Page 11 of Daddy's Unexpected Gift

“Mmm-hmm.” Greta made a positive, please continue type of sound.

“When I got there, the child was asleep on the floor. And there was no, well, anything for her. I went through the notes, and… Did we really just hand over a child and say, ‘Here, this is yours, take care of it until we find her father’?”

Greta looked up and me, her brow furrowed. “Let me see.” She sorted through one of the stacks on her desk. When she found the folder she was looking for, she opened it and started flipping through the pages. “Ah, I see. Yes. Okay.” She closed the folder and looked up, catching my gaze with her own.

“That’s exactly what happened.”

I gasped and prepared to have a rather indignant reaction. But Greta held my attention.

“It’s stipulated in the will that Sterling Alexander take care of the child unless the father comes forward to do so. And the deceased’s estate is being managed by lawyers making sure that’s exactly what’s happening.”

“He had no baby furniture. No bottle, and only one sippy cup, and we just dumped a baby on him? I thought we were supposed to make sure that children were taken care of?” I had the hardest time believing that we were acting in the best interests of the child.

“Was the child being mishandled?” Greta questioned.

“She was asleep on the floor,” I reminded her.

“Kids sleep on floors all the time. Was she injured?”

“She was distraught,” I answered.

“Was she being neglected?”

I opened my mouth and shut it again. I couldn’t tell her that when I got there the baby was asleep, and Sterling Alexander was standing there with a faux cocktail in his hands because his butler knew better than to serve him vodka while they were struggling to take care of a baby. I couldn’t tell her because there was nothing wrong in that situation.

Neither man seemed to know what to do, but she had been in clothes, and they had appropriate foods available for her.

“They’re totally clueless about taking care of a baby!” I blurted out.

Greta chuckled. “Most people are, especially when it’s unexpected. How did you handle the situation?”

I cast my gaze around her office, suddenly feeling as if maybe I hadn’t done enough. I tried to remember everything.

“I changed her, got her into some more comfortable clothes. I pointed out that babies and fashion don’t mix. She needs to be in comfortable, soft fabrics. I showed both of them how to hold her, um…”

“Both? Was there someone else there?”

“Yes, Sterling Alexander has a butler. He called me Miss Cecelia. Very high-brow, posh. He was doing all of the cooking, so I made sure he understood what foods to start her on.”

“That’s good. She has two adults looking after her, someone who knows how to prepare food. So, exactly what is your concern?” Greta looked at me like I was the clueless one and not Sterling Alexander.

I blinked a few times, trying to realign my expectations with reality.

“I should follow up with him tomorrow,” I said.

“Of course. We expect that of you.”

“I guess I need clarification of how often I am supposed to be there? They are my only client. Shouldn’t I have multiple clients?” I asked.

Greta nodded. “I see. Not in our group. You’ll do some serious handholding until you decide your client is ready. Clearly, you don’t find Mr. Alexander to be prepared for the task at hand. You’re to be available to teach him how to care for the baby. You’ll spend several hours a week based on his availability. Then, of course, you have all the reports you need to file. After that, we will have some other projects at the office for you to work on. But for now, we want you to focus on one family at a time.”

I was confused. “I thought I’d have several cases to handle at a time,” I admitted.

“Yes and no. I did mention the flood and losing our servers, right?”

I nodded. “Yes, you did.”

Greta looked up at the ceiling. “How do I say this and maintain professionalism?” She let out a heavy sign. “As you can see, everything is a bit of a mess. When I say a bit, I mean the polar opposite. It’s a cluster of intercourse.”

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