Stella laughed. "Welcome to being a parent."
Chase studied the angelic eyes. "I hope this isn't an indication of our future relationship."
Bud made a cooing noise. Jacinda took her to get cleaned up. She patted Chase's shoulder.
Chase looked down at her starched white shirt especially purchased for the holiday event. It was covered in urine and blood. "I'm not having a good day. I'm having a great day. "
"You can have my shirt and bring me another one later," Gitana said.
"Thanks, sweetie."
Jacinda fetched it. Chase went into the bathroom to change. She peered at her bloody nose and the lump on her forehead. She'd get Graciela and Delia for this and then she remembered Bud. Revenge fantasies were no longer an option. She didn't want Bud to pick up any bad habits. She hoped Bud, whose real name was to be Angelica, wouldn't remember their first meeting. She'd already subscribed to Parenting Magazine and was rapidly memorizing the cognitive states of baby development. Bud, having just entered the world, was most likely still a little out of it. From womb to fresh air had to be a rather sudden shock—like when you hold your breath underwater and then burst forth as your lungs threaten certain mutiny.
Chase cleaned up and came out. She kissed Bud and Gitana on their collective foreheads. "I better go talk to the urchins. Can they come in?" She glanced at Jacinda and her mother and then Gitana.
"Are you up to it?" Stella asked.
"Sure. They're part of the family too."
"Tell Graciela one bad word and I drown her in holy water," Jacinda said, furrowing her brow.
"Yes, ma'am," Chase said, certain this threat would be followed through on instantaneously.
Epilogue
Chase sat with Bud in the nursery. Gitana was napping. She rocked Bud gently in the new oak rocking chair she'd purchased after learning that babies liked to be rocked. At first, she'd rocked Bud a little too aggressively and she'd spit up everywhere and Chase, herself, felt ill. Jacinda gave her a lesson and all was going well now. No one got sick.
She'd had a lot of lessons in the two months since Bud had been born. Bud's face had lost that just-been-squeezed-through-a-small-aperture-and-it-hurt look so that she no longer resembled an alien. Now she was a baby with a lot of dark hair. Chase desperately hoped she wasn't going to grow up to look like Eddie Munster, but she did have Gitana's full lips and a cute turned-up nose. She was fat and soft and Chase adored every inch of her except maybe her intestines which excreted the nastiest stuff she'd ever seen or smelled.
Diaper changing was simply horrid, but she'd learned to do it.
Spitting up was another horror. Chase had gone to Thrift Town and bought an array of T-shirts that had become more or less disposable depending on the amount of stain and the color that Bud had the uncanny ability of producing. It was a good thing babies where so cute and helpless or the experience would be much worse. One had to find one's better nature to get through it. Bud was not a fussy baby at least. Jacinda told her stories of the fussy cantankerous kind who stayed up all night and cried all day. Chase suspected she did this to fortify her. Gitana was the perfect mother and seemed to have implanted notions about what to do in any situation. Chase did a lot of researching and experimenting.
She rocked Bud who, due to Chase's choice of a prenatal moniker, was still being called "Bud" despite the name on her birth certificate. Chase figured Bud could come up with her own name if she didn't like the others when her cognitive abilities had more fully developed. Other cultures did it so why not American lesbians?
Looking down at Bud with her wide blue eyes staring up at her, Chase talked to her frequently. It was if Bud seemed to comprehend things even if the literature on baby brains stated the contrary. Chase didn't care. She told Bud things. So what if she had to tell her the stories again later. Kids liked repetition. They watched the same movies over and over again according to Gitana's cousin, Esmelda, who had four children and seemed to know everything. Chase had not been the best relation, but now she needed this extended family and they embraced her. They didn't behave like she was super odd so she figured she was doing okay.
"Today I am going to tell you the story of my redemption. I know some of it is chemical, but my neurotransmitters fire too quickly so the anti-convulsant drugs keep them in line. You'll like me better this way believe me."
Bud burped and some white gooey stuff came out. Chase wiped it away. "I wish you'd give me a little advance notice, but since you're still at that phase of digestion I'll cut you some slack. Now back to the story."
Chase rocked. Bud burped and together they worked through the story until Bud nodded off. Chase hoped it wasn't because she was a poor storyteller. Writing was one thing, live entertainment was another.
"I know you're not listening, but I hope you appreciate all my hard work in recreating myself into a decent human being."
She put Bud in her crib and went to take a nap with Gitana. Before she fell asleep next to her beloved partner she thanked the powers that be for this amazing chance to raise a future Nobel Prize winner. All right, she'd settle for bachelor's degree and hope for a doctorate.
The End
Family Affair Page 28