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Sven

L ater that night, Stacie and Winnie were downstairs doing laundry. Perhaps he may have gone overboard and bought her almost everything in the baby section of Target, but he had to make up for lost time. All that while he was in the guest room, trying to put together a crib. He was Swedish, so putting together furniture like this should’ve come easy to him, but he was struggling. So, he was tempted to call someone to come do it for him.

But he was going to do this. He stood and looked at the extra screw in his hand. That wasn’t right , he thought as he opened the instructions again. All three times, his dad had called, and he had sent him to voicemail. But this time, the face that showed up was a bit better. It was his baby sister.

“Tillie, what’s going on?” he said to the FaceTime.

“What’s going on with you? I was just letting you know I’ll be in town next week. We play the Glendale Huskies. You’re scheduled for a home game, and I’d love to see you.”

Tillie attended Michigan University and was on their hockey team.

“Yeah, let’s work that out,” he said, still eyeing the crib, trying to figure out what he had done wrong.

“What are you doing? Is that a crib in your guest room?”

“Yeah,” he said.

While he wasn’t ready to talk about what was happening, his sister was the only person he thought he could talk to about this.

“Tillie . . .”

“What is it?” she asked, her expression changing from curiosity to concern.

“I fucked up . . .”

“What the fuck did you do, Sven?”

He looked at her, but no words would come out. I have a baby . I got a bunny pregnant . I’m a dad . All those were things he could say, but instead, he just stood there, gaping at his phone, with no words coming out.

“Oh my god... Did you finally knock up one of your one-night stands?”

All the breath left his body. At least he didn’t have to actually say the words yet. He just nodded.

Her mouth fell open, and an astonished huh left her lips. “When?”

“I’m not sure.”

“When did you find out?”

“This morning.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really have it figured out yet. They’re staying here.”

Tillie shook her head with a confused expression. “What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, ‘what do I mean’? They are staying here.”

“Do you even know her?”

“Uhhh... well... not really, but what was I supposed to do? She lost her job when she got pregnant, and she was staying in some terrible motel. Was I just supposed to let them stay there?”

“Sven! Are you even sure the baby is yours?”

The thought had crossed his mind, but not once he’d seen her.

“I’m as sure as I can be. She looks just like me, Tillie.”

“So, you are just going to let them stay there with you? I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

He sat on the bed. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea either, but I don’t know what else to do.”

“You’re a dad.”

He just nodded. He hadn’t quite been able to utter those words.

“Have you told our dad yet?”

He gave her a look.

“You’re going to have to sooner or later.”

He let out a deep sigh and ran his hand through his hair. “I know... I just need more time with it to figure out how this is all going to work before I do that.”

“Are you okay?”

He blew out a breath. “I don’t know... I’m trying to be, but this is a lot.”

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

“I don’t know... I’m still in shock, but, Tillie, she’s so cute. She’s like the cutest, most perfect baby I’ve ever seen.”

She just smiled at him. “Wait. I’m an aunt!”

“Yeah,” Sven said. That thought made him smile. “You’ll be in town next week, you said?”

“Yeah, our game is Friday night.”

“Okay, will you have any time apart from the team?”

“I’ll get some. I have a baby niece to meet.”

“I’m excited to see you, Tillie.”

“You too, big brother.”

“I’m going to let you go. I need to figure out where these extra screws go,” he said, looking at the screws in his hand.

After he got off the phone and figured out where the screws went, he went down to check on the two new ladies in his house.

“I know... He said I could stay here. Yeah, of course it’s nice... Winnie seems to already have him wrapped around her finger... Don’t you, little girl...” she said in a baby voice to the baby in the bouncer next to her. Sven’s heart squeezed as his baby cooed. “I’m trying... I just need some time...”

As he came around the corner, he saw her on the floor folding all the new clothes.

Winnie’s eyes drifted up to him, and he gave her an exaggerated smile, and she smiled right back at him. As weird as this whole thing was, he was pretty sure she was a perfect baby.

Stacie looked over her shoulder and jumped as if Sven had scared her. He mouthed sorry , since she was still on the phone.

“I’m going to have to let you go,” she said before hanging up.“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. I finally got the crib put together. I can go put the sheets on if you want.”

“I can do it,” she said, moving to stand. “But after that, it’s time for Winnie’s bath and a bottle.”

“Can I help with that?” Sven asked.

“Do you really want to?” She walked over to Sven.

“Yeah, I really do,” he said, still making faces at the baby.

“Thank you so much, for everything...” said Stacie. Her voice caught on the last few words, and before he knew it, she was clinging to Sven, crying. “I was so scared to tell you. I thought you might send us away, and I didn’t know what I would do if that happened.”

“Shhhh,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “It’s okay. You can stay here, and we’ll get it all figured out. You should’ve come sooner. I would’ve helped.”

She pulled back and glanced up at him.

He was still having a hard time placing her.

“This is going to make me sound like a total dick, but when did we hook up?”

She laughed. “So, I was that forgettable, huh? It was about fourteen months ago. When you were in Detroit last December.”

He thought back. He did remember her. “You were a shot girl, you say?”

“Yeah, I tried to tell you. I got tickets to the gala, but you didn’t seem interested.”

So, she was the woman from the gala. He thought he had recognized her from that event.

“I thought you were from the gala. Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?”

“I wanted to,” she said as she walked closer to him. “I just was scared. When I finally got the nerve to come talk to you, someone important arrived, and you were busy... I just lost my nerve then, I guess.”

Finally, he remembered. His father had shown up towards the end of the gala. If that hadn’t happened, this whole thing could have been different.

“Well, that’s behind us now. We’ll get this figured out.”

She stepped in closer and wrapped her arms around him again.

Even though he hugged her back, it felt different this time. He hoped she wasn’t getting the wrong idea because he was going to be here for her and Winnie, but it was just that.

But then Winnie whimpered, and he moved out of the awkward embrace.

“You go get those on the bed, and I’ll pick up my girl,” he said, bending to get Winnie out of the bouncer. “There is a guest bath across the hall. We can give her a bath as soon as you’re done.”

She was perfect, even if this situation wasn’t.

Stacie disappeared up the stairs as Sven moved to the couch and sat with her on his lap.

“Hey, Winnie, how’s it going?”

She babbled back to him and reached for the tub of little strawberry-flavored puffs next to him. He got the container and gave her one. The way her tiny little finger picked it up from his big, calloused hands made him emotional. She was so little, and they’d been so alone in the awful motel.

Never again.

“Okay,” Stacie called from the stairs. “I have the bath ready if you want to bring her up.”