She was a funny little thing. Maybe she’d spent too much time with adults. She seemed oddly mature for her age, occasionally using big words that sounded strange in her little-girl lisp. She’d been slightly pale when she arrived, and he’d thought he detected a bit of uncertainty in her eyes when she’d first looked up at him, but since then she’d been composed and seemingly satisfied with her new home.
He’d apologized for the lack of color in her bedroom, and she’d looked intrigued when he’d told her that Mia was going to take her shopping for new bedding and decorations. She’d seemed especially pleased that Mia would be sleeping just next door. He’d pointed out his own room to her as well. She’d spared only a glance in that direction.
“There’s a backyard you can play in,” he’d told her as they headed back to rejoin Mia for dinner. “It’s not very big, but it has a fence and a little patio with a table and chairs. Th
ere’s room for a swing set; I’ll get one for you, if you like.”
“I like to swing,” she had answered agreeably. “I had a swing set at my grandma’s house.”
“Then you’ll have one here,” he assured her, hoping he could find a good deal on a set. He could already tell that raising a child was going to be expensive. He’d been studying his finances ever since he’d learned that he would be doing so.
Haskell, the attorney, had informed him that Alexis had been the beneficiary of her grandmother’s insurance policy, so there was an account set up in the child’s name to help with expenses. Connor had wondered how Patricia had felt about that, but Patricia hadn’t seemed to hold any resentment when she’d given him the paperwork outside at the car. The envelope had also held Alexis’s birth certificate, Social Security card and immunization records, information he would need to enroll her in school.
The insurance policy had been for a hundred thousand dollars, he’d discovered somewhat to his surprise. That would go a long way in helping him out, but he had made a vow to himself not to touch it unless it became absolutely necessary. That money would be for Alexis’s future, for her college education. He could support his own daughter in the meantime—even if it was on medical school loan money that he would have to repay once he’d finally earned his M.D.
At least he didn’t have to worry about paying a mortgage. This house was small and located in an aging, working-class neighborhood, but it belonged to him. It had been a gift from his dad after Connor’s mother died. Connor’s father, Duncan Hayes, had sold the larger house where he’d lived with his wife for more than thirty years, saying he didn’t need a place that big just for himself, especially because he still traveled so much in his job.
Duncan had purchased a tidy condo for himself and had insisted on buying a place for Connor, who’d still been recovering from the expensive divorce. Knowing that Connor had been preparing medical school applications then, Duncan had called the house an inheritance from his late wife, who would be so proud of her son for finally pursuing his dreams. Put that way, Connor had been unable to refuse the generous gift, although he’d worried about whether his dad had put enough aside to fund his retirement. Duncan had brushed those concerns aside, saying his future was taken care of, and now it was time for Connor to concentrate on his own.
Of course, neither of them had known at the time that Connor would soon become fully responsible for someone other than himself.
“How’s your spaghetti, Alexis?” Mia asked to keep the conversation moving when Connor found himself with little to say.
“It’s good. I like the meatballs.”
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.