The Brocade Baby (Rewrite) Chapter 3

 

Chapter 3: Introducing Ambroise

6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

 

Given that it was now dawn and everyone was wide awake, the Blumenthals decided to focus on making Ambroise feel at home. Timotheos and Barnim helped Miranda bring up the old crib to her room where Ambroise would be staying in. It took an hour for Timotheos and Barnim to carry it up the stairs due to how big and heavy it was and by the time they finished bringing it to her room, the sun was stating to rise. Although Timotheos wanted the baby to sleep in his room, he saw that his mother had more experience when it came to taking care of infants and let her do what she could. Fortunately, they had enough spare blankets for the baby and were able to place him inside without any trouble. The basket itself was placed beside the crib while the swaddling cloth along with the letter was kept inside the basket for good measure. Miranda and Barnim brought some of Timotheos' old toys from the basement, which was kept in an old red box, and placed them in her room as well for Ambroise to play with. The moment Timotheos saw his old toys, he was also overcome with nostalgia as his toys were comprised of some old DUPLO blocks, a yellow toy ball with a big red star in the middle, some plastic toys made to resemble fruits and vegetables, an old truck toy, some Matryoshka dolls, and an old plush toy that resembled a crescent moon. He vaguely remembered keeping it in his bed until he turned 8, as he insisted that he was too old for it anymore, and smiled as he recalled how easier it was to sleep whenever he held it in his arms. Hoping that this particular toy would do the same for Ambroise, he personally gave it to Ambroise as the baby was being placed in his new bed by Miranda.

"Here you go little guy," he said as he placed the plush beside Ambroise, "Maybe this will keep you company at night like it did for me."

For a moment, the baby looked at the moon plush with curiosity in his eyes as he seemed to be a bit confused over what it was. This made Timotheos start to worry a bit and wonder if he did something wrong.

"Uh oh, you think he doesn't like it?" he asked nervously as he turned to his mother. Miranda didn't know how to respond as she continued to watch the baby in his crib to see how he would react to it. Fortunately, Ambroise began giggling as he grabbed a hold of the doll and began to chew on it affectionately, not caring about the small dribble of saliva that made the top part of the doll wet.

"I think he seems to like it," said Miranda with a smile on her face. Although Timotheos was a bit grossed out by the baby's drool, he was more happy over the fact that the baby liked the doll as much as he did.

Downstairs, Barnim was giving the dogs their morning breakfast before watching the sun rise in the horizon. He always liked to wake up in the morning as it made him feel more energetic instead of sleepy along with wanting to keep himself in shape despite his age. Once he finished giving the dogs their breakfast, he let them out in the backyard to let them do their business before making breakfast for his daughter and grandson. Reminds me of when I made breakfast for Timotheos when I first babysat him. Ah, those were the days, he thought to himself as he began making pancakes and omelets. Great now I feel older than I already am. With a slight chuckle, he continued cooking breakfast for the rest of the family just as Timotheos and Miranda were arriving in the kitchen. Timotheos couldn't help but smell the pleasant aroma of eggs and pancake batter filling the house.

"Mmmm, you're cooking pancakes again?" Timotheos asked with hunger in his eyes and tone.

"Yes, indeed," Barnim gladly replied as he began cooking the batter on one pan before using the other pan for omelets. "You ready to see some flipping?"

"Yes please!" Timotheos shouted excitedly as he stood beside his grandfather but kept his distance so he wouldn't accidentally bump into him. Miranda couldn't help but giggle as she knew Timotheos loved it whenever his grandfather did what he called his "double breakfast flip" for him as he always liked a little entertainment before eating breakfast. Given that Barnim never accidentally dropped the pancakes or omelets whenever he did it, she trusted him to not make any messes for her to clean up afterwards.

"Alright, when you boys are done playing around and made breakfast, call me down again," Miranda said, "I'm going to check up on Ambroise okay?"

"Okay mom!" Timotheos said without looking at Miranda. He continued to watch in awe at how his grandfather was able to flawlessly flip the pancakes and omelets high in the air before making sure that they landed back in the pans. Miranda smiled before going back upstairs to check on Ambroise as she wanted to make sure that he was okay and didn't accidentally injure himself in any way. Once she arrived in her bedroom, she saw Ambroise was just waving his hands in the air and babbling to himself. He was wide awake and didn't look tired at all despite being in a new bed. He didn't seem hungry either so Miranda decided to wait until afternoon so she could feed him, but only after she bought some formula. The new blanket that was given to cover him was a soft lavender one that was made of velveteen and was big enough for both children and adults. Since she wasn't using it and figured that it would make Ambroise comfortable, Miranda had placed it on the baby as he was adjusting to his new bed. Now it was sprawled all over the place as the baby had evidently kicked it away along with the moon plush being pushed to the side of the crib's bars. The moment the baby made eye-contact with her, he began to smile and giggle happily as he reached out to her. Miranda smiled as she saw that he had adjusted to living in his crib and was perfectly fine. As she let the baby reach out and grasp her hand, she realized something important. Right, we'll need to go shopping for some supplies regarding Ambroise. I'll also need to take him to the clinic sometime today given that it's my day off and I don't work until next Monday, she thought to herself as she continued to play with Ambroise.

Suddenly, she heard the doorbell ring and was about to check on it until she heard Ambroise whimpering. She looked back to see Ambroise look as if he was about to cry and didn't want to be alone. Deciding to bring him downstairs to greet whoever was at the door, she gently held him in her arms while wrapping him up in the lavender blanket. She made sure to not wrap it too tightly as she wanted him to be able to use his arms and breathe properly while carrying him. With the baby in her arms, she carefully walked downstairs before going to answer the door only to see that Timotheos about to answer the door.

Huh, I thought he'd be setting up breakfast with his grandfather. Oh well, she thought to herself as she watched him open the door. The moment he opened it, she saw that it was none other than Audrey who was waiting at the front door.

"Hey, Timmy I just wanted to inform you that–BABY!" she shouted as she excitedly ran in the house and began to fawn over Ambroise. Miranda and Timotheos didn't know how to react as they didn't expect her to run in the house so quickly, especially since her shoes were still on. Barnim had just finished putting the pancakes and omelets on the plates that Timotheos set up on the dining table before checking to see what all the commotion was about.

"HI CUTIE PIE! YOU'RE SO CUTE! YES YOU ARE! YES YOU ARE! OOOHHH YOU'RE SO CUTE!" Audrey squealed in happiness as she squished the baby's cheeks. The baby didn't seem to mind and was actually enjoying the attention she was giving him as he giggled nonchalantly and raised his tiny hands in the air in an attempt to grab onto her blonde hair. Miranda and Timotheos didn't know what to make of this sudden turn of events while Barnim was chuckling to himself over the extravagant form of affection that Audrey was giving to Ambroise.

"How long have you had him? When did you have him?" Audrey asked excitedly.

"Audrey, we just had him today," Timotheos explained flatly, "I found him on our front porch and took him inside our home."

"So wait, he's not your secret brother or something?" she asked suspiciously, causing Timotheos to become mortified while Miranda blushed in shock and embarrassment. The implications of her words also made Barnim audibly gasp and give her a stern look, while Timotheos anxiously waved both his hands while shaking his head as quickly as he could.

"No, no, no, no, no! It's not like that at all! We found him all alone, we swear!" he shouted. Given that his mother was single and never dated anyone after his father died, there was no way she could have had another child with another man. Realizing her mistake, she began to feel guilty as she didn't think about how her question would sound like to the others.

"Oh sorry, I thought he was your actual brother for a moment there. Sorry, Mademoiselle Blumenthal and Monsieur Dirk," Audrey apologized as she saw just how awkward she made things become.

"It's quite alright, dear," Miranda replied, "I'm sure you're just as surprised as we were to see little Ambroise here. By the way, what are you doing here so early in the morning?" Once Audrey heard this, she gasped in shock as she realized that Miranda was right and that she had forgotten about why she came here.

"Right, I almost forgot. Silly me! I actually came here to tell you that I got tickets to that new movie we wanted to watch together!" Audrey stated as she quickly pulled out of her skirt pocket 2 movie tickets that were titled "Astérix in Britain", causing Timotheos' eyes to bug out of his sockets!

"Really?! How?!" he shouted excitedly.

"My dad was able to get these tickets reserved a week ago. We all know how much you love the Astérix series and given that it's summer, I figured why not watch it during the first week?" she answered with a huge grin on her face before giving one of the tickets to Timotheos.

"Audrey that's wonderful! Thank you!" he cried as he happily embraced her to which she gladly returned. Miranda and Barnim watched with smiles on their faces while Ambroise was looking around the room. The 2 adults could see how close Audrey and Timotheos were to each other, especially since Audrey often called Timotheos by his nickname "Timmy". Like many of the townspeople, they believed that Timotheos and Audrey were destined to be together and had no objections to the possibility of them getting married. Despite Timotheos and Audrey's insisting that their relationship was purely platonic, their blushing and nervousness around the subject said otherwise.

"Say Audrey would you like to join us for breakfast?" asked Miranda.

"Can I?" asked Audrey.

"Well of course, you're here now and Barnim has just finished making some omelets and pancakes," Miranda replied, motioning to Barnim in the dining room.

"Sure, I'd be glad to eat some of Barnim's cooking!" shouted Audrey as she was about to make her way over to the table.

"Ah, before you eat, could you do one favor for me please?" Miranda asked, causing Audrey to stop in her tracks and turn towards her.

"Sure what is it?"

"Please take your shoes off the next time you come into our house."