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Since giving her a snack, Libby only said“gully”once more. But since it came out with such a satisfied smile, Katherine believed that she’d solved the mystery.

“What smells so good?” Matthew yawned as he entered the kitchen.

“Mac and cheese.”

“You better watch out. We could get used to all this spoiling.”

Katherine smiled.

“How can I help?”

“Dinner’s almost done,” she said. “But if you don’t mind picking up cracker crumbs, I’ll start cooling some noodles for Libby and finish the garlic bread.”

After Matthew kissed Libby’s cheek, he picked up a few remaining crackers and a lot of cracker crumbs before taking Libby from the high chair to hold her. “I hope you were a good girl,” he said, blowing raspberries against her round belly.

“Noooo, Da-da! Noooo!” she squealed, giggling and fending off his attack.

When the garlic bread was done, plates were filled, and they all sat down to eat dinner.

“What does g-u-l-l-y mean?” Katherine asked to break the silence and satisfy her nagging curiosity.

“I have no idea.”

“She’s been sayinggullyall day,” Katherine said, whispering the “gully” part, hoping Libby wouldn’t hear.

“Gully, gully, gully!”

“See,” Katherine said. “You’ve really never heard that before?”

“Oh, I’ve heard it a lot,” Matthew chuckled. “And I meana lot. But I don’t know what it means.”

Then Matthew looked at Libby, who was busy stuffing a fistful of noodles into her mouth before she looked over and grinned at her daddy. Smears of sauce formed an outline around her lips.

“Gully-gully, Da-da,” she told him matter-of-factly, and Matthew smiled, reaching out to touch her cheek.

“I know, Libby Doll… gully-gully.”

Libby clapped her hands, then looked at Katherine as if she were waiting for her to say it too.

“Honestly, there’s been a few others like it. Things like hungry, and bottle, and doll were once equally confusing. But, for some reason, this one remains a mystery.”

“I kept thinking I was missing something. I mean, I triedeverything. Food, water, a diaper change, toys—you name it, I tried it.”

“It’s okay,” Matthew said. “At this point, we may never know.”

Together, they looked at Libby, who was deep in concentration, trying to push her tiny pointer finger inside the hole of an elbow noodle.

“As long as she’s happy and safe, that’s all I care about right now.”

After dinner, Katherine insisted on taking care of Libby again. “I’ll give her a quick bath and put her to bed while you go relax. Then when I’m finished, I’ll clean the kitchen.”

But Matthew insisted on cleaning everything, including the pots and pans, and wiping down the counters if Katherine was determined to take care of Libby.

To Katherine, it didn’t seem fair to leave Matthew with all the dirty work, especially since she was getting the fun part. But, after some determination on his part, she finally gave in.

“Katie, you don’t have to do everything,” he added, ushering her from the kitchen. “I’m completely capable of washing a few dishes.”

Fortunately for Katherine, the warm bath helped make diapering and dressing Libby a much smoother process than when she was wide awake and ready to play.