Free Having My Baby by Theresa Ragan Page A

book by its cover,” Derrick said. “Never forget that.”
    “Sorry,” Sandy said as she struggled with bags and packages and at the same time tried to get a hold of Lexi’s arm before her daughter could get inside Derrick’s apartment.
    Too late.
    Cliff was in the kitchen putting away plates and utensils while Brad fiddled with hooking up the television. Jake sat on the couch with his iced tea which left Connor to go to the door and free Sandy of her burden.
    “I’m fine,” she said.
    “Not a problem,” Connor said, taking her bags anyhow.
    Lexi pulled on Derrick’s pant leg. “Want to draw? I have new crayons.”
    Derrick bent down on his good knee so the top of Lexi’s head came to his chest instead of his knees. “You’re in luck. My brother, Jake, loves to color.” Derrick pointed to the couch where Jake sat.
    Lexi didn’t waste any time taking the crayons and coloring book to him.
    Jake paled as the kid crawled onto his lap and got comfortable. Lexi opened her animal coloring book and stabbed a finger at the first picture she came to. “Wets do the wyon first. He says ‘roar.’” Lexi roared a couple of times and then smiled, proud of herself.
    Sandy stood just inside the doorway and shook her head. “I’m sorry, she’s too fast for me these days.”
    “Jake doesn’t mind,” Derrick said. “He was the coloring champion in his kindergarten days.”
    The look Jake gave him told Derrick that his brother would find a way to get him back later.
    “Ooooh,” Lexi said to Jake. “I wike you.”
    Jake forced a smile as he took the crayon Lexi stabbed into his hand and started coloring.
    Sandy looked around the apartment. “So which one of you lives here?” she asked Derrick.
    “Derrick’s renting the place for a few months,” Brad told her.
    “ Really ? Does Jill know?”
    “Not yet.” Derrick gestured toward Jake, hoping to change the subject. “Sandy, I’d like you to meet a few of my brothers. Jake is the one coloring. Cliff is in the kitchen unloading and Brad is the guy fiddling with the television.” All three brothers greeted her with either a wave or a hello. “The well-dressed one with your bags is Connor.”
    She smiled and made eye contact with everyone but Connor. Derrick couldn’t help but wonder if Sandy was being shy. He wouldn’t have guessed she had a timid bone in her body.
    “Did you say ‘a few of your brothers’?” she asked. “Are there more?”
    “Three more,” Connor said. “Garrett, Lucas, and Aaron—and two sisters: Rachel and Zoey.”
    “Your mother must be some woman. I have my hands full with one.”
    “She is,” all the brothers said at once.
    Sandy seemed like a different person today, Derrick thought. She seemed relaxed, as if her guard was down. Or maybe she’d come to terms with the fact that he was in the picture now and everybody would be best served to make the best of it.
    She looked over her shoulder and said, “Oh, look. There’s Jill now. Come on, Lexi, time to go.”
    Derrick swept past his guests and headed out the door where he saw Jill trudging up the stairs to her apartment. Ryan was strapped into a baby carrier.
    He greeted her at the top of the landing. “Hi.”
    She stopped on the last stair. “What are you doing here?”
    “I live here now.” He pointed to the apartment across the way.
    She looked in the direction he pointed and saw Sandy surrounded by men. “What is Sandy doing over there?”
    “She and Lexi stopped by to say hello. I was hoping you could do the same.” He lifted a finger. “One moment of your time, that’s all I ask, just long enough to give my brothers a glimpse of their nephew.”
    Jill moved past him and set the baby carrier on the welcome mat in front of her apartment so she could sift through her purse for her keys. “You shouldn’t have moved here. I can’t believe you would stoop that low.”
    Derrick didn’t respond. He didn’t want to argue with her because the truth was he’d