Josie bent over the crib and lightly kissed her daughter's cheek.

Moonlight glittered through the curtains and a slice of light illuminated the

infant's tiny pink mouth as it gently pulled on it's pacifier. As tired as

Josie was she couldn't resist staying just another moment, watching the tiny

rise and fall of Nicole's belly. What a miracle babies are, she thought to

herself. She picked up Nicole's hand and stroked the perfect fingers,

wondering what kind of hand it would be when her child was grown. Not that

she wanted to wish this time away, it had taken her so very long to conceive

this baby that she intended to savor every moment of her babyhood. Finally,

Josie knew she needed to get to bed herself. She lowered the window down to a

crack and whispered a little blessing to the stars.

Back in her own room she flipped on the baby monitor and began her

nighttime rituals. Ah, the work of being a woman. As she brushed and flossed

she tried to remember the words to a lullaby her Nana used to sing to her and

her brother. How did the words go...on to taking off her makeup...she hummed

the tune but the lyrics still eluded her. She ran a cotton ball over her

eyelids and the first line came to her, "hey little one, my little one, time

to rest from fun, hey little one, sleep until tomorrow's sun."

Josie splashed her face and recalled Nana cleaning her with a

washcloth, a white one with small red roses embroidered in the corners. How

sorry she was that she'd never see her great granddaughter; Nana would have

loved her so. "As you rest dream sweet and true, when you awaken the day will

be new" Josie knew she should write this down before she forgot the words

again. She reached for the towel on the rack behind her but felt only the

wall. She had taken all of the towels down to the laundry room that morning

but was sure she had replaced them with fresh ones. What was the chorus

anyway? Come on Josie, think, think!

Shutting the water off she looked to see if the towel had dropped to

the floor. Not there. She realized that with caring for Nicole she had often

thought she'd completed a task only to realize she had merely thought about

and gotten sidetracked with a baby activity. She smiled to herself and dried

her skin with the sleeves of her robe. Lowering her arms the square red

lights danced on the baby monitor. There was no noise and this usually just

meant interference from a neighbor's cordless phone or the microwave in the

apartment next door. Josie made her way to the hall linen closet, suddenly a

rush of warm air covered her toes. She grabbed at the neck of her robe as the

whisper came in stereo, "For as you sleep you'll dream good things, for any

demons that nighttime brings, will be caught by the angels up above and laid

to rest by those you love."

And then Josie was standing at the threshold of her daughter's bedroom,

the window open wide. Her hand still rested in the opening of her robe and

her pulse was thick under her fingertips. Nicole lay as she had left her but

covering her now was the towel Josie knew she had hung in her bathroom that

morning. She lifted her baby from the crib, with the towel around her still,

and lowered them both into the rocker. Her daughter slept soundly against her

chest and it wasn't until hours later that her own body stopped trembling.

Absently patting Nicole's back she felt a flat bump in the towel. She went to

the window and by the hushed light of early morning, she opened her palm to

find a tiny red rosebud stitched in the corner.