Prince Charming in Dress Blues by Maureen Child

going to help. You’ll just suck slightly less.”
    He laughed, and she mustered the energy to lift her head and glare at him. “It’s not funny.”
    “Sure it is,” he said, easing down onto the arm of the sofa beside her. “You’re being too hard on yourself, Annie.”
    “Yeah, right.” She shook her head, looked at her now-blissfully sleeping daughter and said, “Look at this place, John. Heck, look at me! ” Ruffling her hair with one hand, she used the other to wave at her rumpled, baby food stained clothing. “I’m a wreck.”
    He smiled again, but she paid no attention.
    “I’m a college graduate,” she muttered, more to herself than to him. “Did you know I have a masters in computer science?”
    “No,” he said quietly, “I didn’t.”
    “Well, I do. And I minored in child psychology!” She threw her hands up and let them fall back into her lap. “I wanted to be able to understand my kids. To be a good…good—” her voice cracked, she gulped in a breath and finished lamely “— mother. ”
    Shifting the baby slightly, John reached over to stroke Annie’s hair back from her face. Helplessness filled him and he didn’t much care for the feeling. Hell, he’dthought he was doing her a favor by quieting the baby. But now, looking at the big, silent tears coursing down Annie’s face, he thought maybe he’d made a mistake.
    Somehow, just by being here, by getting Jordan settled down, he’d made Annie feel even worse. Damn it.
    “You are a good mother,” he said, willing her to believe him.
    She shook her head, unfolded her legs and wrapped her arms around them, drawing her knees up close to her chest. “No. I’m not. And even Jordan knows it, poor baby.”
    “Come on,” he said, shifting the baby again and, when she stirred, instinctively jiggling her gently. “You don’t have to be the best at everything right off the starting line.”
    Annie lifted her head to look up at him. “Yes, I do,” she said. “I’m all she’s got. She’s depending on me to do this right. To give her the kind of life she deserves.”
    “And you will,” he said, even though somewhere inside him the words we will echoed softly. Surprised, he waited to feel the flash of sheer mortal terror most men experienced when even a stray thought of marriage and forever entered his mind. It didn’t come.
    She laughed shortly, but there was no humor in it, and John winced at the sound.
    “How?” she asked. “I can’t even make her stop crying.”
    “Babies cry,” he told her gently. “That’s just part of the package.”
    “I know that, it’s just—”
    “Just what?” his voice was soft, low, intimate, and he hoped she didn’t hear the need in it.
    “What if I never get it?” she asked, worry coloring her tone. “What if I never learn how to be a good mom?”
    A sheen of tears made her eyes glitter at him in the afternoon sun streaming in through the front window. Her brow was furrowed and her lips were clamped tightly together in an effort to stop their trembling.
    His heart twisted in his chest. She looked so fragile. So beaten. So tired. All the spirit he’d seen in her at the cabin was gone. And that tore at him. He shouldn’t have stayed away this week. He should have gone with his gut and pressed his case right away.
    But should haves didn’t mean a thing. This was now. And first things first.
    “You are a good mother,” he said, staring deeply into her eyes.
    She shook her head, but before she could speak, he continued.
    “You love her, Annie. That’s all any baby ever really needs.”
    She took a breath, held it, then released it slowly as her gaze shifted to the tiny baby he held cradled on one arm. “I do love her,” she murmured, stroking her fingertips along her daughter’s cheek. “More than I ever thought it possible to love anyone.”
    He caught her hand with his and gave it a squeeze. “Then stop sweating the small stuff,” he said. “Hell, crying’s the easy part.