She felt good against him. Warm and soft and very feminine.

He didn’t want to let her go.

“Connor?”

The lipstick she’d applied earlier had long since worn off, yet her lips were still rosy and moist. They were slightly parted in question, giving him just a glimpse of teeth and tongue.

He swallowed.

She must have picked up on the emotions suddenly running through him. Her eyes narrowed and darkened. A low groan wedged in his throat.

“Connor?” Mia said again, her voice little more than a whisper this time.

Maybe later he would come up with a good excuse for his actions. At least an explanation. But for now…

He lowered his head and captured her mouth with his.

Diagnosis: Daddy

By

Gina Wilkins

www.millsandboon.co.uk

GINA WILKINS is a bestselling and award-winning author who has written more than seventy novels. She credits her successful career in romance to her long, happy marriage and her three “extraordinary” children.

A lifelong resident of central Arkansas, Ms Wilkins sold her first book in 1987 and has been writing full-time since. She has appeared on the Waldenbooks, B. Dalton and USA TODAY bestseller lists. She is a three-time recipient of the Maggie Award for Excellence, sponsored by Georgia Romance Writers, and has won several awards from the reviewers of Romantic Times BOOKreviews.

MILLS & BOON

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Available in August 2010 from Mills & Boon® Special Moments™

Daddy on Demand by Helen R Myers & Déjà You by Lynda Sandoval

A Father for Danny by Janice Carter & Baby Be Mine by Eve Gaddy

The Mummy Makeover by Kristi Gold & Mummy for Hire by Cathy Gillen Thacker

The Pregnant Bride Wore White by Susan Crosby

Sophie’s Secret by Tara Taylor Quinn

Her So-Called Fiancé by Abby Gaines

Diagnosis: Daddy by Gina Wilkins

For Dr Kerry Wilkins Snook. I’m so proud of you. Thanks for all your help.

Chapter One

“You look terrible.”

Connor Hayes grimaced and ran a hand through his tousled hair. “Thanks a lot, Mia. I can always count on you to boost my ego.”

Maybe she had been a little blunt, but Mia Doyle wasn’t about to take back her words. As attractive as her friend was, he looked pretty ragged at the moment. His sandy hair was in dire need of a trim, his navy blue eyes were red-rimmed and bleary, and he had the grayish pallor of someone who hadn’t seen the sun in several days. He was only thirty, but she suspected anyone meeting him for the first time today would probably guess him to be a few years older. “When’s the last time you had a full night’s sleep?”

“Define ‘full.’”

“More than four hours.”

“Hmm…it’s been a while,” he admitted.

She sighed and shook her head. “Really, Connor, you can’t go on like this. You have to get some rest.”

“I will,” he assured her. “After this test tomorrow. It’s going to be a killer.”

“They’re all killers,” she reminded him, setting a plate of food in front of him. She had to push a pile of books, notebooks and papers out of the way to find a spot on his kitchen table for the plate. “Don’t you think you’ll perform better on the test if you’re rested and fresh?”

He sighed heavily and gripped the fork she thrust into his hand. “Probably.”

“But you’ll still sit up most of the night studying,” she concluded in resignation.

The smile he gave her was sheepish. “Yeah. Probably.”

Shaking her head, she cleared off a few inches of table for her own plate. She had brought a chicken and broccoli casserole, filling and healthy. Knowing the grueling schedule her friend and former coworker was enduring during his first year of medical school, she had gotten into the habit of bringing meals to him a couple of times a week. Sometimes she quizzed him for upcoming exams, using study guides and practice tests from his stacks of materials. He seemed to enjoy her company during his near-total exile from his former social life.

She worried about him not taking good care of himself because of his obsession with doing well in medical school. And she missed seeing him every day at work, sharing lunches and class prep times together, bonding over stories of their most difficult students. This school year just hadn’t been the same without Connor there to greet her every morning with a smile and a bad joke.

They had been friends for more than three years, having both been teachers at a nearby Little Rock, Arkansas, high school. Mia taught advanced placement literature classes; Connor had taught health and physical education and had been an assistant coach for the football team. Early in their friendship, he had confessed that he wanted to attend medical school. He’d worried that he’d waited too long to even try, but she’d encouraged—well, nagged him into taking the MCAT and applying to medical school. No one had been happier for him when he’d been accepted, even though she knew it would change their relationship significantly.

“This is really good, Mia. Thanks.”

She smiled wryly as he shoveled casserole into his mouth. He was eating as if he’d forgotten all about food until now. She suspected that he’d done just that. She didn’t bother to ask when he’d last had a complete meal. Judging by the evidence she’d seen scattered around the kitchen and in the overflowing wastebasket beneath the sink, he’d been living on TV dinners and energy bars since she’d last brought him a meal, three days earlier.

“More iced tea?” she asked.

“I’ll get it.”

But she was already on her feet. She refilled his glass and then her own before putting the pitcher back in the fridge.

“Thanks,” he murmured, lifting the glass to his lips.

“You’re welcome. Is there anything I can do to help you study after you’ve eaten? I’d be happy to quiz you.”

He looked at her somberly across the table. “You’re too good to me. Especially because I’ve been neglecting you so badly lately. I even forgot to call you on your birthday.”

He had apologized profusely and repeatedly for that slip as soon as he realized what he’d done—two days after the actual event. Although she had been painfully aware that he hadn’t called on the day itself, she’d understood. He was overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information being thrown at him on a daily basis, and which he was expected to retain and be tested on at regular intervals. They had expected that the first year of medical school would be grueling, but they’d both been surprised by the arduous reality.

It was insane, they agreed. Certainly not the most efficient method of training new doctors, in their studied opinion—but it was difficult to break through the prevailing argument that “it’s always been done this way.” So all he could do was dig in and prove he had the endurance and stubbornness to make it through the first year, which seemed to be the main point of the curriculum.

“Stop apologizing about the birthday, okay? I completely understand. You had that big gross anatomy exam that afternoon and no one could blame you for being totally preoccupied by that.”

He shook his head with a rueful smile. “You’re still letting me off too easy. Med school is no excuse to blow off the best friend I’ve ever had.”

She returned the smile, then thought about what he’d said as she finished her meal. Best friends. That was the way they thought of themselves and referred to themselves to others. A slightly unconventional friendship, of course, because he was two years older and they weren’t the same gender. Some people seemed to find it hard to believe that a man and a woman could be so close without being physically involved, but she and Connor had never crossed that particular line for several reasons. Primarily because when they’d first met, he had been in the process of a divorce and in no mood to get romantically involved with anyone else so soon.

By the time his divorce was final and he had recovered somewhat from the ordeal, Mia had been seeing someone, and she and Connor had already settled into a comfortable platonic relationship based on mutual tastes and values and ideals, shared senses of humor and similar big dreams for their futures. Neither of them had wanted to risk doing anything to endanger their treasured camaraderie. So they had endured the gossip and the nosy questions, as well as the annoying suspicions of the unexpectedly possessive man she had dated and then dumped, and their friendship had survived.

They had gotten even closer after the death of his mother almost two years ago. He’d told her then that she’d somehow known just what to say and do to help him handle the grief, even though all she felt she had done was to offer to listen whenever he needed to talk.

She saw no reason for their friendship ever to end. Forgotten birthdays notwithstanding.

“Actually,” he said, pushing his emptied plate away and standing. “Wait right here. I’ve got something for you and now seems as good a time as any to give it to you.”

“You didn’t have to—”

But he was already gone. She wasn’t really startled that he’d gotten her a present because they’d been in the habit of exchanging gifts for the past couple of years. She was more surprised that he’d had time to shop. Maybe he’d ordered something over the Internet.

She had just finished loading the dishwasher with their dinner plates when he returned, a wrapped gift in his hand. “Sorry it’s late,” he said. “It was delivered just this afternoon.”

So he had shopped with the click of a computer key. Still, it was nice that he’d thought of her, and because she knew very well that his money was limited right now, considering he was attending medical school on student loans, it was a very generous gesture. “You really didn’t have to get me anything,” she repeated, even as she took the gift he offered her.

“I wanted to,” he answered simply. “Go ahead. Open it.”

“It’s heavy.” Setting the book-size box on the table, she pulled off the inexpensive red Christmas bow he’d stuck to the red-and-green plaid wrapping paper that also looked suspiciously Christmasy. Never mind that it was October; this was probably the only wrapping paper he’d had on hand, most likely left over from last year’s holidays.

Finally finding the gift beneath all the paper and tape he’d applied, she gasped. Lifting the two-volume set from the box, she read the title. “The Cambridge History of Irish Literature. Connor.”

He looked at her with a hint of nerves in his expression, as if trying to gauge whether she really was pleased with the gift. “I wasn’t sure about it, but the reviews sounded good. Like something you might like.”

“Are you kidding? This is great. Perfect for my library. But you really shouldn’t have spent this much.” He had to have spent a couple hundred dollars for this, she thought, touched that he’d gone to the effort to find something so personally tailored to her tastes.

He frowned, as if she’d struck a nerve with her comment about the cost. She knew his ex had departed with everything she could grab when she’d left him for someone else, and it had taken him a while to recover financially. The little house and an aging compact car were his only significant material assets for the moment because he was investing everything else into his future medical career.

“I wanted to get you something you’d like,” he said. “As much as you’ve done for me, it’s the least I could do in return.”

She didn’t care for the implication that the gift was payback for her support of his efforts to get into medical school and to do well now that he was in. He probably hadn’t really meant it that way, but it was certainly the way it had sounded.

Why were they both so sensitive this evening? She gave an impatient shake of her head, telling herself to snap out of it. She should just appreciate the gift and the thoughts behind it, whatever they had been. “Thank you.”

He smiled and gave her a quick, one-armed hug. “You’re welcome.”

Her heart fluttered a little, but she returned the smile easily. “Go study. I’ll clean up in here.”

He didn’t waste time arguing with her. He hauled a stack of books into the living room and had buried his head inside them before she cleared away the first plate.

It was just as well, she thought with a slight smile, that she wasn’t a particularly high-maintenance type of friend. As dear as he was to her, she wasn’t blind when it came to Connor’s faults. Lately he had been more than a little self-absorbed and decidedly obsessed with his schoolwork. She certainly understood why he needed to be that way at this point in his life, but she knew better than to invest too much of herself with a self-centered, manipulative man. Been there, done that. Still bore the emotional scars.

Connor wasn’t anything like Dale had been, but only a true masochist would get involved with a first-year med student, she thought with a wry smile.

His eyes burned so badly that Connor could hardly focus on the charts in front of him. He rubbed his closed eyes with his fingertips, which didn’t help.

He needed coffee. Some sort of stimulant to wake him up and sharpen his mind. He’d never get through all these tables tonight without it.

Standing, he walked into the kitchen, limping a little because he’d been sitting in one position for too long. He heard joints crack as he reached for a cup and he felt suddenly older than his thirty years. He hoped there was some coffee left in the insulated carafe he always kept filled. If not, he’d have to waste valuable study time making another pot.

Looking around for it, he noted that the kitchen was immaculate. Gleaming, even. Every scrap of trash was gone, all the dishes washed and put away, the stovetop and counters wiped clean. Even the floor had been swept.

Mia, he thought with a little niggling of guilt. She’d cleaned his kitchen. And he suspected that if he checked his bathroom and bedroom, he’d find that she hadn’t restricted her cleaning to this room. On an impulse, he opened the folding wood doors that concealed the washer and dryer at the far end of the kitchen. Clean jeans, T-shirts, socks and underwear were stacked neatly on the dryer. When he opened the dryer, he found a load of clean towels, still warm and fluffy. Apparently she’d had the washer and dryer running the entire time she’d been there that evening. He hadn’t even noticed.

Had he even thanked her properly for bringing dinner? He frowned, trying to clearly remember her departure…just over an hour earlier, he thought, glancing at the digital clock on the microwave. He’d been buried in his books, staring intently at a diagram of the cardiovascular system, trying to memorize the vessels that originate from the external carotid artery when she’d told him she was leaving. He remembered looking up and reciting, “The superior thyroid artery, the lingual artery, the facial artery, the occipital artery and the posterior auricular artery.”

Without even blinking, Mia had laughed and leaned over to brush a light kiss against his cheek. Her bright blue eyes had been warm in her pretty, girl-next-door face when she’d drawn away, tucking a strand of her light brown hair behind her ear. “Thank you again for the birthday present. Good luck on your test tomorrow. Call me and let me know how it went, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” he had replied, his eyes already on the diagram again as he’d squinted at the brachiocephalic artery, which divided into the common carotid artery and the subclavian artery. “’Night, Mia. Drive carefully.”

He distinctly remembered telling her to drive carefully. Not exactly a “thank you so much for all you’ve done for me tonight and ever since I started med school, I don’t know what I would have done without you.” But at least it showed he cared about her, right?

He didn’t deserve a friend like her, he thought with a disgusted shake of his head. Maybe he could pay her back somehow when she started grad school, which was her plan after teaching and saving for another year or so.

Yeah, right. As a second-year med student, he would take another full slate of courses and begin studying for Step One of the nightmarish medical licensing exam that had to be passed before he could continue with his training. As tough as his first year had proven to be, there were some who warned that the second year was even more arduous. Hard to imagine.

In his third year, he would begin rotations through various disciplines of medicine, continue with classes, and start seeing real patients. Those rotations, with increasing levels of responsibility, would continue during his fourth year, along with preparation for the Step Two exams—clinical knowledge and clinical skills.

All assuming, of course, that he made it through the rest of this semester.

He might as well face it. He wouldn’t be helping anyone but himself for the next three and a half years—and then the four years of residency following that. He would be close to forty by the time he was a full-fledged physician, ready to strike out on his own. What on earth had made him think he could do this—and that the end result would be worth the stress, the sacrifices and the financial investment?

But that was exhaustion talking, he told himself, reaching grimly for the coffee carafe. And nerves. He’d wanted to be a doctor since he was a kid. It was his own fear and stupidity that had kept him from pursuing the goal earlier and he wasn’t going to let his dreams be derailed again.

A yellow sticky note was affixed to the carafe. “It’s decaf,” it read in Mia’s looping handwriting. “Get some sleep.”

His vague feelings of guilt dissipated and he scowled. He needed caffeine, damn it. Now he would have to make a fresh pot. He opened the lid of the carafe, and the scent of freshly brewed decaf coffee wafted to his nostrils. Mia made really good coffee.

He sighed and filled his cup. So maybe the jolt of the hot liquid alone would sharpen him long enough to finish the review he’d been studying. And she was probably right; he did need a few hours of sleep before he tackled the six-hour-long exam tomorrow.

He really didn’t deserve a friend like Mia, he thought again as he carried the steaming mug back to his papers. Someday he was going to have to figure out a way to repay her.

“So have you seen Connor lately?” Spanish teacher Natalie Berman asked as she picked at the school cafeteria lunch of greasy spaghetti, cold green beans, canned fruit cocktail and a rather stale roll.

Wishing she had remembered to pack a lunch that day, Mia swallowed a forkful of green beans before wiping her mouth with a paper towel. “I saw him a couple of nights ago. He was studying for a monster exam and I made him a casserole.”

“Is he doing okay?”

Mia shrugged and twisted her fork in the overcooked pasta. “He looks really tired. He could use a solid eight or ten hours of sleep, but I don’t think he’s going to get that until Christmas break, if he allows himself to rest even then.”

Natalie shook her dark head in disapproval. “Can’t imagine why he wanted to take that on. He had a good job here. He probably would have been named head coach when Coach Johnson retires next year. Now it’s going to be years before Connor finishes school and then he’ll have all those loans to pay back. Not that he’ll have much trouble doing that,” she admitted. “Doctors certainly make good money.”

“He didn’t go into it for the money. He’s pursuing a dream he’s had most of his life. And he’ll be a great doctor.”

“He will,” Natalie admitted. “But he was a good teacher, too. And a good coach.”

“This is what he wanted.”

“And heaven knows you want him to have everything he wants,” her friend murmured over a plastic tumbler of watery iced tea. “Just like you do for everyone else you care about. I still say you try too hard to make everyone happy.”

“Yes, well, I’m going to be very selfish when I start grad school in the next year or so. Watching Connor has reminded me of how much work it’s going to be to take classes and tests again. I’m going to have to concentrate entirely on myself while I earn my doctorate.”

Looking skeptical, Natalie crumpled her napkin and tossed it on her plate. “You? Selfish? Yeah, right.”

“Just watch me. You’ll call and want me to go shopping with you and I’ll tell you I can’t. Have to study. Or you’ll want me to give you a lift to the airport and I’ll turn you down flat because I have a paper to write.”

“Hmm.” It was obvious that Natalie didn’t believe a word of her friend’s assertion. Even Mia wondered if she would be able to follow through. She’d always had a hard time with that no word when it came to people she cared about.

“So, about tomorrow night…”

Mia paused in the process of gathering the remains of her lunch onto the brown plastic tray in preparation for carrying it to the conveyor belt that would sweep it back into the kitchen for cleaning. “What about tomorrow night?”

Natalie sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “Double date? Me and Donnie and you and…uh, Donnie’s friend whose name I’ve forgotten.”

Groaning, Mia sat down again. “I never said I would do that. I said I would think about it.”

“C’mon, Mia, it’ll be great. Donnie’s fun and his friend’s probably fun, too.”

“Probably?”

“Well, I’ve never actually met him. But Donnie says he’s a great guy.”

“And this allegedly great guy needs a date tomorrow night because…?”

“Because he’s new in town and doesn’t know many people yet. We’re just being friendly. You know, welcoming him to town. Southern hospitality—”

“Only extends so far,” Mia muttered.

“I’m not asking you to sleep with him or anything. Just join us for dinner. Maybe a movie or something. How bad could it be?”

“You really want me to answer that?”

“Do it for me, okay? Donnie was really pleased when I said I’d bring someone to meet his friend. You don’t have to see him again if you don’t want to, but at least meet the guy.”

Letting out a gusty breath, Mia nodded. “All right. I’ll meet him.”

Natalie beamed. “Thank you. You’ll see, it will be fun.”

Mia wasn’t so sure. But she hadn’t been able to disappoint her friend.

That was going to change, she promised herself. She really was going to learn to say no. Next year.

Mia was getting ready for her double date the next evening when Connor called. “Didn’t you have another exam today? How did it go?” she asked.

“As hard as I expected. But I think I did okay on both tests this week.”

“I’m sure you did well. When will you know?”

“Middle of next week, I think.”

“Did you get any sleep last night?”

“A few hours,” he said, notably evasive. “But then I came home after the exam and crashed. Just fell facedown in the bed and slept for three solid hours.”

“You needed the rest.”

“Yeah, I feel better. Good enough that I might go out for pizza or something tonight. It’s been days since I’ve been out of the house other than to go to class or lab. Want to join me?”

For some reason, it irked her a little that he just assumed she would be free to join him on such short notice. Even though normally she would have been. And would have accepted the last-minute invitation. “I’m sorry, I can’t tonight. I have a date.”

There was a distinct pause before he responded. “Yeah? Anyone I know?”

“Not even anyone I know. Natalie set me up with someone.”

“Oh. You, um, trust Natalie’s taste in guys?”

“I guess I’ll find that out tonight.”

“Yeah. I suppose I need to let you get ready. I hope you have a good time.”

“I’ll certainly try. Thanks. And congratulations on surviving the exams.”

“Yeah. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Sure. Later.”

She disconnected the call with a frown. That had been a bit weird. Connor had actually seemed disapproving that she was going out on a blind date. Surely he wasn’t annoyed that she’d been unavailable to have pizza with him. If so, then maybe it was time she stopped being quite so available for Connor. Maybe he was starting to take her a bit too much for granted.

Resolutely, she turned to the mirror to finish applying fresh makeup. Tonight could be fun, she reminded herself. This guy Natalie had found for her could be very nice, she could have a great time, they might even want to see each other again. She should really be looking forward to this date.

Unfortunately, she was too keenly aware that she would much rather have been free to go out for pizza with Connor.

Connor joined four of his classmates for a study session Saturday morning. The five of them had met several times to study together during this first semester of medical school. They seemed to click as a group, and their learning styles meshed well. He liked them all and enjoyed working with them, although sometimes he just needed to study alone. Or with Mia.

The thought of Mia made him frown. He wondered how her date had gone the night before.

He was undoubtedly a selfish jerk. He should be pleased that she’d had the chance to go out and have a good time. Like him, Mia tended to be a workaholic. When she wasn’t actually teaching, she was preparing for classes or grading papers or doing something nice for a friend. It was rare that she took advantage of an evening just to indulge herself. And while he suspected that her double date last night had been a favor to Natalie, he should still be hoping that she’d had a great time.

Instead, he found himself worrying that she’d had too good a time. For all he knew, she could be with that guy right now. Laughing and flirting and…well, whatever. And he was trying to study, wishing she were with him to light his house with her smile, to cheerfully nag him into eating and taking breaks, to reassure him that he could survive this training and that all the effort and sacrifice would pay off someday.

He really was selfish, he thought again, shaking his head in disapproval. Mia deserved so much more than the distracted friendship that was all he could offer her at the moment. Of course, she had big plans of her own. Grad school was going to take a great deal of her time and energy. Did she really want to start a new romance with this guy Natalie had scrounged up now and risk jeopardizing her own carefully worked-out agenda?

He winced as he realized that he was merely rationalizing his desire for her to stay as single and unattached as he was.

“Hey, Connor. Come on, man, get with the program. You’ve been a zombie all afternoon.”

Connor met Ron Gibson’s quizzical gaze apologetically. “I know. Sorry. I think I might be on study overload.”

“Who isn’t?” Anne Easton asked with a weary sigh. She pushed her pale blond hair out of her face, which was bare of makeup today, making her look even younger than her twenty-three years. Anne was the youngest of the group; Connor was the eldest.

“Anyone want a soda?” James Stillman, their host for today, pushed himself out of his chair at the table and moved toward the fridge. Of all of them, the material came the easiest to James. Maybe because at only twenty-six, he had already obtained a doctorate in microbiology before deciding to attend medical school.

Connor didn’t know why James hadn’t gone the M.D./Ph.D. route, which would have allowed him to pursue the degrees simultaneously, but he supposed James had simply changed his mind about which career he wanted. While Connor liked James, he had a hard time reading him. Brilliant and affable, James revealed little about himself, even to this group who had become his friends.

“Toss a soda this way,” Ron accepted with one of his quick grins. Twenty-five-year-old Ron had messy brown hair, smiling brown eyes, a contagious grin bracketed by dimples and an irrepressible sense of humor that somehow survived even the most grueling session.

Haley Wright, the final member of the group, often grew exasperated with Ron, asking if he took anything seriously. To which Ron always replied, “Only having fun, kiddo. I always take that seriously.”

It was a wonder, really, that Ron had fallen in with this generally more-serious group. And yet somehow he, too, just seemed to fit in naturally.

“I’d take some more coffee,” Connor said, standing with his empty mug. “I’ll get it.”

Haley followed him with her own coffee mug, and Anne made herself a second cup of herbal tea. Always the gracious host, James provided everything they needed when they met at his tidy apartment. They’d already devoured the pizzas he’d had delivered at noon. A plate of cookies and a bowl of candy sat in the middle of the paper-strewn, round oak table where they studied, in case anyone needed a sugar jolt.

Popping the top of his soda can, Ron studied Connor’s face. “So, is there anything in particular bugging you today? You’re not all that worried about the histology exam Monday, are you?”

“I worry about all the exams,” Connor answered drily. “But no more for this one than the others. I guess I really am just tired.”

“A few more weeks until Thanksgiving,” Haley said with a wistful sigh. “Four whole days with no classes or exams. I’m keeping a countdown to give myself incentive until then.”

Twenty-six-year-old Haley had honey hair, amber eyes and a firmly pointed little chin that was evidence of her tenacious personality. She was the cheerleader of the group, the one who kept everyone else encouraged and on track. She was the one who called when she sensed they were down, who prodded when she thought they were slacking off, who seemed most delighted when they did well.

Anne, on the other hand, was probably the most competitive of them all. Not because she had a desire to show them up or to always be the best, Connor had decided, but because she seemed to have a need to prove something. To herself? To her family? He didn’t know, but he worried about her sometimes. He thought she needed to cut herself a little slack, to allow for mistakes and failures rather than always demanding perfection of herself. She was going to burn out fast if she didn’t relax a little, he feared.

As for himself—he just wanted to make it through the first semester. And then the seven semesters after that, one milestone at a time, until he finally held that diploma he’d wanted for so long.

He’d sacrificed a hell of a lot to get to this point, he thought grimly. Thinking again about Mia’s date last night, he found himself wondering incongruously if maybe he’d sacrificed too much.

“Okay, guys, back to work,” Haley ordered, reaching for a study sheet. “I’ll quiz this time.”

It was just after four that afternoon when Connor let himself into his house. Just as he closed the door behind him, his telephone rang. He nearly stumbled over himself in his rush to answer it, thinking it might be Mia. He was just casually curious about how her evening had gone, he assured himself even as he snatched up the phone without bothering to check the ID screen. “Hello?”

“Mr. Hayes? Connor Hayes?” It was a man’s voice, and one Connor didn’t recognize.

“Yes. Who is this?”

“My name is Art Haskell, Mr. Hayes. I’m an attorney and I have something rather significant to discuss with you. Would you be available to meet with me sometime this evening?”

Mia had just settled onto her couch to watch a television program when her doorbell rang at nine o’clock Saturday evening. Setting aside the remote, she automatically brushed a hand over her casual top and jeans as she moved to answer the summons. She wasn’t expecting anyone this late, so she checked the peep hole before she opened the door.

A bit surprised to find Connor on her doorstep, she let him in. “Well, hi,” she said. “This is an unexpected visit. Why didn’t you call? Have you had anything to eat?”

When he didn’t respond to her questions, she closed the door and looked at him more closely. What she saw in his face made her stomach clench. “Connor? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

His expression grim, his eyes looking shock-glazed, he swallowed visibly before answering. “I, um, I just came from a meeting with an attorney. I—”

Taking a deep breath, he shoved a hand through his hair before blurting, “I’m going to have to quit medical school.”

Chapter Two

Mia stared blankly at Connor, deciding she must have heard him wrong. Surely he hadn’t said he was quitting medical school. Not after all he’d gone through to get to this point. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“It’s sort of a long story.”

“I’ve got time.” Taking hold of his arm, she drew him to the couch. “Let me get you something to drink. Soda? Coffee?”

He shook his head, his expression still heartrending. “No.”

Sinking onto the couch beside him, she took his hands in hers. His fingers lay limply in her grasp and his skin felt cold. “Connor, you’re scaring me. What’s happened?”

His eyes met hers. “I got a call from an attorney this afternoon. He’d been trying to reach me for a couple hours, but I was with the study group. He asked if I could meet with him this evening at his office downtown.”

“On a Saturday evening?” She swallowed, thinking that sounded awfully serious. “What was the meeting about?”

He cleared his throat, as though searching for the right words. “I—There was this girl.”

She frowned.

“A girl from college,” he clarified. “We hooked up during my senior year. I was almost twenty-two, a few months from graduating. I’d been working pretty hard to earn my degree. Brandy was a—well, sort of a flake. Unpredictable. Impulsive. A little crazy, in a passionate, free-spirited sort of way. I guess she was what I needed at the time because I was obsessed with her for a few months. And then she got bored and she took off. After a few weeks of sulking, I realized I was sort of relieved. I’d had fun, but she certainly wasn’t someone I wanted to spend my whole life tangled up with, you know?”

Brandy certainly didn’t sound like someone Mia would expect Connor to be involved with. But she supposed everyone made a few mistakes when it came to youthful romantic relationships. She had certainly made a couple, herself. She nodded. “Go on.”

He moistened his lips. “I got involved with Gretchen a few months later as sort of a rebound from Brandy. Gretchen was everything Brandy wasn’t. She was focused and normal and completely predictable. I thought we were perfectly matched. She was a dental assistant and she seemed to be content to be that and a coach’s wife. She didn’t encourage me to pursue a medical degree and I guess I used her as an excuse not to do so. I think the whole idea scared me at the time, even though it was something I’d always fantasized about. You know how it goes. I was twenty-two, been in school since I was five, thought I was ready to get on with my life…I won’t say Gretchen and I were deliriously happy, but we got along well enough during the three years we were married. Until she ran off with the dentist, of course,” he finished with a grimace.

Mia had met him not long after that humiliation, when he was still stinging from his wife’s betrayal. She’d never met Gretchen, but from the few things he had told her, she doubted that she would have liked her very much, even though Connor had been very careful not to say anything too derogatory about his ex.

“Sounds like Gretchen had a little more in common with Brandy than you’d realized,” she murmured.

He winced and pushed a hand through his already-messy sandy hair. “Maybe I just have a knack for picking the wrong women.”

“You still haven’t told me why you think you have to quit medical school. Or what the lawyer told you that upset you so badly.”

The way his jaw tightened let her know that he was deliberately taking his time about that. Whatever it was, she could tell it was major.

“What I didn’t know when Brandy left was that she was pregnant,” he said after drawing a deep breath. “With my child. Apparently, she didn’t want me to know because she didn’t want that bond between us.”

“You have a child?” Mia asked, her eyes going wide.

He nodded, looking dazed again. “A little girl. She’s six years old. Her name is Alexis.”

“Oh, my God.”

He gave a short laugh that held no humor. “Yeah. That was pretty much my reaction.”

“And you never knew anything about this?”

“Nothing. I haven’t heard a word from Brandy since she took off, leaving me a note saying it had been fun, but she was ready for some new adventures.”

“And now she wants you to be a father to her child?” Becoming incensed on his behalf, Mia let go of his hands to clench her own into fists. “What does she want? Money?”

He shook his head. “No. It’s not that.”

“Then what?”

“Brandy didn’t raise Alexis. She gave the baby to her mother in Springfield, Missouri, to raise, and then she took off again. A year ago, she was killed in some sort of accident in New Zealand.”

“She’s—”

“She’s dead,” he reiterated bluntly. “And as of two days ago, so is her mother. A massive heart attack. Which is why the lawyer contacted me.”

Connor watched Mia’s face as the realization dawned on her. “They want you to take the little girl?”

Still finding it hard to believe himself, he nodded. “Alexis has only one surviving maternal family member. An aunt, Brandy’s older sister. The aunt doesn’t want to raise the child. She thought I should be notified before she turned Alexis over as a ward of the state.”

“Oh.” Relaxing the fists she’d clenched, Mia twisted her fingers in her lap. “So they knew about you.”

“Brandy gave them my name. In case anything ever happened to her, she said, or in case her daughter ever wanted to know who her father was.”

“Do you think there’s any chance she lied? That you aren’t the father?”

“There will be paternity tests, of course, but Brandy was not a liar. She was almost ruthlessly honest about everything. Apparently, I’m even named as the father on the birth certificate.”

“So you believe Alexis is your daughter.”

She seemed to be trying to convince herself. He nodded, anyway. “If Brandy said she is, then I don’t seem to have any other choice. The lawyer—his name was Haskell. Art Haskell, I think. Anyway, he said it’s up to me what I want to do now, but I need to make a decision quickly. Brandy’s sister is giving me until Monday to decide whether to accept custody or to relinquish my parental rights so Alexis can be adopted by someone else.”

“But you’ve already made up your mind.”

He wasn’t surprised by her insight. Mia probably knew him better than anyone else in the world. “I have no other choice,” he said again. “She’s my daughter, Mia. I can’t just turn my back on her.”

His daughter. The words felt alien on his tongue. Somewhere in Missouri was a six-year-old child with his DNA. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a photograph Haskell had given him. “This is Alexis.”

He noted that Mia’s hand wasn’t quite steady when she took it. He could certainly understand that.

She studied the picture for several long minutes, then looked up at him somberly. “She looks just like you.”

He’d seen the resemblance immediately. Alexis looked like a feminized version of himself at the same age, down to the little dimple in her chin. “I know.”

“She really is your daughter.”

“I know.”

Handing the photo back to him, she shook her head as if to clear it. “Okay, I understand why you feel an obligation to her. But are you sure you want to take responsibility for this child you’ve never met and who has never met you? That’s an enormous undertaking.”

“Tell me about it,” he muttered. “At least most single dads have the advantage of being in the kid’s life from the beginning. I don’t know how she’s going to react to me. But what else can I do, Mia? Turn her over to the state? Would you be able to do that if it were your child?”

She hesitated a moment, then shook her head. “Of course not. Nor would I expect you to. That’s just not who you are. It’s not going to be easy, Connor, but you know that.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Still, I can’t bear the thought of your quitting medical school. Not now.”

“I hate it, too,” he admitted glumly. “But what else can I do? You’ve seen how much of a time commitment it requires. There’s just no way I can handle that and raise a kid by my self.”

“Isn’t there anyone else who can help you? Someone from your family?”

“If my mom were still around, she’d be thrilled to help. She always wanted grandkids,” he said, sadness gripping his heart. But his mother had died of cancer. He still missed her every day.

“My only surviving grandmother lives in Nebraska and is in poor health, so she’s not an option. My dad is a great guy, but he’d be no help. He’s been a traveling salesman my whole life. Still travels a great deal. His concept of fatherhood was to play with me when he was home on weekends. The day-to-day practicalities of parenthood were all on my mom’s shoulders. He’ll spoil Alexis rotten when he meets her, I imagine, but as for being any real help…”

He shook his head. “I can’t afford to hire a full-time nanny, so that won’t work, either. Alexis will be in school during the day, but there are still evenings and weekends and holidays to deal with—hours I would have to spend studying to finish med school without flunking out. I just can’t—”

“I’ll help you.”

She had spoken quickly, as if on a sudden impulse, but her expression looked certain.

He frowned. “How could you?”

“I could move in with you,” she said, taking him completely by surprise again.

“Platonically, of course,” she added, as if there were any doubt. “My job is ideal for raising kids. I work during her school hours. We’d only need child care for a couple of hours a day and you could manage that financially. Evenings and weekends, I’ll take care of her while you study. I’ll do the cooking, the housekeeping, the laundry. I don’t have a lot of experience with young children, but I’ve got nieces and nephews around that age. I’m sure I can manage.”

“Why would you even consider this?” he asked, genuinely bewildered by the magnitude of her offer.

She shrugged and he could almost see her mind working. “It could actually be beneficial for both of us. You know I’ve been saving money to start graduate school after teaching for another year or two. Not having to pay the lease on this apartment would go a long way toward those savings. Your place is paid for, and I’d trade child care for rent there. I’d help you with some expenses, of course, but it would still save me several hundred dollars a month to share your house.”

It sounded to him as though she were trying to rationalize her impetuous offer. “It’s too much, Mia. I couldn’t ask—”

“You didn’t ask,” she broke in to remind him. “I offered. Think about it. This could be a win-win situation for both of us. I’ve even thought about taking an evening job in a bookstore or something to earn a little extra for my grad school expenses. This would save my having to do that.”

“Mia…”

“Connor.” She rested her hands on his again, her eyes locking with his. “You are one of the best friends I’ve ever had. You’re a good, decent man who’ll make a wonderful doctor. The world needs doctors like you. It would break my heart if you had to walk away from that dream now because of a youthful indiscretion. Wouldn’t you do the same to help me achieve my dreams?”

He wanted to believe he would do anything for Mia. She was such a good friend. Such a good person. Of course he wanted her to be happy. But what she offered was so overwhelming. So life-changing. Would he really be that unselfish?

“Why don’t you think about it tonight?” she suggested, seeing the conflicting emotions on his face. “Don’t do anything rash without at least considering what I’ve suggested, will you? I think we can do this, Connor. I think we can work together to provide a home for Alexis while you finish medical school and while I work toward my own educational goals.”

“I’ll think about it,” he agreed slowly. “But you need to do the same. You made an impulsive offer because you care about me, but you need to really consider what would be involved if you do this. Like you said, we don’t know this child. We don’t know what kind of raising she’s had, whether she’s been expected to follow rules or have respect for other people and their property. She could be a holy terror, for all we know. And you’re talking about spending every evening and weekend with her—what would that do to your social life?”

She laughed. “You, of all people, should know that I don’t have that much of a social life to worry about. I’m hardly a party girl.”

“What about the guy you went out with last night?”

She shuddered, giving the gesture an extra touch of drama for emphasis. “If I never see that jerk again, I’ll be quite happy, thank you. If I’d had to move his hand off my bottom one more time, I might have gone ballistic. As it was, his life was hanging by a very thin thread. I gave Natalie a piece of my mind later for setting me up with such a creep, but she swore she didn’t know he was that bad.”

The thought of some guy putting those moves on Mia made Connor’s blood boil. He told himself he’d have been as defensive on behalf of any of his women friends, and then tried to believe it. “You should have broken his fingers.”

“I considered it. I think he finally realized I was edging toward violence. He looked a little nervous toward the end of the evening.”

Her light tone invited him to laugh with her, but he couldn’t seem to tap into his sense of humor tonight. “It’s getting late,” he said. “I’d better go. Like you said, we both need to think about this.”

“I know my offer was spur of the moment, but I won’t change my mind. The more I think about it, the more I know it’s the right thing to do. It’s the only solution to your problem, and not such a bad deal for me, either.”

She’d obviously convinced herself. He was going to need a little more time to process. He’d had too much thrown at him today.

But there was certainly some appeal to the idea of Mia sharing his home. As a friend, of course, he assured himself as he left her apartment a few minutes later. A temporary solution to a very big dilemma.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give her plan a try.

Mia shook her head when Connor looked at his watch for what had to be the dozenth time in the past ten minutes. “Constantly checking won’t make the time pass any more quickly,” she reminded him.

Looking sheepish, he dropped his arm. “I know. I’m just…antsy,” he admitted.

As if that was something she didn’t already know.

It was Tuesday afternoon, and the minutes were creeping toward 5 p.m., the time when Patricia Caple, Alexis’s aunt, had said she would arrive at Connor’s house with the girl.

Connor had offered to drive to Springfield to fetch the child, but Patricia had refused. Mia suspected she didn’t want Connor to know where she lived, for some reason. Maybe so he couldn’t return Alexis if he changed his mind about keeping her?

As if a child were a sweater or something that could be returned if the fit wasn’t perfect, she thought in exasperation.

Connor was a nervous wreck and she couldn’t say she blamed him. She could not imagine how it must feel for him to be on the verge of meeting the daughter he hadn’t known existed for six years.

She was more than a little anxious herself.

As she had promised him, she had not changed her mind about her reckless offer during the three days that had passed since she’d made it. Even though her parents had expressed concerns about her decision. Even though Natalie had asked her flatly if she had lost her mind. Even though she knew the gossips would have a field day with her moving in with Connor, despite her stated reasons for doing so. Even though she was occasionally overwhelmed with the reality of what she was doing, of how much responsibility she was taking on.

Just don’t let me mess this up, she prayed silently as she had quite a few times during the past few days. She hoped she was up to the challenge she had given herself.

The doorbell finally rang at 5:05 p.m. Stopping mid-pace, Connor took a moment to smooth his hair before moving toward the door, a gesture Mia found touching. He wanted to look nice when his daughter saw him for the first time. He was clean-shaven and dressed in a nice green shirt and neatly pressed khakis.

She, too, had freshened up after work, brushing her shoulder-length brown hair into a shiny curtain and donning a fresh pink top and gray slacks. Curious, she moved to stand behind him as he opened the door.

Patricia Caple was a tall, thin, bleached blonde with full breasts pushed upward into a black, scoop-necked sweater. Her high-heeled boots looked very expensive, as did her diamond earrings and the rings that glittered on her hands. It didn’t look to Mia as if money was her reason for declining to raise her niece.

“You’re Connor Hayes?” Patricia asked, giving him a long once-over.

He nodded, his gaze already going to the child half-hidden behind Patricia’s left leg. “Yes. You must be Patricia.”

Mia knew he’d already spoken to the woman by phone a couple of times and had expressed his sympathy at the loss of her mother and her sister. He’d told Mia afterward that whatever Patricia felt about those losses, she hadn’t shared her feelings with him. From what she saw now, Mia suspected Patricia kept her emotions locked tightly inside her carefully smoothed and perfectly made-up face.

“Yes. And this is Alexis. Say hello to your daddy, Lex.”

Patricia pulled the little girl forward as she spoke, and Mia was struck by her first sight of the child. She was a beauty. Her hair was still childhood-blond, although it looked as if it would darken with age. Her eyes, like Connor’s, were large and very dark blue, framed in long, dark lashes. Her little face was flushed, and the dimpled chin a bit unsteady when she gazed up at the father she didn’t know.

“Hello,” she whispered, obeying her aunt’s instructions.

Connor’s voice was husky when he responded. “Hello, Alexis. I’m very glad to meet you.”

She didn’t respond as she continued to look at him with searching eyes.

“This is Mia Doyle,” he said, including both the child and her aunt in the introduction. “My very good friend.”

Patricia gave Mia the same comprehensive assessment with which she’d greeted Connor. “You’re the nanny?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Mia agreed, knowing Connor had given the woman a brief explanation of the arrangements he’d made for his child’s care.

“She’s a good kid,” Patricia said somewhat off-handedly. “My mother raised her right. I guess she learned from the mistakes she made with Brandy.”

Mia didn’t know what to say to that.

Patricia turned toward her car. “I’ll get her bags.”

“Let me help you,” Connor said, moving forward. “Alexis, you can stay here and get to know Mia, okay?”

The child nodded, her somber eyes focused on Mia now. Mia held out a hand to the little girl. “Come into the living room, Alexis. We can get comfortable.”

Once again, the child obeyed without protest, sliding one cold little hand into Mia’s. Only then did Mia notice the somewhat grubby stuffed cat clutched in a death grip in Alexis’s other arm. “What’s your cat’s name?”

“Pete,” Alexis said quietly. “My mama gave him to me when I was little.”

“Did she?” She wondered how much contact Alexis had actually had with her mother. Or did she refer to the grandmother who had raised her? “I like the name Pete.”

Alexis nodded, her fine hair swaying around her face. “Me, too.”

“Are you hungry? I’m making spaghetti for dinner.”

“I’m a little hungry. And I like spaghetti.”

Most children did, which was why Mia had chosen to make that particular dish that evening. She’d made brownies for dessert, another popular treat for her nieces and nephews.

“We’ll eat soon,” she promised, sitting on the couch and drawing Alexis down beside her. “I’m sure you must be tired after your long drive. Did you have a good trip?”

“Aunt Patricia plays the radio kind of loud. But we had hamburgers.”

Mia suspected that Patricia had played the radio as an excuse to avoid making conversation with a six-year-old for four hours. Patricia didn’t seem antagonistic or particularly unkind toward Alexis; it was more that she seemed detached. Almost indifferent.

“I like an occasional hamburger myself,” she assured the child.

Connor and Patricia returned then, each carrying one bag that presumably contained the child’s clothes. Connor had a pink backpack in his other hand, and Patricia bore a bag that might have held toys. It wasn’t a lot of stuff considering it was everything the little girl owned.

“Okay,” Patricia said, both physically and metaphorically brushing off her hands after setting down her load. “I guess I’ll be on my way.”

“You’re not driving back to Springfield tonight, are you?” Connor asked with a frown. “You’re welcome to stay here. I’m sure we can make room.”

“Thank you, but no. I have plans tomorrow.” She held out a hand to him. “Goodbye, Connor. It was nice to finally meet you.”

Giving her hand a quick shake, he replied courteously, “It was nice to meet you, too. If you’re ever in the neighborhood, feel free to—”

“Thank you,” she said, already turning toward Mia.

They shook hands briefly, murmuring platitudes.

Patricia looked down at Alexis then, and for just a moment, Mia thought she might have seen a glimmer of emotion in the woman’s eyes. She couldn’t interpret what she’d seen, but she thought it might have been just a hint of regret. Sorrow, perhaps?

“You be good for your daddy and Ms. Doyle,” she instructed, no emotion in her voice.

The child nodded and said quietly, “Yes, ma’am.”

Patricia leaned over to give her a quick, careful hug. “Goodbye, Lex.”

“’Bye, Aunt Tricia.”

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 for someone other than himself.

“How’s your spaghetti, Alexis?” Mia asked to keep the conversation moving when Connor found himself with little to say.

“It’s good. I like the meatballs.”

Mia smiled. “I’m glad. They’re my mother’s recipe.”

“Is your mother in heaven, too?”

“No, sweetie. My mother lives in Hot Springs. That’s a little over an hour’s drive from here.”

“Oh. What about your daddy?” the child asked with a quick glance at Connor.

“He lives there, too. And I have a brother named Paul who lives near them with his wife, Carla. He has two children, an eight-year-old boy named Nicklaus and a nine-year-old girl named Caroline.”

“I’d like to meet them sometime.”

“I’m sure they would love to meet you, too,” Mia assured her. “I’ll take you to Hot Springs sometime soon. It’s an interesting town.”

“Okay.”

Connor realized that in the years he’d known Mia, he’d never met any of her family. Now he wondered why that was. Had she deliberately kept her friendship with him separate from her family life? Their mutual friends were all associated with their jobs—well, his former job—as teachers.

He wondered what she had told her family about her current living arrangements. How they had felt about what she’d done. He’d been so caught up in his own problems during the weekend that he hadn’t even thought to ask her.

“Tomorrow,” Mia said, still talking to Alexis, “I’m taking a day off my job as a teacher, and you and I will work in your room. Your dad has classes to attend in the morning, and then tomorrow afternoon he’s going to take you to enroll in school. You’d like to get back into school and start making some new friends, wouldn’t you?”

Alexis nodded. “I’m in the first grade. I can read a little. And I’m good at math.”

“I can already tell you’re a very bright girl,” Mia said approvingly.

“My teacher’s name was Miss Albertson. She said I was a very good student.”

Connor heard a touch of wistfulness in Alexis’s voice when she mentioned her teacher. She was probably going to miss her school and her friends there more than she wanted them to know. He hoped she would settle in quickly to her new school, and that she would make new friends there.

Mia looked at him, as though wondering why he’d grown so quiet and so somber. He forced a smile and tried to think of something worthwhile to contribute. “I’m in school, too, Alexis,” he said. “Did your aunt tell you that? I’m studying to become a doctor.”

Tilting her head, the child eyed him questioningly. “You’re kind of old to be in school,” she said after a moment.

He winced. “Well—”

Looking suddenly stricken, she added quickly, “You’re not too old, though. Probably everyone’s like you in doctor school.”

“It’s okay,” he assured her with a laugh. “You didn’t hurt my feelings. It’s sort of cool that we’re both going to school, isn’t it? And Mia’s a teacher, so we’ll all be at school every day.”

Reassured that she hadn’t said anything wrong, Alexis relaxed and took another big bite of her spaghetti. Connor concentrated on finishing his own meal. So far, he wasn’t exactly proving to be a natural at this. If he could barely carry on a mealtime conversation with the kid, how was he going to handle all the other millions of responsibilities that came with this job?

He thanked his lucky stars that he had Mia to help him.

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