Danny kept his promise and came to visit us twice before the baby was born. He always made a big entrance with toys for his nephew and a couple things for the new baby. One of the female attorneys he worked with helped him shop, he told us. There was never any news on the romantic front with him and I didn’t press. Vicky did, as often as possible.
“When are you going to make this kid some cousins?” she asked.
“You’re making him a brother. What’s he need cousins for?” he said.
“Brother?” she said.
“My mother and your father think it’s going to be a girl,” Vicky said.
“You spoke to him?” Danny asked, looking at me.
I nodded. He left it at that without so much as a smile and continued his conversation with my wife.
“Well I’m hoping for a boy. I mean, everything we bought him was blue.”
“We?” she asked.
“Elizabeth and I. We work together.”
“So is this Elizabeth someone…” she started but he was already shaking his head.
“She’s engaged,” he said.
“So,” I butted in. “If she’s the one, she’s the one. Her fiancé will just have to find someone else.”
Vicky felt my forehead for fever. “Are you feeling well? Giving love advice?”
“I need the practice. This little guy is going to break hearts,” I said, patting Sean on the head. He was busy with a Batman action figure, courtesy of his uncle, zooming it around the room like an airplane. Then he stopped and held it up for me to see.
“I getchoo, badguy,” he said followed by some punching noises.
“Ouch!” I said and pretended to fall on the floor and die. Sean found my performance convincing enough to laugh at me.
“Girls can wear blue,” Vicky said.
Danny laughed. She rubbed her swollen belly and groaned.