The Doctor's Fake Nanny(25)

"Nope, Daddy. Why?"



David and I both busted out laughing this time. It was just too cute not  to. She knew her dad too well to be fooled and she stamped her foot in  indignation at his attempt to trick her or lead her on. David walked  quickly across the kitchen floor and scooped her up into his arms,  kissing her on the cheek and pulling her in towards his heart. I  wondered if he could hear mine beating, joyfully, calling out at the  warm sight of the two of them together. They were so different now than  how they had been when I had first come to this place. All of us were.



"Well, Sophie, I was just wondering if you thought you could handle  another gift. Just one more, mind you. One more and then nothing else, I  promise."



"Yes! Where, Daddy? I'm ready now."



He laughed again and set her down, looking at me and motioning with his  head to follow the two of them. I knew I should probably stay and work  on our breakfast, but by this point I was curious, too. I got up  quickly, knowing that Sophie was probably way ahead of the both of us at  this point. She must have just known that David had put whatever  surprise he had in the great room, because that was exactly where she  had headed. She got there before either one of us could catch up and the  next thing I heard was her little shriek of delight. I wasn't sure what  exactly he had done, but apparently she was pretty impressed.



"What is it, David? She sounds like you just told her she's actually a Disney princess."



He laughed and slowed down, taking me by the hand and kissing me softly.  Just as it always did when he touched me, my stomach filled with little  butterflies and I couldn't help being slightly stunned by my luck. It  was hard to believe that a man like him was really, truly falling in  love with me.



"You'll see. Maybe I meant for it to be a surprise for you, too. Did you ever think of that?"



"No," I laughed, feeling like a giddy kid, "honestly it never did. Not ever, not even once."



He laughed again and led me into the room where Sophie was already  rolling around on the floor, clearly ecstatic about something. It didn't  take me very long to realize what that something was.



"Oh my god, David! You didn't! I thought that was a no go, totally shut down. What made you change your mind?"



A tiny, rolly polly English bulldog was standing on top of Sophie and  licking her enthusiastically on the face. It was white with brown  splotches that looked just like she had been in some kind of a splatter  paint accident. When David and I entered the room, the puppy looked out  and let out what I was sure was supposed to be a ferocious bark. Then it  struggled down off of Sophie and loped towards us, slipping and sliding  on the smooth floor. I bent down to meet it and scooped the precious  little thing up into my arms.



"Oh, David, it's just perfect."



"She. It's a she."



"Well, then she's perfect. I can't believe you got her a puppy! And this  is my favorite type of dog, too. I can't believe that. Isn't that a  crazy coincidence?"                       
       
           



       



"It's not really a coincidence, Kayla," David said as he looked at me  with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. "I may or may not have had my  little daughter there pump you for puppy information. You know, as a  hypothetical, just in case we ever got a dog down the line. So basically  Sophie is a double agent, even though she didn't know it."



I slapped him playfully in the arm, careful not to jostle the pretty  little girl nestling her head into the crook of my arm. This was it for  me. It was perfection. Somehow out of all of the pain and anger that had  brought me here I had managed to find this little family that took me  in and made me feel like I belonged. It was much more than I deserved  but I was beyond grateful to have it. I never expected to be graced with  something like it, especially after Nikki passed.



"Do you like it? I think I love it."



"You know what? I can see why, Sophie. She's adorable. What do you think you'll name her?"



Sophie thought for a while, scrunching up her entire face with the  effort it took her. I glanced at David and tried to hide my smile,  knowing that she considered this to be a serious decision. Finally I  could see her eyes light up and I knew she had made her decision.



"Moo Moo."



"Moo Moo? Are you sure?"



David looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. It was obvious that the  name made no more sense to him than it did to me, but we both knew that  if it was something Sophie had set her heart on, it was going to happen.  She was stubborn like that, the way I imagined my own daughter would be  if I ever had one of my own.



"Yup. It's Moo Moo."



"How come?"



"Cuz she looks like a little cow. A princess cow. Princess Moo Moo!"



"Excellent, Princess Moo Moo it is. Now, why don't you come take her  from me and bring her back into the kitchen with us? I'm just about done  with breakfast and I don't want it to get cold."



She took the little puppy and kissed her on her nose before following  her father and me back to the kitchen. I could already see that this  puppy was going to be good for her. It wasn't just that she had wanted  it so badly. It was about more than that. It gave her something to love  unconditionally and to take care of. It was the perfect way to help her  to focus in on something, to take care of another living thing. I  couldn't think of a more valuable lesson to teach a child.



"My lady."



Sophie giggled as David pulled out a dining room chair for her. He was  treating her like a little lady, her and Moo Moo both, and she couldn't  seem to get enough of it. Every time I thought things couldn't possibly  get better between the two of them, something new happened and I watched  them become even more connected. I watched them with tears in my eyes  that I hoped neither of them noticed, then scooped the eggs and potatoes  out of their respective pans and onto the plates. After setting them  down I sat down myself. Just like Sophie had, I laughed when David stood  and pulled out my chair. I knew he was only being silly, but it still  made me feel special. I had never had a man pull out a chair for me  before. It was something I would never demand, but it was definitely a  nice touch. He reached out and smoothed the hair away from my face,  letting his hand linger in a way that made me feel hot and my skin  tingle. Then he sat down beside me, picking up his fork with the  eagerness of a man who was half starved.



"Daddy?"



"What's up, baby girl?"



"Am I going to have a new mommy?"



David and I put our forks down at the exact same time. It should have  occurred to me that this was a question we might get. The more careless  we got with the amount of affection we showed the higher the chance of  Sophie questioning us about it became. But somehow I hadn't really  thought about the mommy question. Maybe a question about whether or not  we were a couple, but never about whether or not she was going to have a  new mommy. Because she must have been talking about me, right? Or was  she insinuating that she wanted not me but someone else? Very suddenly I  felt flustered and totally unsure. I looked to David and waited, afraid  of what he might say. Or maybe afraid of what he might not say.



"Why do you ask that, Sophie?"



He didn't look at me once. All of his attention and focus was on Sophie,  which I knew was exactly as it should be. It didn't help me to feel any  less uncertain, however. Only a little while earlier I had felt like  the three of us made a little family unit of our own and now I was right  back to feeling like an outsider. I didn't even know if I should stay  here for the rest of this but I also couldn't see how to best make my  exit. So instead of leaving I sat as still as I possibly could, hoping  the two of them would forget I was there. The really hard thing was that  I was also hoping they didn't forget I was there. That would mean that  all of my daydreams about David and our possible future would be over.                       
       
           



       



"Well, it's been a long time since I had one. I want to have one."



"Do you?"



"Mhm. I want Kayla to be my mommy. Will she?"



"I don't know, baby. But you know what? I want her to be, too. I hope that someday pretty soon she will be."



David's voice was thick and I could actually see the tension in his  body. My heart was beating so quickly that I thought for a moment I  could very possibly have a panic attack. It wouldn't be the worst place  in the world for that to happen, seeing as I was with a doctor, but it  would still be pretty damned embarrassing. I didn't know what to say.  Was I even supposed to say anything? Or did he just say that because the  comment threw him off guard and he wasn't sure how else to respond? I  felt like a teenager desperately trying to interpret the baffling things  the cool boy had said. This was never something I was good at and it  appeared that I hadn't gotten any better.