Page 23 of The Doctor's Surprise Family

BLAKE

I’d pictured sometimes how I’d meet my first child, and in that picture, the child was newborn. He could just about fit in the palm of my hand, and his face was all wrinkly like an old man’s. Mine was one of two voices he knew in this world, and he smiled when he heard it and held out his arms.

Meeting Oli, I knew, would be nothing like that. He was walking already, and talking, and playing. He had his own friends, and a life without me. I might be boring to him, or scary, or weird. Or what if we just had nothing in common? If he was big into dancing or… model trains… and I sounded stupid trying to keep up?

I steadied myself getting out of my car, and took a deep breath to settle my thoughts. My CO had praised my bedside manner, not always a strength among trauma surgeons. If I could comfort a teenager who’d just found his legs were gone, I could convince a three-year-old I wasn’t some bozo. Those skills would transfer if I kept my cool.

Hey, Oli,I’d say to him.It’s so great to meet you.Then I’d ask him what foods he liked, and his favorite sports, and?—

“My daddy’s the sad man?”

I jumped as Oli popped out from the trees, the same way he’d come the first time I’d seen him. Claire flushed and shushed him.

“Hon, that’s not nice.”

I blinked. “I’m the sad man?”

Claire took Oli’s hand, a protective gesture. “He thought you were sad because you were at the park by yourself.”

Oli peered up at me. “You had no one to play with.”

I chuckled. “You know what? You’re right about that. It is kind of sad having no one to play with. I’m Captain, uh— Blake, uh— I’m your…”

“My daddy?”

I glanced at Claire and she nodded.

“That’s right, he’s your dad.”

Oli tilted his head back. “You’re really tall, but Mommy’s so short. Does that mean when I grow up, I’ll be half-tall, half-short?”

I made ahuhsound, unsure what to say. Would it be bad to tell him I thought he’d be tall? He already was for his age, and big in the shoulders. He’d probably play basketball just like I had, or football maybe.

“Do you, uh, like sports?”

“Kinda,” he said. “If I get to play. Just watching is boring, though, like Gramps with his football.”

“I like to play too. We have a work league, if two teams make a league. It’s boys against girls, and we play soccer.”

Oli pulled a face. I guessed he wasn’t impressed. He scuffed his toe in the dirt, and Claire smiled.

“He’s shy.”

“I’m not shy,” said Oli. “I just have a question.”

I crouched down partway to get on his level. “Go ahead, shoot.”

Oli scuffed at the dirt some more. “It’s a two-parter, and the first part is, do I call you Captain or Blake? Mom says it’s rude to call grown-ups by their first names.”

“Oh, uh…” My eyes darted to Claire again. Would it be presumptuous to saycall me Dad?Or it was okay if he called me Blake? I could tell from Claire’s stricken look she hadn’t thought this through either.

“You can call him Moose. That’s his nickname.”

My brows shot up. I hadn’t heard Moose in years.

“Moose, like the animal?” Oli let out a giggle. Claire mouthed asorryover his head. I smiled and shrugged.

“I’m good with Moose.”

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