Diagnosis: Daddy (Doctors in Training 1)

“I never had a granddaughter before either, but I’m happy to have one now.” He knelt down on one knee to study her. “You’re as pretty as a picture. You look just like your grandmother, Connor’s mother. Her name was Paulette. She would have loved meeting you.”

“Did she die?”

Duncan nodded somberly. “Yes, she did.”

“My other grandmother died, too.”

“Yes, I heard. I’m sorry. How do you like living here with your dad and Mia?”

Alexis reached out to take Mia’s hand. “I like it. We made cookies. We were going to go to the zoo, but it rained.”

“There will be other pretty days for the zoo. In the meantime, I think we should all sample some of those cookies, don’t you?”

She nodded eagerly. “I put the chocolate chips and pecans in all by myself.”

“Can’t wait to taste them.” He held out the wrapped box. “I brought you a welcome-to-the-family present.”

Mia reached down to take Pete, freeing both of Alexis’s hands.

Alexis studied the shiny paper of the box she gripped in both hands. “It’s heavy.”

“Just set it on the floor there and open it,” her grandfather suggested.

She sat cross-legged on the carpet, ripping paper with a child’s e

nthusiasm. Revealing the box beneath, she looked up with her mouth formed into an O of surprise. “It’s a video game?”

He gave a rather smug nod. “I knew your daddy doesn’t have a game console. Every kid these days has one. This package came with two controllers and a couple of games. A nice kid at the electronics store helped me pick them out for you.”

Mia was as surprised as Alexis by the extravagant gift. She’d rather expected the box would hold a doll or some other toy. She remembered now that Connor had once said his father was given to extravagant gestures rather than practicalities.

She wasn’t sure how Connor would feel about this gift. She intended to place limits on how long Alexis could spend in front of the television screen.

“It’s one of those systems that requires the kid to do active things to play the games,” Duncan added for Mia’s benefit. “Keeps them physically fit.”

So did real exercise. And fresh air. But Mia kept those thoughts to herself, figuring he’d meant well. She had nothing against the game itself, as long as it wasn’t overused. “What do you say, Alexis?”

Looking up from the graphics on the box, Alexis said, “Thank you for the video game.”

“I’ve been thinking about what you can call me,” Duncan said. “I don’t really feel like a grandpa or a gramps. How about Pop?”

“Pop?” She giggled a little. “That’s a funny name.”

He grinned. “Yeah. I’m kind of a funny guy.”

She giggled again.

Alexis was being won over quickly. Mia hoped that had as much to do with his charming personality as with the generous gift.

Duncan kept up a lively conversation as they sat around the kitchen table eating cookies. The adults drank coffee while Mia sipped a glass of milk. Duncan kept them laughing with his nonstop nonsense and it wasn’t long before Alexis was holding her own against his teasing. Although she participated enough to be polite, Mia remained somewhat in the background, letting grandfather and granddaughter get to know one another.

She wished Connor was there. This was a special moment in Alexis’s life, and Connor should be there to be a part of it. It seemed as though he could have taken off a few hours to spend with his daughter on her first weekend in his home. But maybe he was still too upset about his less-than-perfect performance on the test yesterday, she decided, feeling a little guilty for the critical thought.

Duncan stayed for just over an hour. Then, promising Alexis he would drop by again to play video games with her, he told them he had to go.

Mia walked him to the door. “It was very nice to meet you, Duncan.”

“You, too. Connor’s mentioned you several times during the last few years, and I’ve always wanted to get a look at you. You’ve been a good friend to him. Better than he deserves, I imagine.”