He smiled and sat down beside her with his namesake safely snuggled in his grasp. “You will be fine. You just have not had any practice. Like this, yes, that is lovely.” He gently placed the baby in her arms, showing her how to support the head. “See? You are magnificent.”
He leaned forward so only Sophie could hear him. “You will be the most beautiful mother in the world when you hold our child in your arms.” She looked at him in shock, and he smiled, kissing her lips lingeringly.
“DUDE!” Carter shouted, startling everyone. He stood in the doorway, his eyes bouncing back and forth between Michael and Sophie. “What the fuck was that? You just kissed her!”
“Language in front of the baby!” scolded Janet.
“Fuck language! He’s not even six weeks old!” Carter suddenly got up in Michael’s face. “Don’t even tell me you two are together again. You are toxic together. Don’t you remember our year on the road?”
“Carter, get a grip.” Sophie rolled her eyes and sighed. “That was more than ten years ago. I’m not seventeen. I’m not a virgin, and haven’t been for a while. And he,” she pointed at Michael, trying not to drop the baby as she did so, “is the only man I will ever love. So get over it.”
Carter sat down, his face confused.
Janet laughed. “You’ve been told,” she said. “Besides, any man who is that comfortable with babies is a good catch.”
-
March 5, 2014
They stood near the corner newsstand, looking at the piles of the New York Times. People walked by on their way to the train, grabbing copies and throwing their money to the vendor. It was like any other workday in New York City, except they could see Michael’s face on the front of the paper.
He edged up to the vendor, flung some money at him, grabbed a paper, and ran back to Sophie. “The article is on the front page. The front page!” he hissed. He grabbed her arm and started hustling her back the way they came. They were on their way to the UNICEF offices downtown.
“Of course it’s on the front page. They told you at the end of yesterday’s interview that this would be a significant story in today’s edition.” She struggled against his grip. “The subway is that way.”
“I am not getting on that train. All those people have the newspaper! They will look at me! We will drive instead.”
“Are you crazy? It’ll cost you a fortune to park! Nobody drives in the city during the day.”
He didn’t reply. Instead, he kept walking back to his parents’ house so fast that Sophie had to jog to keep up. While she waited in the car, he ran back into the house to get a pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap. She snorted at his drama but said nothing.
They drove through appalling traffic to UNICEF headquarters to meet Joanna Rigby. Sophie started reading the article aloud to Michael, but stopped when she saw the look on his face. The headline in the paper on her lap was clearly visible.
American Discovered in Squalor of Orlisian Refugee Camp
Pressure mounts on UN to move faster upon reports of atrocities
“It’s a fair, accurate article. Their world affairs reporter has a very balanced approach. That’s why we gave him the first interview. You did a terrific job, Joanna told you so.” She gazed at him with concern. “You don’t have to do any more of this if you don’t want to.”
“I do not want to, you know this. But the UN has to move faster. Those in Parnaas need all the help we can give them.” He took a deep breath. “I find this very overwhelming.”
-
Applause rang out as they entered the room that had been set aside for their use.
“A great start today with the Times article. Front page, with a picture. You wowed them, Michael.” Joanna handed him a coffee. “Are you up for more interviews today?”
“Yes,” he said shortly.
“Good. Because we have a lot of requests.” Joanna’s eyes flickered up to Sophie’s and then back to his. “A lot.”
-
March 31, 2014