Chapter 8: Life as she knows it

Chapter 8: Life as she knows it

She took Demi's fluffy pillows and made a rectangular makeshift baby bed on her bed. She laid baby Noah inside the rectangle.

"Until you are able to give him back, you have to get a baby cot" Charity suggested

"Why...I am not keeping him for long"

"Well, a lot of accident can happen when an infant sleep on the same bed as a adult, you could roll over on top of him and suffocate him to death" Charity said it like it wasn't a big deal that she might kill her half nephew.

"I will get a cot tomorrow on my way to drop him off with my brother"

Demi saw Charity give her the –I- think – you – are – a – horrible – person - look.

"Don't give me that look...you and I know the baby is safer with my brother" She told her judgmental friend.

"I am not judging you, Ally....I just wonder sometimes whether you might be in a hurry to get rid of Noah because of your Jackson, because he hates kids?"

"What Jackson and I have works, Charity. We are two peas in a pod and we are both broken. And as a bonus he is not trying to fix me. It's kind of nice, Charity" Demi said and smiled.

Charity grabbed her hands "Demi Aaliyah Macks, You are perfect just the way you are but if you talk about my best friend in that manner again I am going to smack you, do you understand?"

"Yes Ma'am" Demi chuckled.

"Are you sure you want to go through with it?" Charity asked and pointed at Noah.

It was a good question.

Charity left around 10 a.m and everything seemed to be working out great. The baby slept most of the day, only waking up at interval to eat semi-warm milk from the bottle. Demi took the time to text Zoe steeps about finding the baby's mother.

By Midnight, the baby was asleep and everything seemed to be going fine until thirty minutes later when Noah started screaming his lungs out. Demi had no idea that such tiny lungs could produce such screeching sound.

She stood up and went to the bedroom. She tried touching him in the same soothing manner Charity did but her touch seemed to be made of body piercing dagger.

It was too late to call Charity and her brother, Mason wasn't picking her calls but it didn't stop Demi from calling him fifteen more times. Out of options, she searched and dialed the number of her old secretary when she was stick a practicing lawyer and she picked up.

"Miss Macks" Wendy sounded both nervous and uncertain.

Anyone would be nervous too if their former boss called them in the middle of the night via video call.

"Do you know how to get a crying baby to stop cry?"

From the pause in Wendy's breathing, Demi can only assume she wasn't expecting her question.

"I am sorry but I don't understand the question"

Demi took the phone to where Noah was and showed her the crying infant.

"I need you to make him stop" She told her and she was very serious.

"Hmm....have you...have you tried giving him his bottle?" Wendy asked her.

"He is not taking it" Demi said amidst her frustration.

She showed her the bottle of baby formula Charity made before she left.

"Miss Macks, the bottle looks cold. Did you take it out of the refrigerator?" Wendy asked.

"Yes" Demi liked her milk cold too.

"You have to make it warm or he won't take it. Miss Macks, if I may suggest, don't make it to hot or it will burn his mouth and he won't eat for days"

"How do I know when it is too hot or too cold?" Demi asked like she was taking a class on how to make a baby's formula.

"My mama always pours it on her hand to check the temperature, it is also old school and I think they have a temperature thingy specially made to take temperature of the bottle"

Demi followed Wendy's instructions and made the perfect bottle. She fed Noah but even though he was no longer crying, he refused to sleep and all the while Wendy was still on the phone.

"Wendy, he is not sleeping"

"Miss Macks...can I please see the baby?"

Demi took the phone to where the baby was and Wendy talked to the baby in a funny voice. She sang a baby lullaby until Noah dosed off.

"Thank you Wendy, you are a life saver" she told Wendy and hung up.

Demi was sure her former introverted legal secretary had a million and one questions on how she got her hands on a baby but wasn't brave enough to ask her.

Noah woke up five more times in the night before he finally went to sleep. Demi dozed off soon after around 5:25 in the morning. The sound of her phone woke her up and as soon as she saw the caller's id, she sat upright so fast that she almost broke a vase near the sofa.

"Hi Zoe" Demi answered the phone sounding as happy as the day she was given a trophy for winning the spelling bee in fifth grade.

"I found your sister, Miss Macks"

Demi felt her heart beat with excitement and her pulse raced as blood rushed to her face. She was as excited as a child when she turned around and smile at Noah

"Where is she? Please...please, tell me she's somewhere close" She said as she picked up her nephew.