Free Scrambled Babies by Babe Hayes

forcefully, “I want the truth!”
    “Okay, okay, okay.  About—eighteen months.”  Bryce mumbled the last two words.
    “Eighteen months?”  Fred laughed confidently.  He turned to Paeton.  “This house is what they call a dog, Paeton.  It’s been on the market forever.  Probably not expensive enough for the Hollywood set.  A million dollars is not a lot of money out here.”
    Paeton frowned.  “A dog house?  I’m buying a dog house because it’s not expensive?  I don’t want an expensive house.  I want this house.  I don’t care if people think it’s a dog house or not.  It’s charming.  It’s wonderful.  It’s us.”
    Madison was confused.  “Mommy, are we going to live in a dog house?”
    Paeton laughed understandingly and bent to take Madison’s hand.  “No, honey.  We are buying an Alice in Wonderland house.  Dog house is an expression grown-ups use for a house that hasn’t sold for a long time.”  She turned to Fred.  “I’ll do whatever you think we should do.  Please don’t lose this house for me, Fred.  I love this house.  Madison loves this house.  We’ll be heartbroken if we don’t get it.”
    “Trust me, Paeton.  No one but us will make an offer on this house—forever!”  Fred chuckled some more.  “Eighteen months.  Ha!”
    Bryce fidgeted with one of the gold chains around his neck.  “Well, I hope you’re right.  A full-price offer would be—”
    Fred held up his hand again.  “Eight ninety, Bryce.  Let’s write it up.”
    “Whatever you say.  Whatever you say.  Whatever you say.”  And they all got back into the Ferrari and returned to the real estate office.
    Twenty minutes later, Paeton signed an offer of eight hundred ninety thousand dollars for her Hollywood dream house—the Alice house! 
    The baby in the travelseat startled her with a cry.  The cry brought a pang to her heart.  Kelsey!  Fred’s phone remained painfully inactive.
    She checked her watch.  She forced a cry of frustration back down her throat.  It was seven thirty in California!  It was ten thirty in Boston! 
    Paeton was still not hungry!
     
    #
     
    Steve checked his watch for the hundredth time in the past five minutes.  He couldn’t get his hand to stop shaking.  Ten fifteen.  Doing the game was hard enough, but being so close to making contact with her and then getting a wrong phone number almost killed him! 
    Speaking of killing someone, he could wring Sophia’s neck!  He had tried all kinds of variations of the numbers Sophia had given him, without success.  He finally gave up after calling ten and striking out.
    But at least he knew bewitching-mouth was somewhere in the Los Angeles area.  He would figure something out.
    He checked his watch.  Pony should be here any minute.   He knew he was grasping at straws, but maybe Pony could help. What a fluke that she was in town! 
    Still, Steve was beginning to be sorry he had called Pony to come to his office.  He knew he was taking advantage of her devotion to him.  He knew she would interpret it as romantic interest on his part.  But the reason he had called her was he figured he needed a woman to talk to.  And Pony was the only woman who would come to see him in Boston on a moment’s notice.  She was the only woman, period.  He hadn’t exactly been making the rounds lately.  His guilt about taking advantage of Pony made him uncomfortably warm.  Too bad!   The unnerving circumstances demanded desperate measures. 
    Steve left the door to the office open so he could see Pony get off the elevator.  The next time he looked up, there she was, breathless, coming down the hall. 
    The baby was asleep on the desk.  He glanced at her on the way to greet Pony.  Blip!  His heart vaulted when he saw her little baby mouth.  That mouth that would someday mature and reduce men to blithering idiots.  Too bad Pony didn’t do that for him.  He prepared himself for Pony’s onslaught.  He could