The next day, Landon's schedule was hectic. Before he went to the hospital, he had to do a lot of shopping. He was missing everything; a crib, baby clothes, extra baby diapers, milk bottles, baby ribs, you name it. Other than that, he had to prepare Jamie's funeral. Because he had to do all that, it was impossible for him to go to class and to his work. He wasn't all that stressed about it, because he knew he can always work this out with his professors and his manager.

'But still. Thinking of one excuse won't hurt.' he thought. 'Just in case.'

As Landon was thinking of excuses to make, he was playing with Jade. He stuck his right pinky into the palm of her tiny hands as she clutched it, and never let go.

"Oh, what the hell!" He looked down to Jade and started talking to her. " I don't need to make excuses, right? It's not like I ditched, or anything. I just had to…send your mommy to heaven. They'll understand us. Right, Jade? They all know Jamie. They all know your mommy. And they adore her. Everyone loves your mommy." And that hit him. 'Wow, ' he thought. 'Mommy. This word fits Jamie so much.' Before he knew it, his eyes were watering again. He wiped his tears off his eyes as the nurse came up to him.

"Excuse me, Mr. Carter. It's time to feed your baby." She looked through Jade's diaper and smiled. " She needs to be changed as well. Why don't you come with me, so you can learn."

"Learn..learn what?" his eyebrows went two inches up.

" You know…change her, feed her. The basic things a father should know how to do, since her mother is…umm.."

'Dead. Just say it. It's not like it can hurt me anymore than this.' he thought to himself. But somehow, the only words he let out was…

"Oh. Ok."

After his long day, he went out to the porch with his journal, and looked for Jamie through the telescope. "Where are you? Ah…there you are. Hey, baby."

My sweet Jamie,

As you probably can see, everything was crazy today. Especially when I had to shop for Jade's necessities. I didn't know exactly what to get, so I had to take momma with me. It was funny. I didn't know what size of diapers I supposed to get, so I just picked out whatever I saw. Momma nearly cried from laughing at me so hard. She smacked me once and told me to go get the ones for newborn babies. I've bought some clothes, some beanies, socks, and mittens too, but they can't even compare to the ones you've made. Today the nurse taught me how to change, how to bathe, and how to feed her. "All the basic things a father should know how to do." Wow, Jamie. A father. Now, that's a big word for me. Do you think I'm going to be a good father? This is going to be so hard. Anyway, the nurse told me that Jade could come home tomorrow. I can't wait for you to meet her. Tomorrow I'm going to dress her in the pink sweater that you made for her.

Love,

Landon

He closed his journal and looked at Jamie through the telescope again.

"Goodnight, baby. I love you."