VANGUARD(90)

“Hi, Sophie,” she said with a tired smile. “Come on in. He’s just finished his lunch.” Sophie slipped into the room and sat down on the couch beside Janet. “This is little Michael. Let me finish burping him so he doesn’t spit up on you. He tends to do that when you least expect it.” She laughed as Sophie’s eyes widened in alarm at the mention of baby vomit.

A few moments later, Janet had coaxed a burp out of the baby. “There we go.” She wrapped him expertly in a blanket. “Now you can meet your Auntie Sophie at last.” She held her son out to Sophie, who sat frozen in terror.

“I’m not good with babies,” she mumbled. “I mean, I delivered one, but that was an extreme situation.”

A set of big hands swooped down from behind her and whisked the swaddled baby away. She watched open-mouthed as Michael wandered across the room with little Michael in his arms, crooning away in Orlisian. When he reached the other side and turned around, he stopped dead, noticing the two women staring at him.

“What?” he said defensively. “I have a large, close family in Orlisia. I have been caring for my younger cousins since I was eight. It is customary in our culture for the older children to look after the younger ones.”

“Sorry.” Sophie slumped down, humiliated. “I didn’t expect you to be so much better at it than I am. I’m a girl, for God’s sake.”

He smiled and sat down beside her with his namesake safely snuggled in his grasp. “You will be fine. You just have not had any practice. Like this, yes, that is lovely.” He gently placed the baby in her arms, showing her how to support the head. “See? You are magnificent.”

He leaned forward so only Sophie could hear him. “You will be the most beautiful mother in the world when you hold our child in your arms.” She looked at him in shock, and he smiled, kissing her lips lingeringly.

“DUDE!” Carter shouted, startling everyone. He stood in the doorway, his eyes bouncing back and forth between Michael and Sophie. “What the f*ck was that? You just kissed her!”

“Language in front of the baby!” scolded Janet.

“Fuck language! He’s not even six weeks old!” Carter suddenly got up in Michael’s face. “Don’t even tell me you two are together again. You are toxic together. Don’t you remember our year on the road?”

“Carter, get a grip.” Sophie rolled her eyes and sighed. “That was more than ten years ago. I’m not seventeen. I’m not a virgin, and haven’t been for a while. And he,” she pointed at Michael, trying not to drop the baby as she did so, “is the only man I will ever love. So get over it.”

Carter sat down, his face confused.

Janet laughed. “You’ve been told,” she said. “Besides, any man who is that comfortable with babies is a good catch.”





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March 5, 2014





They stood near the corner newsstand, looking at the piles of the New York Times. People walked by on their way to the train, grabbing copies and throwing their money to the vendor. It was like any other workday in New York City, except they could see Michael’s face on the front of the paper.

He edged up to the vendor, flung some money at him, grabbed a paper, and ran back to Sophie. “The article is on the front page. The front page!” he hissed. He grabbed her arm and started hustling her back the way they came. They were on their way to the UNICEF offices downtown.

“Of course it’s on the front page. They told you at the end of yesterday’s interview that this would be a significant story in today’s edition.” She struggled against his grip. “The subway is that way.”

“I am not getting on that train. All those people have the newspaper! They will look at me! We will drive instead.”

“Are you crazy? It’ll cost you a fortune to park! Nobody drives in the city during the day.”

He didn’t reply. Instead, he kept walking back to his parents’ house so fast that Sophie had to jog to keep up. While she waited in the car, he ran back into the house to get a pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap. She snorted at his drama but said nothing.

They drove through appalling traffic to UNICEF headquarters to meet Joanna Rigby. Sophie started reading the article aloud to Michael, but stopped when she saw the look on his face. The headline in the paper on her lap was clearly visible.