Free Baby on Board by Dahlia Rose

index finger in her mouth and this
    time, instead of feeling just gums when she used him as a chew toy, he
    could feel the hard ridges of teeth. He wondered if it was normal to feel
    such a sense of pride. She’d hit a milestone while in his care. Hell yeah!
    “Hello. Where’s my son and my gorgeous grandbaby?” his mother’s
    voice called out. He had given his parents a key to his house and she had
    let herself in.
    “Kitchen, Mom,” Rafe answered as he gathered up Bonnie’s dirty

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    bowl and empty sippy cup.
    His mom came around the corner. “There’s my pretty girl. How’s
    Grandma’s baby?”
    “Hello to you too, Mom,” Rafe said dryly.
    She waved a hand in his direction and made a beeline for Bonnie.
    “Nice to see you, Son, but you’re not as cute as my Bonnie Bunny.”
    “Bonnie Bunny,” he chuckled. “Well, she could be now. Ms. Bunny
    here has her first two teeth.”
    The squeal that came from his mother was like that of a teenager. Rafe
    didn’t know his mother could actually make such a noise. He turned to
    watch while she bent to plant kisses all over Bonnie’s cheeks.
    “You’re growing up too fast,” his mother said to the baby. She looked
    up and her eyes were misty. “We just got her and already she’s trying to
    leave the nest.”
    “Mom, she’s getting teeth not going off to college,” Rafe pointed out
    as he loaded up the baby bag.
    “You won’t understand until she’s a teen, going out on dates and
    bringing boys home,” his mother replied.
    “I own guns, Mom. Boys are a no-no.” He walked over with Bonnie’s
    bag and car seat. “Everything you need is in the bag, including the
    Tylenol drops and her cold rings are in a Ziploc bag with one of those ice
    pack thingies.”
    “You sound like such a dad.” He watched tears fill his mom’s eyes
    again.
    “Okay, Mom, no crying.” He walked up to her and rubbed her back.
    “All you need now is a woman in your life.”
    Of course she would go there. Rafe rolled his eyes. His mother was
    notorious for trying to fix him up with some of her friends’ daughters. His
    personal life was something he tried to keep off her radar, yet he found
    himself opening up to her.
    “There is someone I’m interested in,” Rafe admitted.
    His mother clapped her hands. “Who is she?”

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    “The nurse that helped me with Bonnie that first night. Her name is
    Ivy and she lives three houses down from me,” he said.
    “Oh, thank God, for a minute I thought you meant the large chested
    one outside watering her flower beds,” his mother said with a sigh.
    “Seriously, I don’t know why women do that to themselves.”
    “That would be Donna and one of the reasons Ivy thinks I’m a slut,”
    Rafe explained. “Her, the parties Brody likes to throw at my place, the
    way Donna keeps trying to throw herself at me… Well, everything, even
    the fact that I didn’t know I had a daughter.”
    “She doesn’t like Bonnie?” his mother asked indignantly.
    “No, that’s not it. Bonnie has her charmed, but she thinks I’m some
    kind of playboy and doesn’t take me seriously. The fire is there, but Ivy
    assumes that all I want is the…usual,” he said.
    “Well, first, Brody is the slut and I’ve told you those parties would
    give people the wrong idea,” his mother said primly. “But that’s beside
    the point. Boys will be boys and Brody has no intention of growing up.
    But since when do you let any kind of stigma stop you? I recall when that
    whole scandal on Capitol Hill almost got the better of us. You stood
    beside your father and said my dad is innocent of all these charges and we
    were proved right. Do the same with Ivy and fight for her if you care.
    Keep the double Ds away from you and all should be well.”
    Rafe laughed out loud. “That’s what Ivy calls her too.”
    His mother grinned. “I like her already. Maybe I’ll have to visit her
    sometime.”
    “Mom,