Page 12 of Paternal Instincts
“Is it a boy too?”
“We don’t know. It’s going to be a surprise.”
“I hope you have a girl baby. Girls are better.”
I laughed. “Is that so?”
“What’s her name going to be?”
I sighed. If it wasn’t Amelia or my mother hassling us about names, it was an inquisitive five-year-old I met thirty minutes ago. “We haven’t decidedyet.”
“How come? The baby needs a name.”
“I know, but Detective Quaid is super-duper-duperpicky.”
“I’ll help.” She puckered her lips and scrunched her face as her eyes shifted from side to side. “Do you want a bird name?”
“I don’t think so. There are enough birds in your family.”
“That’s true. Hmm… How about Daisy like a flower?”
“That’s pretty, but what if the baby’s a boy?”
She shook her head. “Nope. It won’t be. It will be a girl, and you can name her Daisy.”
I was about to object and ask why she was so certain we were having a girl when Quaid appeared from the hallway looking more haggard than earlier.
“Hey, hot stuff. Sparrow and I were brainstorming baby names? How do you feel about Daisy for a girl?”
“I…” His face contorted into a multitude of unpleasant expressions before he noticed Sparrow watching and landed on something neutral. “I have no opinion right now.” Propping his hands on his hips, he offered Sparrow a gentle smile. “Did you have fun with Detective Aslan?”
“I drew a picture.” She showed him.
“Wow. That’s a lot of people.”
Sparrow proceeded to explain every detail of her drawing. When she landed on the nanny and said the bird on her shoulder was a cocktail, Quaid smirked. “Do you mean he’s a cockatoo?”
“That’s it.” She smacked her forehead. “I always forget. His name is Banjo. He doesn’t talk much, but he can sure dance. Clementine showed us. Crowley and I went with her one day to help feed it. She has to take care of it because her friend is gone all summer, and it’s just him all alone in the big house. Then we went to the park, and Clementine bought us ice cream. Crow got chocolate mint. I hadstrawberry. Clementine ate something with nuts. I don’t like nuts. She let me have a taste, but it was yucky.”
Sparrow’s lips drew into a frown. “But we can’t do fun stuff now because Mommy fired her.”
Quaid and I exchanged glances, but before he could speak, Sparrow barreled on, changing courses and moods in the same way Kylee sometimes did, steering us full circle and catching my husband off guard.
To Quaid, she said, “I picked the name Daisy for you. For your baby. How come you made a face? Don’t you like it?”
My husband’s brows rose, and he dashed a glance in my direction. “I didn’t make a face.”
“You always make a face, hot stuff.”
“I do not.” To Sparrow, he said, “Daisy is a pretty name.”
“Your baby’s gonna be a girl. I know it. Detective Aslan said you didn’t have a name yet, so I helped. He said you didn’t want a bird name, so I picked a flower instead. Flowers are nice, aren’t they?”
“They are. Um… Did you eat something?”
“Yup. Five cookies, all the snacks from the fridge, and dill pickle chips from the vending machine. They were zingy on my tongue.” She stuck it out as though Quaid might be able to see.
“It’s all the salt. Did you have something to drink?”
