17. Sterling
Irolled over and let my arm fall across Cecelia’s shoulders. Only she wasn’t there. The pillow was still warm. I hugged it to myself before opening my eyes and sitting up.
“Did the baby wake you?” I asked. I reached for my watch, discarded at some point during the night’s activities. Georgie would be waking up soon. She woke up early. I’d change her and give her a bottle and she’d fall right back to sleep. But if she wasn’t fussing… “Why are you out of bed?”
“I have to go home and take a shower before I go to work.” She jumped a little as she pulled the front of her shorts together and fastened them. I enjoyed how everything wiggled on her.
“You’re only going to be coming back here. Why not stay?”
“I have to check in at the office.”
“Check in online.”
She snorted. “I wish. The system is still down. You know, I expected this kind of discount and duct-taped together operation from public services, but this is a private agency working for lawyers and people like you. They had some kind of disgruntled employee-assisted natural disaster, and with no backup systems or redundancies in place, I still have to file my reports in triplicate.”
She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her shoes on.
“I have to make a report about yesterday.”
I raised my brows and rolled so that I could be next to her. “Are you including this in your report?” I teased.
She went pale and closed her eyes. “If they find out I slept with you, I will be fired so fast. This does not get included in the report. This gets mentioned to no one. I don’t even want Wayne knowing about this.”
“Trust me, the man is paid very well to be discreet. He will not divulge my secrets, and by extension, yours.”
She leaned over and looked into my eyes. I could get lost in her when she did that. I pushed up and claimed her mouth. She tasted of the sweetness that followed a rousing night of sexual acrobatics. And she had been rousing and talented. I wanted her back in my bed.
“I’ll see you later after I submit my reports. You have your to-do list for the morning. Get Georgie a doctor’s appointment, and I’ll see what medical records we have on her back at the office. And maybe see if you can find some father-baby classes.”
You didn’t call them ‘Daddy and me’,” I teased.
“I thought only I was allowed to call you ‘Daddy’?” She kissed me again.
I grabbed her softness into my arms and rolled her back onto the bed, pressing my hips against her.
“Say that again,” I demanded.
“And get into more trouble? I don’t think so. We don’t have time?—”
With cosmic bad timing, Georgie’s wake up cry sounded through the monitor.
I groaned and rolled off Cecelia.
“Get the baby. I have to go.”
Cecelia escaped while I went to take care of the distraught baby.
This morning, Georgie was clingy. She wouldn’t let me put her down without much fussing and tears. She felt warm to the touch. I rummaged through the pile of everything Cecelia purchased that had yet to be put away. I found the thermometer. It was the kind that beeped after being put in the ear.
Her temperature was normal, but she was miserable. I gave her a bottle and held her until she fell asleep.
I didn’t want to put her back in her crib. I wanted her with me. She was precious, and she was all that was left of Argene. I crawled back in bed and made a barricade of pillows so she couldn’t roll off. I researched on my tablet as she slept next to me.
I made a short list of pediatricians in the area to call once office hours began. After checking my email and not finding any updates from the investigator, I sent one to him. Hadn’t Argene left any information about the man?
At some point, I fell back asleep alongside Georgie. I woke up with her fingers up my nose and her open mouth biting my cheek in her version of kisses.
“Good morning, little beauty. You must be feeling better.” She wasn’t fussy or complaining.
“Ow.” I clapped my hand over my cheek where she bit me. She bit me. I ran a finger over her gums and found the sharp edge of a tooth breaking through. No wonder she had been unhappy and fussy. She was teething.
“That’s it, no biting.” I grabbed her and rolled out of bed. She giggled. It was possibly the single best sound in the world.
I carried her into the kitchen and found some yogurt in the fridge. Wayne wasn’t in yet, so we were on our own for a while. Cecelia would be in soon. I wasn’t worried. For the first time in over a week, I felt like maybe the kid and I would be okay.
Yogurt was less messy than oatmeal, and I was able to leave Georgie in her highchair while I called through the list of pediatricians’ offices.
“No, I don’t have her medical records. No, I don’t know who her last doctor was. No, I don’t know.” I felt like a broken record. The information I had on Georgie was minimal at best. I didn’t even know if she was born in this country. Knowing the life Argene had been living the last time I had contact with her, the odds were not high.
I called the next name on my list.
“Doctor Branigan’s office, how may I direct your call?”
“I’m calling to see if the doctor is accepting new pediatric patients?”
“I can help you with that. When is the baby due?” the chipper woman on the other end of the line asked.
“Excuse me? Due?” I asked.
“Aren’t you calling to set up for a new patient?”
“I am, but she’s already born,” I said.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I assumed you were a soon to be new father making that first baby appointment.” I could hear her grimace.
“Look, normally, that wouldn’t be a good start for me, but I have this situation, and well, you’re now feeling like you need to make things up to me, aren’t you?”
“I am so sorry about that. How can I fix this?” she asked.
“I have temporary custody of my niece. She’s ten months old. All I have is her birth date. I don’t know her medical history. I don’t know what shots she may or may not have had. I don’t even know if she was born in the States.”
“Is that a consideration?”
“Absolutely. And I don’t know the health of my sister during the pregnancy. What I do know is this kid eats. She can sit up. She has minimal language, or the beginnings of language. And as of this morning, she has teeth.”
“Sounds like you have yourself a situation.”
“I do. And so far, none of the pediatricians I’ve called are willing to accept her as a new patient. Too many unknowns.”
“Well, Dr. Branigan does work with a lot of immigrant children at the free clinic.”
“What does that have to do with my situation?” I didn’t care about the man’s charity work.
“That means she’s used to having a lot of unknowns when meeting her patients. So, not having any information won’t be a hindrance. We can schedule a well baby checkup early next week, if you’d like?”
I did like, and I chided myself for assuming the doctor was a man. I could check getting Georgie a doctor off my to-do list.
The elevator pinged. Even though there was no intercom call from the concierge letting me know Cecelia had arrived, I grabbed Georgie and went to greet her. I felt like showing off that Georgie had an appointment already set up. I was like a little kid eager for praise.
“Mr. Sterling, Miss Georgie, good morning,” Wayne said as the elevator doors slid open and displayed that he had arrived, and not Cecelia.
I checked my watch. It was getting late. Georgie would be going down for her first nap of the day soon.
“Did you have an acceptable evening?” Wayne asked.
“Yes, thank you. Dinner was perfect.” It was a little dried out, but that had been my fault. I had kept Cecelia in bed for a couple of hours before either of us had remembered we had dinner warming in the oven.
“I expect Cecelia for lunch,” I let him know.
“Very good,” he responded.
It wasn’t very good. Cecelia hadn’t shown up before lunch, or even later. I waited for her but gave up and ate when I fed Georgie. I grabbed my phone and checked my messages. Nothing.
I was about to finally call her and see what was taking so long when the phone rang. Caller ID was hers.
“Cecelia, I thought you would be here already. Is everything all right?”
“Is this Mr. Sterling Alexander?”
“It is. Where’s Cecelia? Is she okay?” Nerves clenched in my gut.
“I don’t honestly know. I was told to call you?—”
“This is her number. You’re calling from her phone,” I growled.
“No, sir, this is the agency’s number. I was told to give you a call and apologize. You were expecting a meeting from your caseworker today. We’ve reassigned your case. Your new case worker will be by tomorrow.”
“What happened to Cecelia?” I demanded.
“She has been reassigned to something more suitable to her experience. That’s all I can tell you. We do apologize for the inconvenience. Have a good rest of your afternoon.”
How was I supposed to have a good afternoon? Cecelia wasn’t here, and apparently, I didn’t even have her phone number.