Water Broke at Midnight, Husband Waited for Her BFF's Hair, Baby's New Daddy Didn't novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Her Name Is Tilly Haskell

The pediatrician's waiting room smelled like hand sanitizer and orange peel.

Tilly slept in her carrier on the chair beside me.

Greg sat on my other side with his knee bouncing.

"You're nervous," I said.

"I'm not."

"Your leg is moving."

He put his hand on his knee and held it still.

"She was three weeks early with the cord twice around her neck," he said. "I've seen what that does. I'd like somebody with a degree to say she's fine."

A nurse opened the door and called Tilly's name.

The doctor was a small woman with gray braids and quick hands.

She put Tilly on the scale and wrote down the number.

"Seven pounds, one ounce," she said. "That is a big gain for six weeks."

"She eats like a trucker," I said.

"Good." The doctor checked her eyes and her ears and ran one finger down the faint pink mark along her neck. "This will be gone by spring. Reflexes are perfect. She's tracking me with both eyes."

I put my hand over my mouth.

Greg stood beside the table with his hands open at his sides.

"Dad," the doctor said, without looking up, "hold her head for me while I roll her."

Greg did not move.

I watched his face.

He looked at me, and I saw him start to say it.

*I'm not her father.*

I shook my head, very slightly.

He closed his mouth.

He stepped up to the table and slid his big hand under Tilly's head.

She opened her eyes and looked straight at him.

"There," the doctor said. "She likes you."