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We had another nice talk, though not quite as long... Julia was crying quite a bit and couldn't be comforted, so I took her in my arms as Sophia started searching for the pacifier.
"Shh..." I gently tried to calm the baby down. She really was adorable. I wrapped her more tightly and held her closer to me so that she could get warmer and hear my heartbeat, which used to help with my kids.
She did stop crying within just a minute, and that's when Sophia stopped searching and looked up with a perplexed look. "Wow, Nick... you must have a magical touch, she never stops so quickly for me."
I just smiled and kept holding Julia close. "It's been a long time since I held a baby in my hands, not since Mike was one."
Sophia smiled, as well. "Seems like you haven't forgotten how to do it, though."
"It's not something you forget easily." I explained. "When I had my first son... I'll never forget that day, nearly seventeen years back but it's still alive in my head. I can remember every detail, and the overwhelming joy, and thinking: 'I'm a father, wow'."
"I remember when Paul was born, fifteen and a half years ago. I can remember quite vividly having the nurse hand me Paul and holding him in my hands and thinking it was just wonderful and it was the best thing that had ever happened to me. It happened all the other times, too, but the first was the most fresh and beautiful, to me, of them all."
I looked down at Julia. She was sticking out her small little hand with the beautiful tiny fingers, and I gently held out my own finger. She grabbed it, as I'd expected her to, and held it tightly, smiling and looking cute.
"Say, you should all come over to my house one day. I bet Paul would become friends with either Ryan or Josh. Leah, Hope and Grace, those were their names, weren't they?"
Sophia nodded. "You remembered!"
"Yeah, well, they could play with Jamie. Jamie's quite a bit younger, but who knows? She's pretty bright for her age, acts seven or eight, so they might be okay. Mike can maybe join in, after all, you said Leah likes painting, doesn't she?"
Sophia nodded again.
"Well, Mike likes painting too, so, who knows? They might get along, too."
"I don't know. Jonathan, my husband, might not be too happy about that. He doesn't really like it when I talk to anyone other than him, or the kids."
I frowned. "Sorry, but... your husband sounds kind of possesive, are you guys getting along okay?"
Sophia looked sad. "It looks like we're going to be facing a divorce soon, that's why I like to come to the park... it helps me concentrate on something other than that."
"Oh, Sophia, I'm sorry... and here I am telling you my life story while you're going through that!"
"No, no, I really like it. Like I said, it helps me concentrate on something different, and it's really nice to talk to you. It reminds me that other people have problems, too. Your wife, and Josh, and having to raise four kids on your own..."
"Well, yeah, but I still feel bad." I said. And I did, really. What business did I have explaining all my troubles to a poor woman, mother of five and facing a divorce?
"Tell you what, let's meet here tomorrow at one o' clock and I'll make it up to you."
Sophia's eyes widened. "Make it up to me? There's really no need..."
"No, really, I want to."
"If you insist..."
"Okay, then, tomorrow at one o'clock. Bring Julia, too, if you want."
"I will. I'm always scared of leaving her home, with Jonathan how he's acting..."
"You mean he would actually hurt her?"
"I don't know, he's acting really strange... one minute like we've always had the best marriage, the next like he hates my guts." Sophia sighed.
To this I didn't know what to say. Nothing remotely like that had ever happened with Julia. We'd had our moments, but never to such extremes.
I was doing my best to comfort Sophia, when I suddenly heard a very loud scream, coming from a voice which I knew quite well.