Brian Haner Jr

Brian felt as if he'd stumbled into an old master's painting. Nicole sat in the rocking chair in the corner, holding Sky in her arms. Subtle light brought out the gold in Nicole'sblond hair and make her skin glow. Sky was awake and staring up into Nicole's eyes.

Mother and child, he thought as he continued to study them. A month ago he couldn't have imagined having either of them in his life. Now he didn't know what his would would be like without them.

Nicole looked up at him. "You're not working," she said. "The wallpaper isn't going to hang itself. Or are you wating for me to offer."

"No, I'll do it."

She smiled and some of his tension eased. When Nicole had first arrived a couple of hours before, she'd been quiet and withdrawn. Normally she enjoyed talking about her day, but this time all she'd said was that she'd had an emergency at the hospital and that it had cut into her time at the clinic. She'd gone back to see as many patients as possible, but some hadn't been able to wait for her.

Brian knew there was something else bothering her, but he wasn't going to pry. When she wanted to talk, he would listen. Until then, he was content to enjoy her company.

He checked the back of the border print he held. It was tacky but not too wet, so he climbed the short ladder and carefully smoothed it into place.

"It's crooked," Nicole said helpfully. "And there are about a dozen air pockets."

"Thanks," he muttered, reaching up to adjust the paper. But he'd waited too long and it didn't slide against the wall anymore. He gave a hard shove. Instead of moving, the border print tore. A short peice seperated from the rest and fluttered to the floor.

"Don't say anything," he commanded as he ripped off the rest of the strip and flung it down. "I hate hanging wallpaper."

Nicole cleared her throat. "Wow, so when you offered to pay me back by wallpapering my house, you were lying. Even I can do better than you."

"Yeah, well. I hate hanging wallpaper. Why can't people just use paint?" He hunched his shoulder and turned to glare at her. "I wasn't lying. I would have done it. I was just hoping you'd let me do something else. Something simple."

"Or you could have one of your friend's do it."

He shook his head. "That wouldn't work. It's my debt, so I have to pay you back."

"No debt," she said softly. "We're friends, Brian. I'm happy to help."

She was tall and athletic, not at all petite or dainty, yet she was the most feminine woman he'd ever known. The hands holding his daughter were strong and capable. She was someone he could depend on and there hadn't been many types like that in his life.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he said, snagging one of the fallen strips of border print.

"Hanging paper?"

"No, hanging a print that's ballerina teddy bears. It's so girly."

Nicole laughed. "You have a daughter. Get used to the girl thing."

"I guess. I even ordered curtains and the matching lamp. The good news is that when I told Sky about it, she was really happy."

"Oh? How did you know this?"

"She smiled at me." He made the statement faintly defensively, but he knew that she'd been smiling at him. Her lips had curved and everything.

"Brian, she's three weeks old. She can't smile. It was gas."

"It was not."

"Right." Her look and her tone were indulgent. He shifted his attention to his daughter. Three weeks. Is that all the time it had been? It felt longer.

"She still doesn't have any toys," he said. "I have to find time to get some."

Nicole shifter Sky and crossed her legs. "Speaking of buying things for your daughter, I've been thinking about throwing you a baby shower."

"Why?"

She grinned. "Don't look so panicked. It won't hurt...much. Actually the shower isn't for you, it's for Sky. So many people want to see her, and probably see her with you. It would be alot of fun. We could register you at the baby store and at a toy store. What do you think?"

"Why?"

"You keep asking that. It's a girl thing. Trust me. I'll take care of verything. Just say yes."

He had a bad feeling he was going to regret it, but he muttered, "Yes," then asked if anything strange happened at baby showers.

"Define strange," she told him.

"Never mind."

"We'll need to pick a date so that I can mail out invitations. We can't do it for her one month birthday. For one thing, that's next weekend and I can't plan that fast. Not to mention next weekend is booked. I'll have Matt's son until Sunday evening. Maybe we can celebrate her six week birthday."

"Whatever." He began measuring out a length of the border print. At least he'd remembered to buy double the amount so that he would have enough, despite the occasional mishap. "I can't believe you're taking Kyle for the weekend."

"I tried to take him for just a night but he got pretty insistent that I have him the whole time. What a perfectionist he is."

He glanced at her. Laughter glittered in her eyes. "You're nothing like I thought you'd be," He told her.

"Meaning?"

"You have a sense of humor. You're human. I thought doctors were stuffy by nature."

"They try to teach us that, but I never had time to fit that particular class into my schedule."

"It's not just that," he said. "You don't act like you're God. You treat people with respect. I thought you'd disapprove of what I do for a living."

She straightened in the rocking chair and stared at him. "How could you think that? Brian, you're brilliant at what you do. How many people do you know who can coordinate a project of this magnitude? We're not talking about writing a song but preforming it infront of thousands of people.

"It's just an album. You save lives."

"And without music, people would die from being so depressed. Everyone contributes in a different way. I would never judge someone based on their work."

"Like I said, you're not how I imagined."

"Doctors are real people too," she said. "If we seem a little crabby at times, it's just because we had to spend so much time in school."

He looked around the room, then his gaze settled on his daughter, now dozing in Nicole's arms. "I never thought I would see anything like this. You sitting there, holding my daughter. Of course I never thought I'd have a child."

"How do you like it?"

"She's the best thing that ever happened to me."

Nicole's smile turned tender. "I'm glad. I'm glad you kept her and I'm glad you two are so happy together."

"Me, too."

He was also that the Nicole was in his life, but he didn't tell her that. This wasn't the time. Then he wondered if that would ever change. Nicole wasn't for him- even if he was the kind of man who did long-term commitments. Which he didn't. So they would just stay friends and he would make sure that was enough.