Diagnosis: Daddy

Mia smiled. “I’m glad. They’re my mother’s recipe.”

“Is your mother in heaven, too?”

“No, sweetie. My mother lives in Hot Springs. That’s a little over an hour’s drive from here.”

“Oh. What about your daddy?” the child asked with a quick glance at Connor.

“He lives there, too. And I have a brother named Paul who lives near them with his wife, Carla. He has two children, an eight-year-old boy named Nicklaus and a nine-year-old girl named Caroline.”

“I’d like to meet them sometime.”

“I’m sure they would love to meet you, too,” Mia assured her. “I’ll take you to Hot Springs sometime soon. It’s an interesting town.”

“Okay.”

Connor realized that in the years he’d known Mia, he’d never met any of her family. Now he wondered why that was. Had she deliberately kept her friendship with him separate from her family life? Their mutual friends were all associated with their jobs—well, his former job—as teachers.

He wondered what she had told her family about her current living arrangements. How they had felt about what she’d done. He’d been so caught up in his own problems during the weekend that he hadn’t even thought to ask her.

“Tomorrow,” Mia said, still talking to Alexis, “I’m taking a day off my job as a teacher, and you and I will work in your room. Your dad has classes to attend in the morning, and then tomorrow afternoon he’s going to take you to enroll in school. You’d like to get back into school and start making some new friends, wouldn’t you?”

Alexis nodded. “I’m in the first grade. I can read a little. And I’m good at math.”

“I can already tell you’re a very bright girl,” Mia said approvingly.

“My teacher’s name was Miss Albertson. She said I was a very good student.”

Connor heard a touch of wistfulness in Alexis’s voice when she mentioned her teacher. She was probably going to miss her school and her friends there more than she wanted them to know. He hoped she would settle in quickly to her new school, and that she would make new friends there.

Mia looked at him, as though wondering why he’d grown so quiet and so somber. He forced a smile and tried to think of something worthwhile to contribute. “I’m in school, too, Alexis,” he said. “Did your aunt tell you that? I’m studying to become a doctor.”

Tilting her head, the child eyed him questioningly. “You’re kind of old to be in school,” she said after a moment.

He winced. “Well—”

Looking suddenly stricken, she added quickly, “You’re not too old, though. Probably everyone’s like you in doctor school.”

“It’s okay,” he assured her with a laugh. “You didn’t hurt my feelings. It’s sort of cool that we’re both going to school, isn’t it? And Mia’s a teacher, so we’ll all be at school every day.”

Reassured that she hadn’t said anything wrong, Alexis relaxed and took another big bite of her spaghetti. Connor concentrated on finishing his own meal. So far, he wasn’t exactly proving to be a natural at this. If he could barely carry on a mealtime conversation with the kid, how was he going to handle all the other millions of responsibilities that came with this job?

He thanked his lucky stars that he had Mia to help him.

Chapter Three

Mia helped Alexis unpack her bags after dinner while Connor studied in the living room. The child had brought a functional wardrobe of knits and jeans, plenty of new-looking underwear and socks and two nice dresses that still had price tags dangling. “Did your aunt take you shopping before you came?”

Alexis nodded. “She said I needed some new clothes. She bought me these sneakers, too. And the pretty black shoes for dress up.”

“That was nice of her.” Mia wondered if Patricia would miss her niece. If it had been at all difficult for her to give her up. It had been so hard to tell what the other woman was thinking.

Alexis unpacked the bag of toys, mostly dolls and accessories. She arranged them neatly on the shelves of the small bookcase, amusingly particular about their placement.

“You like dolls?”

Alexis nodded again. “I like to play school with them. I’m the teacher. That’s what I want to be when I grow up. Like you.”

“I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful teacher.”

The child yawned and rubbed her eyes. She’d had a very long day, Mia thought sympathetically. Quite an emotional upheaval as well, although she seemed to be handling it amazingly well. “You must be getting tired after your long day. Would you like to take a bath and put on your pajamas? I can read you a bedtime story, if you like.”

“My grandma always read to me.” Alexis unzipped her pink backpack and pulled out a handful of children’s books. “These are my favorites. We couldn’t bring them all because Aunt Tricia said there wasn’t room, but she let me bring these.”

Mia thought she’d have found a way to transport every one of the little girl’s personal possessions, but she kept the opinion to herself. She supposed Patricia had done the best she could for her niece. “Then we’ll read one of your favorites tonight.”

Half an hour later, Alexis was bathed and dressed in soft pink pajamas. She looked small and fragile with her little bare feet peeking out from beneath the hems of the slightly too-long pajama bottoms, her freshly washed-and-dried, blond-streaked hair waving around her rosy face. Looking at the child, Mia was struck by another wave of self-doubt. She had waded into all this responsibility on a generous impulse. Had she really done the right thing? For Alexis? For herself?

She cleared her throat, reminding herself that it was too late to deal with those issues now. Alexis was here and Mia had volunteered to care for her. This was no time to change her mind.

“Let’s go say good night to your daddy,” she suggested, “and then I’ll read you a story and tuck you in.”

“Okay.” Clutching Pete in her other arm, Alexis slipped her hand into Mia’s.

Wrapping her fingers around the little girl’s, Mia led her out of the bedroom.

Connor was immersed in his books in a familiar pose, and Mia hoped he would be able to pull himself out of his studies long enough to say a coherent good night to his daughter. She cleared her throat rather loudly as they entered the room. “Alexis wants to tell you good night.”

His hair disheveled, his jaw covered with an evening shadow, his eyes a little unfocused, Connor looked up from his notes. Mia’s heart tripped as the pure masculine appeal of him hit her, and she chided herself silently for reacting that way. First Alexis and now Connor had elicited very strong responses from her within the last ten minutes. She needed to settle down and remind herself why she was here.

The nanny, Patricia had called her, and while the term wasn’t exactly accurate, it was close enough. She needed to think of herself that way—not a part of this little family, but someone here to help them out.

Connor made a visible effort to concentrate on something other than his studies. “Is there anything you need before you turn in, Alexis?”

“No, thank you. Mia’s going to read me a story.”

“Yeah? That’s nice of her.” He gave Mia a quick smile of gratitude before looking at his daughter again. “You let us know if there’s anything you need tonight, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good night, Alexis.”

“’Night.” She didn’t add “Daddy.” Mia realized the child had yet to refer to Connor by that term. Not so odd, of course. After all, he was still basically a stranger to her.

“Maybe you’d like to give her a good-night kiss?” she prodded, thinking they needed to get past this awkward, reserved stage quickly if Alexis was going to feel safe and secure in her new home.

“Oh, yeah, sure.”

Alexis glanced up a bit uncertainly at Mia. Smiling encouragingly down at her, Mia led her to the couch. Connor leaned over to brush a light kiss on Alexis’s cheek. “Good night.”