Bachelor Dad. Roxann Delaney
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wonder who that little girl is?” Cara was saying to Don Fulcom.
Garrett didn’t wait to hear the answer and doubted Don even had one. With a sigh and a shake of his head, he took Sophie into Paige’s office.
“Do you want to sit down?” He pointed to two chairs facing a worn desk that was stacked with medical files and journals.
Sophie hesitated, before climbing onto the chair closest to the wall.
Knowing that news spread fast in Desperation, Garrett wanted to be the one to tell his sister he was a father. Not that he had any idea of how to do it. She’d probably ask questions, and he knew so little, except that Sophie was the result of a relationship with a young woman he’d once thought he might be in love with. It had taken a few months for him to know the real Shana, and once it became clear that she wasn’t the kind of person he’d thought she was, he broke it off. A month and a half later, he moved to Cincinnati, where he lived with his sister until he was hired by the City of Desperation.
Nervous, he leaned a hip against the edge of the desk, crossed his arms, smiled at Sophie and waited. He’d learned quickly that trying to have a conversation with a four-year-old who didn’t speak—for whatever reason—was pretty much futile. Hopefully Paige could give him a clue as to what was going on, and then he would do whatever was needed to correct the problem. It was that simple.
Several silent minutes later, he heard Paige’s voice outside the small office. As the door opened, he pushed away from the desk and gave Sophie what he hoped was an encouraging smile.
“Cara told me you needed to see me?” Paige made it a question as she stepped into the room. For a brief moment, she looked only at Garrett, but when Sophie shifted in the chair, Paige looked down. “Well, hello there!” she greeted Sophie. “I didn’t see you.” Kneeling to Sophie’s level, Paige smiled and stuck out her hand. “My name is Paige. What’s yours?”
When Sophie didn’t answer, but placed her hand in Paige’s, Paige looked up at Garrett, who managed to swallow his nervousness enough to speak. “Her name is Sophie,” he answered.
The confusion in Paige’s eyes didn’t make him feel any calmer, nor did her next question for Sophie. “And who do you belong to?”
His nerves were like pins sticking him when Sophie slowly looked up at him. He had no choice but to answer.
After all, that’s why he was there to see his sister. “She belongs to me.”
Paige slowly turned her head to stare at him, her surprise bordering on disbelief.
“She’s my daughter.”
Paige’s mouth opened, as if she was going to say something, but instead, she closed it and turned back to smile at Sophie. “And how old are you, Sophie?” she asked.
To Garrett’s surprise, Sophie held up four fingers.
Standing, Paige turned to him and spoke softly. “I’ve always wanted a pretty little niece.” More quietly, she added, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Relief washed over Garrett, and he leaned against the desk again. The activities of the afternoon had definitely tested him. At the moment, he wasn’t sure he was passing.
“Are you all right?” Paige asked.
He nodded and stood straight. “I’m good.” After glancing at Sophie, he turned back to his sister. “I’d feel better if I knew Sophie is okay.”
Paige smiled at his daughter. “We can do that.” When she opened the door to step outside, Fran Simpson, the other nurse, was in the hallway. “Which examining room can we use?” Paige asked her.
“They’re all free. The last of the patients are gone.”
“Good,” Paige replied. “I’ll lock up. You and Cara and Susan can go on home. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Have a good evening,” Fran called, her voice coming from farther down the hall.
When Paige motioned for Garrett to follow her, he held out his hand to Sophie, who hesitated at first and then took it. Her tiny hand in his felt fragile as they followed Paige into the hallway, and his heart constricted at the thought of what Sophie’s life might have been like before she’d arrived at his office. He didn’t have a clue, and now that he thought about it, it scared him. If anything had happened … If anything was wrong with her …
“Right in here,” Paige said, stepping into the nearest examining room. She pointed to the padded table. “Put her up there, while I go grab a new chart.”
Sophie let go of his hand, and he lifted her onto the table. The paper runner crackled beneath her as she settled on it, and she looked up at him, her eyes wide.
“She’s my sister,” he said, moving back. “The doctor is,” he added. “Do you know what a sister is?”
Sophie shrugged her shoulders.
“So much for that,” he muttered.
Paige breezed back into the room, a manila folder in her hand. “They’ve all gone, so there won’t be any interruptions. Is there anything special I’m looking for?”
“Anything,” he answered. “Everything. I just want to know that she’s okay. Healthy.”
Placing the stethoscope at her ears, Paige glanced at him. “You have some explaining to do,” she said quietly, before putting the flat, round end of it on Sophie’s chest.
Fifteen minutes later, after what Garrett was sure was a thorough exam, Paige reached down into a basket on the floor and pulled out a children’s picture book. “Do you like to read, Sophie?” she asked. A nod was Sophie’s reply, and Paige handed her the book. “Your daddy and I are going to go out in the hall for a minute. If you need anything, all you have to do is jump down and open the door. We’ll be right on the other side of it. Okay?”
When Sophie had nodded and opened her book, Garrett followed his sister into the hall, still reeling at someone using the word daddy when referring to him. “Well?”
“She appears to be healthy. Her vitals are good. Heartbeat is strong, lungs are clear, no cold or anything else going on. Of course I can’t be completely sure without lab tests, but at this point in time, I don’t see a reason for them, unless you want them done.”
He shook his head. As soon as he could track down Shana, he’d know more. Lifting his gaze to his sister’s, he brought up the one thing that had been bothering him the most. “She hasn’t spoken.”
Paige shrugged. “My best guess is that it isn’t physical. Her hearing seems normal, as does everything else. She said ‘Ah’ when I asked her to, so it’s nothing with her vocal cords. It may be that she just isn’t ready to talk. Any clue why that would be?”
Knowing she was expecting an explanation, he told her what had happened, starting with the call from Tootie while he was having lunch. “If I’d known …”
“Apparently her mother didn’t want you to know. Her loss. She doesn’t sound very stable.”
“She isn’t.” But that’s all he would say. There wasn’t any reason to tell his sister about a relationship that had ended five years before. Not unless there was something wrong with Sophie, and apparently there wasn’t. Not physically, anyway.
Paige put her hand on his arm. “Is there anything else I can do to help?”
Garrett hoped what he was going to say next wouldn’t come out sounding wrong, but he didn’t have a choice. “I’d like to have a paternity test done.”
Paige nodded, her expression serious. “I can arrange that for you.”
“Good,” he answered. “I’d appreciate it. Just let me know when and where.”
“Do you have someone