In the corner of the bathroom, there was a white porcelain toilet, but it’s main function seemed to be emptying the solid contents from dirty diapers rather than a toilet’s usual purpose. Permanently mounted nylon latches on either side of the lid prevented little hands from opening either the lid or the seat for normal use. Only an adult’s dexterity and hand strength could open the toilet’s lid. Opposite the counter in the bathroom, there was a built-in combination washer-dryer for baby clothes, along with a narrow dishwasher, bar refrigerator and stove-top for warming bottles. Krystyn opened the dishwasher and showed Andrew that the tiny dishwasher had been fitted with a special wire container with a matching cover for washing nipples and pacifiers without the contents popping all over the washer when the water jet hit the container. Above the stove-top was a small cupboard and pantry were Krystyn stored the canned formula, baby food, bottles and plates. Krystyn was evidently proud of her arrangements; she took great pleasure in showing the pair of multi-tiered lazy-susan organizers for the baby food jars which allowed her to select the exact jar she was seeking by merely rotating the lazy-susan with the tip of her finger. She pointed to the speakerphone mounted on the wall next to the door and said that she didn’t even have to leave the nursery to answer the phone. If she desired, she could use the voice-controlled speakerphone instead of the handset and hold a phone conversation from either the nursery or bathroom without stopping what she was doing. Krystyn explained with pride that she had all the supplies in the bathroom/laundry/kitchenette to care for her little charges without ever having to take the baby from the nursery until the client was ready to take possession of her new baby.
As they descended the stairs, Andrew thought about what he had seen. Although she hadn’t offered to show him the first floor, he had a strange feeling that her office would be occupied by a rather simple wooden desk without the obligatory computer system that all businesses seemed to require to maintain records. Kyrstyn gave him the sense that she would not tolerate giving control of her life to anyone or anything for any reason. They nursery had been clue enough that she liked high technology, but the position of the door handle revealed that she would never surrender herself to something as unmanageable as a computer. In many ways, Krystyn reminded him of Allie; they were both independent women who chose their own course through life, so unlike his own event driven existence. Both of them cared for babies in their own ways; Allie did free Daycare work for the poor, while Krystyn ran an adoption service. He was hard put to decide who he was more attracted to; Allie, with her simple and wholesome motherly approach to life in spite of her personal wealth, or Krystyn, who was obviously successful at her calling, and had a feel for high technology when it served her as well as a powerful sexual side to her nature.
Krystyn guided the way to the living room so they could sit down on the couch while they drank the theretofore untouched carafe of coffee. As Kyrstyn poured their coffee into the white china cups, the doorbell rang and Kyrstyn excused herself to answer it. She invited the visitor in and introduced Andrew to the matronly, thirty-five-year-old woman who entered the living room as Rebecca. Rebecca immediately told him to call her Becky and explained that the babe in her arms was her nine-month-old son, Joey.