Diagnosis: Daddy (Doctors in Training 1)

It was difficult not to envy the ease with which everything seemed to come to James, who didn’t seem to need to study with the same ferocity as the rest of the group. Still, Connor had to admit that James had never bragged about his placement at the top of the class and had not once looked down at the rest of them for having to work a little harder to do well.

Anne was beginning to look tense again. She opened her histology binder. “About today’s lecture…”

Connor knew she was obsessing about the histology final next week, in addition to the last gross anatomy exam before the two-week winter break. When they returned in January, they would pick up a couple more classes in addition to the remainder of gross anatomy. He was already wondering how he would manage; he figured Anne was stressing about that, too.

They would survive this, he thought, turning his thoughts back to their studying. Or so he’d been told.

They’d been discussing the notes for another forty minutes or so when they heard a cry from the back of the house. “Mia! Mia!”

Connor grimaced and pushed himself away from the table. “Sounds like she had a bad dream.”

He’d hoped the nightmares were over. As far as he knew, she hadn’t had one since before the sleepover with her friends.

“Poor baby,” Anne murmured as he headed for the doorway. “I used to have nightmares when I was little.”

As wound up as Anne always was, Connor wouldn’t be surprised if she still suffered from them.

“Mia,” Alexis sobbed again as Connor entered her room. “I had a bad dream.”

He approached her bed, swallowing nervously. He hadn’t handled one of these on his own before. He hoped he didn’t make a mess

of this. “It’s okay, princess,” he said soothingly. “I’m right here.”

Burrowed into her covers with Pete clutched tightly in her arms, Alexis shook her head against the pillow. He could just see her tear-streaked face in the pale blue illumination from the night-light; her lower lip protruded noticeably. “I want Mia.”

“Mia isn’t here right now, honey. Will I do?”

“No! I want Mia. M-Mia.”

He tried not to take the rejection personally. He wasn’t even sure she was fully awake. Sitting carefully on the side of the bed, he placed a hand on her arm, speaking a little more firmly. “Mia isn’t here, Alexis. She’ll be home soon. In the meantime, I’ll sit with you, if you like, until you go back to sleep.”

Her only response was a wail.

Frustration built inside him. He hadn’t a clue how to handle this. Obviously, his daughter was finding no comfort in his presence. He wondered if she would respond, perhaps, to Anne. Or Haley. Maybe she just needed a woman’s comforting touch.

While he was still trying to decide what to say next, she whimpered one last time and turned on her side, facing away from him, her stuffed cat snuggled to her face. Her breath caught a few more times, and he thought he heard her whisper Mia’s name, but then her breathing steadied and deepened. Within a few minutes, he was pretty sure she had fallen asleep. He sat there a few minutes more, just to be sure, his ego stinging and his heart aching. And then he stood and slipped out of the room.

His friends were still deeply engrossed in the lecture notes. Haley glanced around with a smile when he rejoined them. “Is she asleep again?”

“Yeah.” He snatched up his coffee cup and refilled it, hoping to ward off any more questions. He didn’t really want to discuss his woeful lack of parenting skills with his fellow students.

Christmas, for Mia, passed in a blur of activities. Her school programs. End-of-semester chores. Alexis’s school party and dance class party. Shopping and baking. Wrapping and delivering.

On Christmas Eve, she and Alexis attended a six o’clock candlelight service at Mia’s church. Afterward, Duncan joined them at the house for a dinner Mia had prepared and to open gifts with his son and granddaughter. Alexis was already very fond of her pop, who spoiled her with lavish presents and teased her into breathless giggles.

He’d brought gifts for Connor and Mia as well. Glad that she’d thought to buy a nice muffler and luxuriously soft leather gloves for him, Mia thanked him and good-naturedly scolded him for the too-expensive perfume and designer scarf he’d given to her. Duncan waved off her protests, looking as though he were basking in being the center of attention that evening, along with Alexis, of course.

As soon as Duncan was on his way, Mia tucked a still-hyper Alexis into bed, reminding her that she had to go to sleep so Santa could come.

“My mom used to say that to me, too,” Connor remarked as he and Mia tucked gifts beneath the tree a half hour later. “I had an image of Santa lurking outside my bedroom window, waiting for my eyes to close so he could sneak into the house.”

Mia laughed quietly. “Stalker Santa? Creepy.”

He grinned. “It worked, I guess. Christmas Eve was the one night of the year I never argued with my mom about bedtime.”

“Are you sure you won’t come with Alexis and me to my family’s house tomorrow for Christmas dinner?” she asked, sitting back on her heels to look at him beseechingly. “It would mean so much to Alexis.”

“Alexis won’t even notice I’m not there,” he replied lightly, fussing with a couple of gifts to avoid meeting her eyes. “I’m sure your parents have gifts for her, and she’ll be busy playing with your niece and nephew. She’ll have a great time. I really need the hours to read over the starting material for my neurosciences class.”