Lily awoke from a peaceful sleep to the sound of someone knocking on the door. She opened her eyes and looked around, forgetting where she was momentarily. It came back to her quickly as she remembered checking into the large hotel in London, England the night before with the guys and her sister. The clock on the night stand read nine o’clock. Lily rubbed her eyes and looked at the twin bed next to hers. Vicky slept soundly as the knocking continued.
Realizing that Vicky wasn’t going anywhere, Lily got out of bed and walked over to the door that connected her room to the room next to it. She opened the door and found Brian standing there wearing only a pair of blue boxers. Whoa, Lily thought as she quickly glanced at his muscular body. Very nice.
“Did I wake you up? I’m sorry,” Brian apologized.
Lily smiled. “It’s okay. What can I do for ya?”
“Well, I was wondering if you watch Caitlin for me while I take a shower.”
“Sure, I’d love to,” she replied.
Brian looked at Lily. Her tee shirt and boxers were wrinkled from sleep and her hair was tousled, but Brian still thought she looked beautiful. “Thanks,” he said.
She smiled again. “No problem.”
Lily followed Brian into his room. She took a seat on his full sized bed while he searched through his bag for clean clothes. When he found some, he looked up at Lily. Their eyes met and they both smiled.
“I’ll be back,” Brian said, heading for the bathroom.
Lily sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She heard Caitlin start to stir and went over to the playpen and picked her up. “Good morning, Caitlin,” Lily said with a smile. Caitlin giggled.
Lily picked up Caitlin’s diaper bag and brought it and Caitlin back to the bed. She laid the baby down on the bed and opened the diaper bag. “Let’s see what kinda clothes you got in here,” she said to the baby while looking though the bag. “Hmm…Looks like Daddy picked out most of your clothes, huh?”
Most of Caitlin’s clothes were various shades of blue. Not that there was anything wrong with blue, it happened to be Lily’s favorite color. There were lots of boyish clothes like little sports jerseys. She kept looking through the bag until she found a light blue shirt with a baby duck on the front and a pair of light blue shorts. Lily changed Caitlin’s diaper and dressed her in the outfit. The she gave her a bottle of formula. Lily sat on the bed with the baby in her arms, feeding her.
“You are so adorable…Just like your daddy,” Lily whispered.
Brian emerged from the bathroom unnoticed to Lily. He stood at the door watching her and his daughter with a small smile on his face. A few minutes later, Lily looked up. She was startled to see Brian standing there, but smiled when she saw him. He was dressed in blue jeans and a dark blue tee shirt.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.”
Brian sat down beside Lily on the bed. He looked down at Caitlin who had just finished her bottle. “Hey, Angel. How’s my baby today?” he asked.
Caitlin cooed and reached her arms out toward Brian. He gently took her from Lily and sat her on his lap. Lily smiled at them. She couldn’t help it. They were so cute. Seeing Brian and Caitlin gave Lily the happiest feeling inside. She didn’t understand what made her feel this way.
“I guess I better go get dressed now,” Lily said.
“Okay. Thanks for watching her,” Brian said.
“No problem. After all, it is my job.”
“Yeah, but still…Hey, after you get dressed, you can come back over and hang out if you want,” he said, getting a bit shy again.
Lily nodded. “Okay.”
She stood and went to her room. She returned ten minutes later wearing jeans and a blue baby tee. Brian joined Lily on the bed after putting Caitlin back in the playpen. They spent the rest of the morning talking and getting to know each other. They found they had a lot in common, especially their love for music.
“I’m taking Caitlin to the park in a little while, wanna come?” Brian asked.
“Sure,” Lily said.
Brian flashed her a smile that made her melt inside. “Great.”
Vicky opened the door of her hotel room and found AJ standing there with a grin on his face. She was surprised to see him. “Hey, babe, wanna go shopping with me?” he asked.
Did he just call me babe? she asked herself. Shrugging off the thought, she replied, “Why do you wanna go with me?”
“Cause I wanna spend time with you,” he answered sweetly.
Vicky looked at him. He was certainly charming when he wanted to be, she had to give him credit for that. Yet for some reason, she didn’t completely believe him. “Is that the real reason?” she asked.
“Well…none of the guys would go with me…but I still wanna spend time with you.”
Vicky couldn’t help but smile. She knew that she liked him, but she wasn’t about to admit that to anyone, especially AJ. She grabbed her purse and walked out the door, closing it behind her. AJ looked at her. “Well, c’mon,” she said.
AJ grinned and they started off down the hall.
Brian and Lily sat on a blanket in the quiet little park watching Caitlin as she played with her toys. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. A kind looking middle- aged woman walked up to them and stopped. She looked at each of them. “My, what a lovely family,” she said. Lily and Brian glanced nervously at each other and blushed. The woman looked at Lily. “You have a beautiful daughter, dear.” Lily didn’t know how to respond. She glanced quickly at Brian, but he was looking down with a strange expression on his face. “Um…thank you, but uh, she’s not my daughter.”
“Oh, I’m sorry…I just thought…well, never mind. I’ll be going now,” the woman said and walked off.
Lily turned to Brian. She couldn’t stand to see him so sad. “Brian…you okay?” she asked softly. Brian looked at her and nodded. “You know, if you ever wanna talk about anything, I’m willing to listen,” she told him.
“Feel like listening now?” he asked.
“Sure, if you feel like talking,” she replied.
Brian took a deep breath, not sure where to start. “When I was fifteen, I lived in Kentucky with my parents. I met this girl named Rachel who was my age at the park one day. She was beautiful; long blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a great personality, too; very sweet, and funny, and smart. You know, you remind me a lot of her sometimes, which is hard…Anyway, Rachel and I became really good friends and eventually began dating. She was the first…and only girl that I had ever loved. She moved down to Orlando with me when we were eighteen. I spent a long time thinking about whether or not I should ask her to marry me. I knew I wanted to, but I decided to wait until I saw how things were gonna turn out with the group. About a year ago, we found out Rachel was pregnant with Caitlin. It was unexpected, but we were both really happy. Rachel’s body was small, and when it came time for her to deliver, her body couldn’t handle the stress. Her heart gave out and they couldn’t save her. They managed to save Caitlin and I am so thankful for that. I love her so much; she’s my entire life. But I miss Rachel so much. It’s been three months, but I still miss her just as much…” Brian trailed off. His tears were flowing freely now and he did nothing to stop them.
Lily felt tears burning at her eyes. She felt her heart break in two. Not knowing what to say, she pulled Brian in for a hug. He held on to her tightly and cried.
