Page 73 of Lore
“She left a note,” Scorp says, handing it to us.
I don’t want this baby.
Give it to her father.
“Did she even know we are the father?” I ask, trying to figure out why the fuck she has done something so heartless to an innocent child.
“No,” he admits, shaking his head, but he lowers his tone. “She doesn’t know I ran those tests. I still had the samples we took before she ran off. So I just tested your DNA with the baby’s. It was a match. If you want, we can run more tests to find out which one of you is definitely the father.”
“No,” we reply at the same time.
“I thought as much.” He sighs, crossing his arms over his chest, his muscles straining against his fancy white doctor coat. “I think you should find out. You can both still raise her, but you’ll have to figure out how it all works. Think about it.”
She?
We have a daughter. A little girl.
Why am I more terrified than I was before?
“We have a little girl?” Bones mutters, shaking his head like he’s clearing his thoughts. “I’m going to need more guns.”
“There’s more. Your daughter is in the NICU because she was born with low birth weight. She’s only a tiny little thing, and she was having some breathing difficulties. We want to watch over her for a few more days to be safe,” he explains, and my heart starts racing with pure fear.
“But she will be okay?” I ask, frowning.
“Yes, she will. Come on, you can both go see her.”
At the first sight of our daughter, lying in the clear cot, sound asleep, I instantly fall in love with her. A full head of blonde hair, long dark lashes, and the tiniest set of fingers and toes I’ve ever seen.
She’s perfect.
Scorp lets us hold her hand through the circles in the cot.
That has to be enough for today.
But we stay with her for hours.
Bones heads home to sleep, and he will swap with me tomorrow morning.
“She’s the most adorable baby,” the nurse says as she steps into the room. “Sorry to interrupt, I’m Isla. I’ll be her night-shift nurse tonight.”
Thick dark hair tied at her nape. Big brown eyes. And a curvy body, even her scrubs can’t hide the shape in.
“Skull,” I reply.
She’s wearing glasses that I find really-fucking-adorable and hasn’t checked me out even once.
Isla picks up my baby girl’s chart and reads over it, smiling down at her. “I caught her with her eyes open yesterday. Big blue eyes.” She turns to me and looks me in the eye for the first time. “Just like yours.”
I study her for a few moments, but don’t say anything in return. She goes about her business and then turns back to me. “You want me to get you anything. A coffee?”
I’d love a coffee, but I shake my head in answer.
She must have seen just how much I wanted one on my face because a few minutes later, she comes back inside and hands me one anyway. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I guessed.”
I bring the cup to my lips.
Black.
