Caroline responded with almost perfect grace, as she was wont to do (he felt she had restrained herself from something; she was still smiling a little too broadly to call it perfect grace), but by the time she kissed him, Evander was mostly recovered.
He could feel the regret and mortification setting in at the back of his mind, like a rain on the horizon blowing in from the east, and only hoped newborns remembered nothing of their infancy, or his daughter would never take him seriously for the rest of her (hopefully long, hopefully uneventfully happy) life.
So, in that space before the embarrassment gave him the inevitable urge to excuse himself, he returned Caroline’s kiss, on her cheek this time. He pressed another kiss to her forehead, letting his heartbeat slow to something steadier, and held his arm around her and the baby for a moment longer, until he felt wholly composed and calm again. “You must be tired,” he offered in sympathy and residual concern, looking at his wife as he wiped his eyes again.
He could feel the regret and mortification setting in at the back of his mind, like a rain on the horizon blowing in from the east, and only hoped newborns remembered nothing of their infancy, or his daughter would never take him seriously for the rest of her (hopefully long, hopefully uneventfully happy) life.
So, in that space before the embarrassment gave him the inevitable urge to excuse himself, he returned Caroline’s kiss, on her cheek this time. He pressed another kiss to her forehead, letting his heartbeat slow to something steadier, and held his arm around her and the baby for a moment longer, until he felt wholly composed and calm again. “You must be tired,” he offered in sympathy and residual concern, looking at his wife as he wiped his eyes again.
