Mia smiled and nodded in response to her mother’s comment. “She is, isn’t she?”
Mia sat with her mother and sister-in-law, Carla, at the dining room table in her parents’ home in Hot Springs. From where they sat, they could see Alexis playing a board game on the living room floor with Mia’s niece and nephew. Nicklaus and Caroline were a little older than Alexis, but they’d been very welcoming to her on this Sunday afternoon, and all three seemed to be having a good time together.
“Is she always so quiet and well behaved?” Carla asked, also watching the children.
“Always. She’s never even argued with me about brushing her teeth or picking up her toys or turning off the television.”
“Wow. What are you feeding her? Maybe I should try it with my two.”
Andrea Doyle pulled her attention away from the children to look at Mia. “You’re all still getting to know each other. It’s been only a couple of weeks. I’m sure you’ll see normal childhood rebellion in time.”
“Maybe.” Although Mia couldn’t imagine Alexis actually throwing a tantrum or engaging in outright rebellion. Such behavior just seemed completely foreign to the child’s serene nature.
“She has obviously bonded with you. She checks every few minutes to make sure you haven’t wandered too far out of her sight.”
Sipping her coffee, Mia nodded, having noticed that herself.
“How’s she getting along with her dad? Has she connected to him, too?” Carla asked.
Mia took another swallow of the coffee to give herself a moment to frame her reply. “T
hey get along very well.”
Both women studied her expression, and she realized that her tone must have revealed a bit more than she had intended. “Connor is so busy with medical school,” she added as rationale. “His schedule is absolutely grueling. He’s doing the best he can with the little spare time he has.”
Her mother looked worried, but she’d been wearing that same expression since Mia had told her of her plan to move in with Connor and take care of his newly discovered daughter. She’d admitted that she worried the situation wouldn’t work out and that Mia would be hurt. There just seemed to be so many potential pitfalls in the hastily concocted arrangements, she’d warned. For all three of them.
As for Mia’s father, well, he’d made no effort to hide his disapproval of Mia’s decision. He didn’t like her moving in with a single man, worried that her graduate-school plans would be derailed by Connor’s quandary and openly suspected that Connor would take Mia for granted and abuse her overly generous nature. Mia had gently reminded him that she was an independent adult and that she was capable of looking out for her own best interests, but her dad was still firmly in protective-parent mode.
Yet even he had seemed taken with little Alexis today when Mia had brought the child to join them for a big Sunday lunch. Jim Doyle was a big softie when it came to children. His grandkids had him firmly wrapped around their little fingers, and Mia suspected it wouldn’t be long before Alexis had him in the same position.
Still, it was just as well that he and Mia’s brother were outside repairing a step on the back deck during this conversation, she thought gratefully.
“So you’re almost entirely responsible for Alexis,” Carla murmured, making sure the children couldn’t hear the conversation. “That must be a little unnerving for you.”
“At times,” Mia admitted. “It certainly helps that she’s so little trouble.”
Andrea and Carla shared a glance that Mia couldn’t quite interpret. Were they really so certain that Alexis’s cooperative behavior would be short-lived?
“How long do you expect this situation to continue?” her mother asked.
Mia shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ve just gotten settled in. It’s working out very well so far, saving me quite a bit of money on monthly expenses. I could probably start grad school next fall with this same arrangement. I don’t think I’d have any trouble studying while Alexis entertains herself. I’ve had no problem grading papers or preparing for classes so far. And maybe the second year of medical school isn’t quite as time-consuming as the first, so Connor would probably have more time to relieve me in the evenings.”
“There’s no year of medical school that’s less time-consuming,” Carla said flatly. “Have you forgotten that my older sister’s an obstetrician? Her first marriage completely fell apart during her second year of medical school because she just didn’t have any extra time to give to it. Besides which, her husband was a jerk.”
Mia actually had forgotten that. She had met Carla’s sister, who lived in New York, only two or three times, and Carla rarely talked about her. Carla and her sister weren’t particularly close, though Mia didn’t know whether it was simply because of personality conflict, their ten-year age difference or something more specific.
“Anyway,” Carla continued, “I know you and Connor have been friends for a long time, but just make sure he doesn’t start expecting too much from you now that you’re doing so much for him. Men get spoiled very quickly, you know. You deserve a life of your own. What are you going to do if you meet some special guy and want to start a relationship? For that matter, how are you going to meet a special guy if you’re stuck at his house babysitting every night?”
“Carla’s right about that, Mia,” her mom agreed, looking a bit apologetic. “You’ll want a family of your own someday. Don’t let Connor’s responsibilities to his daughter prevent you from having that.”
“What’s Connor going to do if you move out to start your own life?” Carla continued. “And how is Alexis going to handle that if she becomes even more attached to you?”
Mia groaned and held up her hands. “Okay, you two, enough fretting. I promise you, I am looking out for my own interests here, as well as helping out a friend. Connor has promised that he’ll make arrangements for Alexis whenever I have other plans. I’m not going to bury myself in his house and give up my social life, such as it has been for the past year or so. I know what I’m doing.”
Or so she kept telling everyone, she thought with a hard swallow. Her mother and sister-in-law had raised some valid issues. Things Mia hadn’t really had time to consider before she’d jumped impulsively into this agreement with Connor. Most troubling of all was how any change in the situation would affect Alexis. Mia could only hope that if or when that time came, she and Connor would be able to handle it deftly enough for Alexis’s best interests. Mia wanted to reassure the child that whatever their living arrangements in the future, they would always be a part of each other’s lives now.
“There’s one other question I have to ask,” Carla murmured. “What if Connor meets someone? Another medical student, a nurse, someone in a coffee shop? After all, you keep insisting that you and he are nothing more than friends. What if he’s the one who brings in a new mom for Alexis? Are you prepared for that?”