Page 34 of Daddy's Unexpected Gift

“Good morning, little beauty. You must be feeling better.” She wasn’t fussy or complaining.

“Ow.” I clapped my hand over my cheek where she bit me. She bit me. I ran a finger over her gums and found the sharp edge of a tooth breaking through. No wonder she had been unhappy and fussy. She was teething.

“That’s it, no biting.” I grabbed her and rolled out of bed. She giggled. It was possibly the single best sound in the world.

I carried her into the kitchen and found some yogurt in the fridge. Wayne wasn’t in yet, so we were on our own for a while. Cecelia would be in soon. I wasn’t worried. For the first time in over a week, I felt like maybe the kid and I would be okay.

Yogurt was less messy than oatmeal, and I was able to leave Georgie in her highchair while I called through the list of pediatricians’ offices.

“No, I don’t have her medical records. No, I don’t know who her last doctor was. No, I don’t know.” I felt like a broken record. The information I had on Georgie was minimal at best. I didn’t even know if she was born in this country. Knowing the life Argene had been living the last time I had contact with her, the odds were not high.

I called the next name on my list.

“Doctor Branigan’s office, how may I direct your call?”

“I’m calling to see if the doctor is accepting new pediatric patients?”

“I can help you with that. When is the baby due?” the chipper woman on the other end of the line asked.

“Excuse me? Due?” I asked.

“Aren’t you calling to set up for a new patient?”

“I am, but she’s already born,” I said.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I assumed you were a soon to be new father making that first baby appointment.” I could hear her grimace.

“Look, normally, that wouldn’t be a good start for me, but I have this situation, and well, you’re now feeling like you need to make things up to me, aren’t you?”

“I am so sorry about that. How can I fix this?” she asked.

“I have temporary custody of my niece. She’s ten months old. All I have is her birth date. I don’t know her medical history. I don’t know what shots she may or may not have had. I don’t even know if she was born in the States.”

“Is that a consideration?”

“Absolutely. And I don’t know the health of my sister during the pregnancy. What I do know is this kid eats. She can sit up. She has minimal language, or the beginnings of language. And as of this morning, she has teeth.”

“Sounds like you have yourself a situation.”

“I do. And so far, none of the pediatricians I’ve called are willing to accept her as a new patient. Too many unknowns.”

“Well, Dr. Branigan does work with a lot of immigrant children at the free clinic.”

“What does that have to do with my situation?” I didn’t care about the man’s charity work.

“That means she’s used to having a lot of unknowns when meeting her patients. So, not having any information won’t be a hindrance. We can schedule a well baby checkup early next week, if you’d like?”

I did like, and I chided myself for assuming the doctor was a man. I could check getting Georgie a doctor off my to-do list.

The elevator pinged. Even though there was no intercom call from the concierge letting me know Cecelia had arrived, I grabbed Georgie and went to greet her. I felt like showing off that Georgie had an appointment already set up. I was like a little kid eager for praise.

“Mr. Sterling, Miss Georgie, good morning,” Wayne said as the elevator doors slid open and displayed that he had arrived, and not Cecelia.

I checked my watch. It was getting late. Georgie would be going down for her first nap of the day soon.

“Did you have an acceptable evening?” Wayne asked.

“Yes, thank you. Dinner was perfect.” It was a little dried out, but that had been my fault. I had kept Cecelia in bed for a couple of hours before either of us had remembered we had dinner warming in the oven.

---