After they Taylor tossed the softball in the air, and hit it with a crack out to Zac and Iris. “Get under it Iris, under it!” he shouted to her.
Iris ran up under the ball, and looked almost as surprised as Zac and Taylor when it landed in her glove. “Good job!” Zac enthused. Taryn leaned back in her chaise lounge. “Taylor is so incredibly good with younger kids,” she observed. “I know I’ve said it before, but he just amazes me.” Isaac nodded. “I hope I’m half as good a father as I think he will be,” he said, rolling Clara’s stroller back and forth gently with his foot. Taryn turned to look at Isaac. “You’re doing great so far,” she said. Taryn and Isaac watched in amusement as Taylor hit a pop fly out to Iris and Zac, who collided and fell to the ground racing for it. “They’re poetry in motion,” Isaac said. Taryn peered over at Clara. “Looks like someone’s about ready for bed,” she said. Isaac nodded. “Want me to take her in and lay her down?” “Sure,” Taryn said. “Need help?” Isaac shook his head and rose from his chair. “No,” he said. “I got it.” He picked Clara up gently and took her into the nursery. He flipped on the nightlight and laid her on her dressing table. He changed her diaper and dressed her in a pair of cotton pajamas, and smiled to himself as Clara stirred but never really woke up. I’m a pretty smooth dad, he thought to himself. Isaac picked Clara up carefully. He put her against his shoulder, and decided he wasn’t quite ready to part with her for the night. He sat in the wooden rocking chair next to her crib and began rocking her gently. As he rocked, he sang quietly to her. “I love you more than anything, than anything, I do, and I’d give anything, and everything I have, just to be with you …” Isaac finished the song as he rocked his daughter. His heart was bursting. He had never known it was possible to love another person so much. He stood and lowered Clara slowly into her crib. He made sure her pacifier was firmly in her mouth and that there were no pillows or stuffed animals too close to her face. He softly stroked her baby fine curls. “I thought I knew who I wrote that song for, baby brown eyes,” he said quietly. “But now that you’re here, I realize that it was always about you. I really do love you more than anything.” Isaac leaned down and rested his chin on the crib railing. “I missed so much,” he said to his sleeping baby. “But I’m going to make up for it. I swear. You and I are in it for the long haul, kid. You’re never getting rid of me now.” Clara spit her pacifier out and began stirring. Isaac quickly put it back in her mouth. “There is nothing in this world that is more important to me than you are,” he said. “I’m new at this, though, so you’re going to have to bear with me. I’m going to make mistakes. Just always know that I love you so much. I just want the best of everything for you, always. I have to confess to you that I’m a little scared, too. But I’ll get over it. We’ll get through it together.” Isaac sighed. “I love your mom, Clara,” he said. “I know she loves me, too, but I have to be honest and tell you that I don’t know if things are going to work out for us. So much has happened … things that you won’t even know about until you’re a lot older, if you ever know about them at all. "I just felt like it was important for you to know that you’re here because we love each other very, very much, You were a surprise, but now that you’re here I’m so thankful for you.” Isaac’s warm brown eyes filled with tears. He looked toward the ceiling. “Please, God,” he whispered. “Help me make the right decisions. Help me be the father that my baby needs and deserves. And please, please help me get over the hurt and the bitterness.” Isaac kissed the tips of his index and middle fingers and laid them gently on Clara’s head. “You and me, baby brown eyes,” he said. “Forever.” Isaac left the nursery and closed the door softly behind him.
finished their first drinks, Taryn mixed refills and she and Isaac went out onto the back patio to watch Taylor, Iris and Zac playing ball. The sun was setting, and Clara was beginning to doze off in her stroller.
