Diagnosis: Daddy. GINA WILKINS

      Patricia turned without another look at any of them and let herself out of the house. Her posture made it clear that she didn’t want any of them to try and detain her.

      Mia and Connor shared a quizzical look over Alexis’s head. And then Connor swallowed visibly and turned to his daughter.

      To bring himself closer to her eye level, he sat on the edge of a chair, his forearms resting on his thighs. “So your aunt told you that I’m your father.”

      The child nodded. “You knew my mama before I was born.”

      “Do you remember your mama?”

      “She used to come visit us in Springfield. She gave me Pete,” she added, holding up the stuffed gray cat. “And she told me I would meet my daddy someday.”

      Connor looked startled. Even though she wasn’t a big believer in such things, Mia wondered if Brandy had had some sort of premonition of her untimely death. Or maybe she had intended to contact Connor herself had she lived longer.

      “My grandma went to heaven to be with my mama,” Alexis added. “Aunt Tricia said they’re together now.”

      His eyes grave, Connor nodded. “Yes, I’m sure they are.”

      “She said I was going to live with you now. She said I’ll like living here.”

      Her throat tight, Mia watched Connor moisten his lips before replying, “I hope you will. I’m very glad you’ve come to live with me, Alexis. I’m sorry I haven’t seen you before, but I didn’t know about you.”

      “I know. Aunt Tricia told me.”

      Mia couldn’t help wondering about the child’s composure, which seemed rather advanced for her years. Had she learned that skill from her aunt? Was she masking the fears and insecurities that would have been only natural under these circumstances? After all, her whole world had just been turned upside down. Yet she seemed to accept her new situation as easily as if she’d just changed clothes.

      Mia worried a little that such repression couldn’t be good for a little girl. It had been traumatic enough for Connor and her to make these huge changes.

      Mia had spent all day yesterday moving into one of the two spare bedrooms in Connor’s small frame house. The room had been unfurnished, so he’d helped her carry her own bedroom furniture in. The room was plenty large enough for her queen-size bed, dresser and chest, as well as a small bookcase to hold the books she had wanted to have with her there. There was a nice-size closet for her clothes. She had brought only the necessities for now, stashing her extra furniture and possessions in an inexpensive storage unit close by.

      Alexis would sleep in an identical bedroom next door to Mia’s. Connor had already furnished that room as a guest room, with a bed, a dresser, a small writing desk and a bookcase, all furniture he said had belonged to his mother. The beddings were a plain navy blue and there were few decorations in the room. It hardly looked like a little girl’s room, but they’d agreed that they would remedy that after Alexis arrived, letting her help them decorate the room to her taste. They’d hoped that would make her feel more at home.

      The small house had only one bathroom, but it was a nice-size one, and they figured they could come up with a schedule that would make it all work out. The bathroom was located in the back hallway with Connor’s room on one end and the two smaller rooms on the other side.

      Both of them had braced themselves for a more difficult arrival. Mia had warned Connor that Alexis might cry or try to cling to her aunt when she was dropped off with two strangers. She suspected that Connor was as surprised as she was that the transition had been so easy.

      Alexis looked around at Mia. “I’m still a little hungry.”

      Mia smiled. “I’ll put the finishing touches on the spaghetti. Your dad can show you your bedroom.”

      “Okay.”

      Connor rose and picked up as many of the bags as he could carry in one trip. “You can bring your backpack, can’t you, Alexis?”

      “Sure.” She slung the strap over her shoulder and followed as he led her out of the living room.

      Still concerned that this was all going a bit too easily, Mia watched them leave the room. And then she turned toward the kitchen.

      Sipping a glass of iced tea, Connor studied his daughter over the rim of his glass, trying to be surreptitious as he stared at her from across the table.

      His daughter. When would those words stop sounding so foreign to him? When would it feel natural to have her here, to know that he was now responsible for everything concerning her?

      She was a funny little thing. Maybe she’d spent too much time with adults. She seemed oddly mature for her age, occasionally using big words that sounded strange in her little-girl lisp. She’d been slightly pale when she arrived, and he’d thought he detected a bit of uncertainty in her eyes when she’d first looked up at him, but since then she’d been composed and seemingly satisfied with her new home.

      He’d apologized for the lack of color in her bedroom, and she’d looked intrigued when he’d told her that Mia was going to take her shopping for new bedding and decorations. She’d seemed especially pleased that Mia would be sleeping just next door. He’d pointed out his own room to her as well. She’d spared only a glance in that direction.

      “There’s a backyard you can play in,” he’d told her as they headed back to rejoin Mia for dinner. “It’s not very big, but it has a fence and a little patio with a table and chairs. There’s room for a swing set; I’ll get one for you, if you like.”

      “I like to swing,” she had answered agreeably. “I had a swing set at my grandma’s house.”

      “Then you’ll have one here,” he assured her, hoping he could find a good deal on a set. He could already tell that raising a child was going to be expensive. He’d been studying his finances ever since he’d learned that he would be doing so.

      Haskell, the attorney, had informed him that Alexis had been the beneficiary of her grandmother’s insurance policy, so there was an account set up in the child’s name to help with expenses. Connor had wondered how Patricia had felt about that, but Patricia hadn’t seemed to hold any resentment when she’d given him the paperwork outside at the car. The envelope had also held Alexis’s birth certificate, Social Security card and immunization records, information he would need to enroll her in school.

      The insurance policy had been for a hundred thousand dollars, he’d discovered somewhat to his surprise. That would go a long way in helping him out, but he had made a vow to himself not to touch it unless it became absolutely necessary. That money would be for Alexis’s future, for her college education. He could support his own daughter in the meantime—even if it was on medical school loan money that he would have to repay once he’d finally earned his M.D.

      At least he didn’t have to worry about paying a mortgage. This house was small and located in an aging, working-class neighborhood, but it belonged to him. It had been a gift from his dad after Connor’s mother died. Connor’s father, Duncan Hayes, had sold the larger house where he’d lived with his wife for more than thirty years, saying he didn’t need a place that big just for himself, especially because he still traveled so much in his job.

      Duncan had purchased a tidy condo for himself and had insisted on buying a place for Connor, who’d still been recovering from the expensive divorce. Knowing that Connor had been preparing medical school applications then, Duncan had called the house an inheritance from his late wife, who would be so proud of her son for finally pursuing his dreams. Put that way, Connor had been unable to refuse the generous gift, although he’d worried about whether his dad had put enough aside to fund his retirement. Duncan had brushed those concerns aside, saying his future was taken care of, and now it was time for Connor to concentrate on his own.

      Of course, neither of them had known at the time that Connor would soon become fully responsible