Five Days Old

Eric rolled his eyes when his mother told him she would do his grocery shopping because she didn't want Nevaeh to get a chill by going by the frozen food section, the place in the store when Eric spent most of his shopping time. Even Rachel said her mother were over-reacting. Nevaeh was a healthy baby. Unless her father planned to put her in the freezer while he shopped, Nevaeh would be fine. Eric told his mother he would make he had the hood of Nevarh's fleece sweater up.

The grocery store trip was the baby's first trip outside the apartment. Eric was looking forward to showing her off.

"You look so pretty," Eric said, as he adjusted the blue faded print, bell-bottom style jeans on his baby daughter. He topped the outfit off with a white t-shirt that read "Little Princess" in pink letters and a purple hoodie. Nevaeh looked at him with big eyes. "We're going on a little trip today."

Eric learned just how good a 'chick magnet' a baby was the moment he took her out of his blue Honda Accord. The smiles came from women right away, especially at Costco where Eric went after the local market to pick up some kiddy snacks and juice boxes for his "buddies," Mateo and Sasha, when they came by. People must have thought Eric had more than one child. Eric often sleep-overs with his nephews when their mom and dad went out for the night. They probably wouldn't have sleep-overs for a while but that didn't mean the boys couldn't spend weekend afternoons with him. Eric enjoyed that as much the children did. Now that the spare room was occupied, Eric told the two boys when they had sleepovers again, the boys could bring their sleeping bags and sleep on the floor in the living room. That made the boys excited.

"She's so cute! How old is she?" He heard countless times while shopping. If Eric had been looking, he could have received tons of women's phone numbers. Returning from their short trip, he found his father, accompanied by Mateo in his driveway. Two-year-old Mateo was holding a small plush teddy bear.

"Hola, tio Eric!" Mateo said excitedly, running over to Eric when Eric got out of the car.

"Hi ya, pal," Eric said, hugging the boy. "You came over to see your cousin, didn't you?"

Mateo nodded.

"I got dis for her," he said, showing Eric the bear. "I bought it myself! Tan I 'old her today? Pease? I be very careful."

"Okay, buddy. How 'bout you help me and dedushka put the groceries away and then you can hold Nevaeh."

"Okay!"

Little Mateo was more careful and gentle with the baby than the adults would have thought. They had to give the boy some credit.

"She likes you," Eric told Mateo of Nevaeh.

Even though some parents described the all day staying at home with a baby and doing other household chores to be "mind-numbing," Eric was enjoying the experience. He knew he had to, but he wasn't looking to going back to work.

"She didn't mind the shopping?" His father asked.

"Not at all," Eric said with a smile. "Then again I wouldn't either if everyone passing by told me I was cute."

To celebrate the fact that the dreaded phone call or knock on the door with Tammy wanting to take Nevaeh not coming, while at Costco , Eric had bought a cake and had the words "We Love You, Nevaeh"written on it. He told his father he was going to invite over that evening to celebrate.

"Your mom had the same idea," Pavel said. "She already started cooking stuff She wanted me to ask if that was okay."

"I guess we're having a party," Eric smiled.

"A party?" Mateo said, turning to look at the two men. "For Nevaeh?"

"Yep," Eric said.

"Yay!"

Meanwhile...

Tammy Lewis drove straight to Port Charlotte, non-stop the moment she was released from Miami General. All her things were already there in her new apartment. For the three months prior to giving birth she had lived with a older female friend named Felicia. She couldn't wait to leave this city. For the two days she were in the hospital after giving birth or "having it removed) as she put it, her friends stopped by, aghast at how Tammy talked of the newborn girl. She had been like that during the pregnancy but many thought for sure that Tammy's feeling toward the child would change once she gave birth.

"What's going to happen to her?" One of her older friends asked.

Tammy shrugged.

"I signed the papers already. As far as I know they're letting that Cuban tow truck driver have her."

"You mean Eric, her father," the woman almost growled.

" Either way it's not my problem anymore."

In the past few months Felicia had learned much about Eric Delko, be it through his attorney. But all accounts he was an honest, hard-working young man who had made the mistake of having sex with Tammy. She had seen him once when she drove Tammy to the lawyer's office. She had a feeling the little girl would be much better off with him, or she hoped so.

Felicia's feeling was only affirmed when she was leaving. She was passing the nursery and the blinds were up. She saw Eric, he was holding a baby with dark hair and eyes. Felicia stood there watching for several minutes. Visiting hours must ended, she saw Eric smile, give the baby a kiss and whisper something to her before gently putting down in the clear plastic bassinet. A pink piece of paper was on the side of the bassinet listed the baby's name as Nevaeh Esperanza Delko.

"Ms. Reynolds?"

A male voice jerked Felicia from her thoughts.

"Eric!" Felicia said. "How are you?"

"Great!" Eric smiled. "Did you see her? Isn't she beautiful?"

"She is," Felicia said. She had to ask. "Are you..."

"I'm taking her home," Eric replied. "The day after tomorrow. Everything's ready."

Tammy may have not been a happy new mom but Eric was definitely a very happy new dad.

"Congratulations. I know you'll give her a wonderful life."

"Thank you, ma'am," Eric said.

All the adults in the Delko family had been as on edge as Eric. They too felt that they could now "breathe.' This was also partly why the cake read "We Love You," not "Welcome." Nevaeh's party to celebrate both her arrival (and her staying with her dad for good) at her grandparents' house proved to be a bit overwhelming for her. She was passed around a little too much and the few balloons that were popped by her excited cousins startled her.

"Do you wanna go home, sweetie?" Pavel asked his granddaughter. "Have you had enough of your party? I think someone's tired, daddy," he said to Eric.

Nevaeh was already asleep by the time the two arrived home a half hour later. Pavel had changed her diaper so all Eric had to do was put on her pajamas. Nevaeh slept right through that too.

"All partied, huh?" Eric said kissing her forehead as he laid her in her crib. "Good night, my sweet angel," he whispered.