Page 81 of Worth the Wait

She stroked Lennox’s silky, blonde hair and pulled her into a hug. “I know you’re disappointed. I’m sorry.”

“I wish you were having another baby. I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl, I promise I’ll help take care of it, just like I help with Ladybug.”

“Babies are a lot more work than puppies.” A fact Sam had become acutely aware of since Sachi’s arrival.

Lennox sighed, then wiggled out of the embrace to foist the found item forward again. “If you’re not having a baby, then why is there a baby sock in our couch?”

Leigh knew better than to attempt lying her way out of the situation. Not to her daughter, a human astute beyond her years. “The sock belongs to Sam’s baby. They were here on the weekend, while you were at the cottage.”

“Sam has ababy?” Lennox’s eyes returned to their previous, popping-wide state. “How didheget a baby?”

It took everything she had not to burst out laughing at the indignation in Lennox’s tone. The nerve of Sam, having a baby when Lennox wasn’t allowed to get one.

“A woman Sam used to be involved with got pregnant. He didn’t know about it until the night the baby was born. That’s how he got a baby.”

“Is that why Sam didn’t come over for a while?”

“It was because of the baby, yes.” She wouldn’t lie to her daughter, but a ten-year-old didn’t need every detail of the truth, either.

“Did Sam have to break up with you to be with the baby’s mother?”

“No, honey. Sam and I are still dating. He won’t see the baby’s mother again because she mother moved away to another city.”

“Then how will she help take care of the baby?” Seriously, this child. So full of questions. Good, mature questions.

“She doesn’t want to be a mother, so she won’t be helping. Sam is on his own with the baby.”

“He’s not on his own, he has us. We’ll help him with the baby, won’t we?”

Leigh hadn’t planted the tiny sock in her couch, but she couldn’t have asked for a better seed of opportunity. “Would you like it if we help Sam with his baby?”

“I would love it, Mommy. Can they come over now?”

“I don’t kn—”

Tiny sock still clutched in one hand, Lennox bounded from the couch. “Is the baby a girl or a boy?”

“A girl.”

“A girl!” Lennox’s face lit up as if it were Christmas morning. “Will she sleep in my room, or will she have Daddy’s old room? Does Daddy know about Sam’s baby? Is that the thing he needed to talk to you about soon?”

“He needs to talk to me about something?”

Lennox nodded before launching into a twirl. “That’s what he said on the way home. Will it be okay if I call the baby my sister, even though she’s not really my sister? Will she call you Mommy or Leigh?”

Lennox’s twirling wasn’t the only thing making Leigh dizzy. She leaned back and closed her eyes. Focused on breathing. Tried to, anyway. But good grief, the questions. So many questions, most of which, she couldn’t answer. Hadn’t even considered having to answer. Certainly not yet.

“Mommy?” Lennox’s sweet voice eased the throbbing pulse in her temple. “Are you feeling sick?”

Head still resting on the back of the couch, Leigh turned to faceherlittle girl. “I’m not sick, sweetie. Just overwhelmed.”

Lennox’s fair eyebrows drew together. “I don’t know what that means, but it sounds bad.”

“In this case, it means there’s a lot of important stuff happening and I don’t know the right way to handle it. But that’s for me to worry about, not you.” She gathered a fortifying breath and sat up straight. “I’ll do my best to answer as many of your questions as I can, but you need to ask them one at a time and wait for me to answer, okay?”

“I’m just so excited.”

“Yes, I can tell.” Despite the Pandora’s box she was about to open with the upcoming question period, she couldn’t help smiling. She hadn’t seen Lennox this excited since, well, ever. Not even about the puppy, and that had garnereda lotof excitement. “Okay, I’m ready for the first question.”

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