants, the kind that you only go to on special occasions like Valentine's and anniversaries and such. He was so excited about this date. He'd made reservations, like, six months in advance, and he couldn't stop talking about it. I was going to wait until dessert, we were going to share a piece of French silk pie and as we shared the last bite I was going to tell him."
"Damn�Rosemary�"
"No swearing around my child."
"Because you didn't yell obscenities when you stubbed your toe on the way up here," Kris said, eyeing her sister. Ginger smiled.
"That's different."
"Whatever." Jenny finished eating and Ginger put herself back together, stifling a yawn that Kris saw. "Why don't you take a nap, Rose? I know you're exhausted."
"No�no I don't think so. She just ate."
"Listen, hun. I've right next you every step since you told me you were pregnant. You don't know any more about this than I do. I think I can take care of her for a little bit while you rest."
"Kris�"
"I know what I'm doing and if she wants her Mommy then I'll just wake you up. You have nothing to lose here." Ginger sighed, looking down at her daughter. "I know you don't want to be away from her for a minute but you will not be able to fuss over her if you're so tired you can't stay awake."
"Oh, all right," Ginger said, relenting. She stood up, still holding onto Jenny and began to walk with Kris to her bedroom. "Now she just ate so she's going to have to�"
"Rosemary, I know what I'm doing."
"I know you do. I'm just paranoid. Here." She carefully handed Jenny over to her sister. "Wake me up if anything goes wrong."
"I will."
"All right." Ginger looked at her daughter, gently tousled the hair on her forehead, then smiled at Kris.
"Go to bed." Ginger pulled back and went to her bed. Kris turned and walked out of the room, partially closing the door behind her.
Ginger was back in work three months later. Jenny was a little older now so she wasn't too hard to take care of. Mostly Kris helped out with Jenny at all hours of the day, but Ginger indeed hired a full-time nanny to take care of Jenny while she was at work. The nanny trusted Kris's judgment just as much as Ginger's (only because Ginger insisted it be that way) and everything went smoothly. The nanny was there for a week and a half before Ginger went back to work so she could be used to Jenny.
The first day back Ginger called home a record number of times, and finally Kris yelled at her, which made the baby cry, and Ginger only got worried. She didn't call again for quite a while. Her work was just as boring and pointless as Ginger remembered it, but it felt good to be back. At four thirty Ginger was ready to go home. Of course she wouldn't be let off until five, but she had run out of things to do to pass the time.
She was at her desk flipping through a magazine for new mothers when someone walked in and stopped in front of her desk. "Rosemary?" She knew that voice anywhere. "Rosemary Stevens, is that you?" Ginger looked up and sure enough it was her ex-boyfriend David in front of her. She always had a feeling she'd be seeing him again now that she worked for his brother Bob, but she never thought it would feel this way.
"David! Hi!" she said, putting on a smile. "Wow, I haven't seen you in forever!"
"I know," he said. "Since we broke up." Ginger nodded.
"Yeah�so how are you doing? What are you doing?"
"I'm just great. I'm still in school, studying at USF across town. I have a job that works around my schedule and they're saying they're going to give me a big promotion once I get my degree."
"Really? What are you studying?"
"Business." She nodded. He grabbed a chair from across the room and sat down in front of her desk. "So what has the wonderful Rosemary Ginger Stevens been up to?" Ginger slightly winced at the sound of her middle name. She never did believe how on the ball Zac was when he started calling her that, but nobody had ever called her Ginger. It sounded like somebody else's name coming from him.
"Oh, things," she said, smiling. "Working here."
"Whatcha reading there?" Before Ginger could snatch her secret away from him, David had grabbed it off the desk and looked at it. "Parenting? Are you a parent?" Ginger sighed.
"Give me that," she said, holding out her hand. He handed it back to her and she put it in her purse that was next to the desk.
"So?"
"So what?" she asked.
"Are you a parent?"
"Yes," she said. "Yes, I just had a baby. Today's actually my first day back."
"Really?"
"Yeah. She's three months old. Her name is Jenny." He nodded. "Yeah, September tenth I had her."
"Are you married?" Ginger knew he was going to ask that. She shook her head. "Are you seeing anybody?" She shook her head again. "Well then that's good. I can take you out tonight." She gave him a look. "What? I haven't seen you in a while. I'd like to catch up."
"We're catching up right now, David."
"I'd like to catch up over dinner." She shook her head.
"I don't think so."
"Oh, why not?"
"David, I just had my baby. I'm not ready to leave her alone all day. It's hard enough for me to be leaving her home with her nanny and my sister." David raised an eyebrow.
"Sister?"
"Kristina," she said. "I call her my sister because I lived with her for a year. I got away from Alex."
"It's about damn time. You never would let me do anything about that son of a bitch," David said. "It's a good thing someone did." She shook her head. "Anyway, we don't have to go out! We can have dinner at your place. I'll cook."
"Davey�"
"You've agreed to it, then?"
"No, I haven't!"
"You called me Davey. You haven't called me Davey since we were dating."
"I also haven't seen you since we were dating." He gave her a killer smile that she fell in love with what seemed like a million years ago. "All right. All right, you can come over and cook for me if you'd like."
"I would very much like to do that." The door to Bob's office opened and the client he had been with for nearly an hour now walked out. The man said goodbye to Ginger and then left. Bob was standing at his door.
"Now isn't that just precious?" he asked. "My kid brother and my secretary, chatting together like old times."
"It's nothing like old times," Ginger said, sitting back in her chair. "Absolutely nothing like it. I hope you tell your kid brother that."
"Oh, Rosie, lighten up," David said, standing up. He returned the chair to where he got it. "You've always been so deep."
"No, David, I've just always been older than you," Ginger said. "So, Bob, what else for today?"
"Nothing," Bob said. "It's Monday and I'm tired. Let's all go home."
"Good idea," Ginger concurred. "One phone call and I'll be out of here."
"You're not calling home again, are you?" Bob asked.
"I'm just telling Kris to go home," Ginger said. "She'll freak if I walk in the door with David over there by my side." David smiled and Ginger picked up the phone. She dialed her home number (thinking it might be a good idea just to put it on speed dial) and in a moment Kris picked up.
"Yes, Rosemary?"
"Hey, tell Lily I'll be home in a bit," Ginger said. "Um, could you do me a favor?"
"What?"
"Go home tonight. Your mother misses you."
"Rose�"
"You haven't been home for a whole night since before Jenny was born. Do me a favor and just do it. Your mother will have a heart attack."
"All right. I'll do it."
"Do it now. I know you won't do it later."
"Okay�"
"If I get home and you're still there, there's going to be some serious ass whooping going on, I don't care what you say."
"I'm going, I'm going! I'll see you tomorrow."
"All right." Ginger hung up the phone. "Well, we don't have to worry about her. Lily won't mind. Let's go." Ginger got up, grabbed her purse, and left with David.