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“Merrill, hmm?” Noel Gamble’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he tucked the infant just a tad closer as he dryly guessed, “The uncle?”
“Yes,” Aspen answered for me. “And you’ll never guess what? Do you remember that student I always talked about, who took one of those technical writing classes I taught at the library?”
Her husband kept staring at me, running his gaze over me while he answered, “Yeah. The John Miller guy?”
“Right.” His wife brightened, patting his arm in congratulations for remembering. “Well, it turns out, I could never find him again because I heard his name wrong. It was actually Vaughn Merrill, not John Miller.” She splayed both hands in my direction. “This guy right here.”
Noel slashed his gaze her way, blinking out his surprise. “No shit?”
When he whirled back to look at me again, tilting his head slightly to see me from a different perspective, his wife laughed.
“I know, right? Isn’t this great? I can’t believe I finally found him. And here of all places.”
“Yeah.” Lucy’s father squinted, his mouth opening before he closed it again and shook his head. “Strange how that worked out.”
The intense scrutiny made me shift slightly and grow uncomfortable—er, more uncomfortable than I already was, anyway—and I had to wonder just what Aspen had told her husband about me.
Gradually, the condemning sensor dissipated from Noel’s eyes and was replaced by a curious kind of respect. Then he nodded in greeting. “Sorry about your brother.”
I swallowed and nodded back. “Thank you.”
When the bundle in his arms shifted, my gaze darted to it. A craving grew in my gut with the need to see Duke’s widow’s peak again. I sat the gift bag down just inside the doorway and drifted forward.
Noel tilted the infant in his arms for me to see her. The movement seemed to unsettle her, and her entire little body jolted. She kicked up her leg, dislodging the blanket to expose a miniature foot. There were no booties on her as there’d been at the hospital, and I was able to see five of the tiniest toes I’d ever beheld before.
I drew in a breath, reaching out a single finger. “Would you look at those toes,” I murmured. “They’re so tiny.” I barely touched the underside of her arch, and she curled her adorable little toes over my finger, then her leg gave a shudder as she pulled it away.
With a delighted laugh, I took a step back, straightening. It was too cute to process. The entire moment struck me as a freaking miracle. My uninhibited, irresponsible little brother had created this. He’d made this perfect, precious child.
Tears stung my eyes, and I quickly dashed them away with the back of my hand.
“She looks like you.”
“What?” I snapped my head up to send Noel an incredulous glance.
My shock caused him to chuckle. “Why so surprised?” he wondered, amused. “You two share genes, right?”
“Yeah,” I murmured, looking back down at the baby and feeling even more connected to her. “Yeah, I guess we do.”
My fingers itched to hold her again.
“Want to help me change her diaper?”
I looked up once more. When Noel lifted a single eyebrow, awaiting my response, I bobbed my head. “Okay.”
He smiled as if pleased by my answer. Then, jerking his head to the side, he motioned toward the couch. “Over here.” He moved to lay Ava on a cushion and sat down beside her, adding, “From the smell of it, I’d say she’s got a full one.”
“Has her meconium passed yet?” I asked curiously as I sat on her other side, watching him open the snaps to her onesie.
Noel paused to send me an odd glance. “Her what?”
Face heating and hoping I’d said it right, I cleared my throat. “The, uh, thick, black, tar-like—”
“Oh!” He huffed out an amused sound. “Is that what that shit’s called?”
I flushed even harder because he was still looking at me as if I were an alien being. Shrugging, I dropped my gaze and mumbled, “I’ve been studying up on infants and…stuff.”
Barking out a full laugh this time, Lucy’s dad shook his head before he glanced at his wife. “No wonder why this kid knocked me out of the number one spot of being your favorite student.”
