Free Scrambled Babies by Babe Hayes Page A

tell the way her face fell when she saw him that he was telegraphing his less than romantic mood.
    “Yo, Stevie!”  She tried to kiss him anyway, but she succeeded only in placing a glancing peck to the cheek.  Immediately a pout began to form.
    Steve smiled through his grimace.  “Yo, Pony!  Thanks for coming over so promptly.  Let’s go in here.”  Steve picked up the baby and led her into the chief editor’s office.  The editor let part-timers use it for privacy.
    Pony sulked in after him, scraping her high heels deliberately.  “Promptly?  Stevie, you make me sound like a business appointment.  You know, Steverino, I’d beam myself to you anytime, anywhere!  That is—if you’d let me!” 
    She went immediately over to the childseat.  The little girl was awake now.  “Oh, look at Ryan.  What a beautiful little boy.  Hi, Ryan.  How is my favorite baby?”
    Christ, she can’t tell the difference either.
    “Hey, Steverino, this kid’s as famous as you are.  The whole world—me included—heard him cry on TV.”  Apparently, she had quickly gotten over the missed-kiss blues because she suppressed a giggle.  Steve could feel the scowl on his face.  “Sorry.  I didn’t mean anything by it, Stevie.”  Steve could feel her searching his face.  “Uh, you bringing Ryan with you now?  I thought Greta took care of him when you traveled.”
    Steve tried to be more hospitable.  After all, he was the one who called her.  “Well, I’m turning over a new leaf, Pony.  Remember how when I first got Ryan, I said I would do all the baby work myself?  Then I found out I wasn’t up to it and hid the fact that I hired someone else to do it?  I’m changing all that.  I’m going to do it all myself now.  Well, most of it.”  He laughed.  “You should have seen Vin’s face tonight when I brought the kid into the booth!  He didn’t say anything, but his expression sure said it all.”
    Pony perched on the desk next to “Ryan.”  She peered into the childseat.  “God, beautiful boy, Steverino.”  She looked up.  “Uh, Stevie, you called me over here to tell me that?  I mean, it’s not that I mind or anything, but—”
    “Okay, okay.  You’re right.  No, I didn’t bring you over here for that.”  Steve started pacing.  “Pony, here’s the deal.  You’re a woman and—”
    “Wow, Stevo, I was kind of hoping you’d get around to that!”  She started to get off the desk, her arms extended.
    “No, I mean, you know about babies.  You’d know how a woman would feel if she lost her baby.”
    “Lost her baby?  Miscarriage?  You know I’ve never even been pregnant, Stevie.  But that’s one other thing I was thinking about.  Maybe you and I—you know.”  And she started to get off the desk again.
    Steve turned his back on her for a moment.  He was impatient with his inadequate questioning.  “Okay.  Okay.  And no, not a miscarriage.  Uh, let’s pretend someone took your baby.”
    “Someone kidnapped my baby?”
    Steve swallowed hard.  “Uh, kidnapped.  Yes, I guess that’s the appropriate, uh, term.  Anyway, you’re a woman.  You have instincts about stuff like this.  Okay, here’s the picture.  Let’s say you have a baby.  You’re at a—a bus terminal.  You—you set your baby down next to another baby.  When you get on the bus, you take the wrong baby with you.  Then when you find out you have the wrong baby and—”
    Pony looked at Steve warily.  “Steverino?  Uh, Stevie, you okay?  I’d do anything for you, you know that.  But—what the hell are you talking about?”  She cocked her head.  “And, Steverie, I wasn’t going to say anything, but your eye is twitching like a son of a bitch, you know that?” 
    As Pony slid off the desk, her oversized, overstuffed purse fell to the floor.  “Damn!”  Pony knelt down to start shoving the contents back into it.  Steve came around the desk to help.
    Pony held up one