by Kitty Parker
He leaves the nursery and goes into his and Daisy's bedroom. In the fall, Daisy likes to sleep with a few of the windows open and he can feel the cool breeze, rustling their white window curtains, and he hears the birds chirping their morning songs as he sits down on the edge of the unmade bed and sips at the black coffee. Daisy's right. There's no point to him going into the garage early when he's like this. He's no good to anyone when he's shuffling around like a damn zombie.
Jack finishes the coffee in a few gulps, knowing that he'll have to have at least two more cups when he gets to the garage later that morning and he looks at the clock. He can either go and take a shower and get himself to the garage early where he'll probably fall asleep in his bay. Or he can get forty more minutes of sleep and get to the garage at eight, which is his normal start time.
And just thinking about forty more minutes of sleep, he yawns and his mind is made up. He makes sure his alarm is still set and with that, he lays down and closes his eyes, drifting off within seconds.
His alarm goes off in what feels like seconds later and his eyes snap open as he reaches a hand out, slapping the blaring sound off. He turns his head and sees that Daisy is now in bed beside him, lying on her side towards him, and Ophelia is lying on her stomach between them, awake and sucking her pacifier quietly. She is running a hand up and down Ophelia's back and smiling and when she lifts her eyes to look at Jack, her smile stays in place.
"She's perfect, isn't she?" She asks.
Jack's own lips move upwards in a little smile and he rolls onto his side towards them. He bends an elbow and props his head up in his hand, looking at both wife and daughter. "Yeah, she's a'right," he answers, joking, and Daisy laughs softly. He watches as she leans down and presses her nose to the baby's hair, inhaling her.
"I think we should have another baby when she's a little older just so we can always have new baby smell," Daisy says with a smile. "I can never get enough of that smell. I bet heaven smells just like new babies."
Jack smiles a little at that. "How 'bout I get my body some rest 'fore you start demandin' another baby from me?"
Daisy rolls her eyes. "I was hardly demanding," she says. "Do you think you'll want another one when we get this one out of diapers?"
He shrugs, his hand joining Daisy's on Ophelia's back, feeling the small rise and fall with each breath she takes. It still amazes him – that he has a wife and kids and this house and that this little baby, he and Daisy made her from nothing. Sometimes, he still wakes up and has no idea if any of this is real or not and it takes his brain a second to catch up and remind him that this is definitely real. All of this is his life. He wonders when he'll stop thinking anything else.
"Whatever happens, happens," he says. "If we wind up havin' another one, ain't gonna be like I'm gonna turn it away."
Daisy laughs softly at that and then leans down, her nose to Ophelia's dark hair again. She lifts her head and her eyes meet Jack's and she reaches a hand out to his cheek.
"I promise. Before you know it, we'll start training her about day and night and you'll start getting sleep like a normal person again," she says.
"I ain't complain'," he reminds her and he doesn't. He's tired all the time, yeah, and he grumbles more but he doesn't complain. He has a baby daughter. What is there to complain about? He'll have plenty of time to sleep when she's in college.
"I know and I know it's not easy but soon, not getting sleep will be the norm," Daisy says to him as if promising him.
He turns his head and kisses the inside of her wrist and then looks back to her. "How the hell are you survivin' this? I ain't the one who carried this one around for nine months. I would think if anyone would be complainin' 'bout sleep, it's you."
Daisy just shrugs and smiles and her hand falls from his cheek to brush back some of Ophelia's hair. It looks like she's starting to drift off into another nap. "Coffee," Daisy answers him. "Lots and lots of coffee. And when that wears off, I'll be collapsing down in this bed right next to you."
Jack smirks a little at that. "Pretty sure that's what happened last time and we wound up gettin' this one."
…