Dad By Choice

Abby glanced at her watch. It was getting late. “Abby also has someone waiting for her in the library. He—”

Abruptly, Abby stopped. The moment she’d spoken, she knew she’d made a mistake. Ellie and Beth immediately came to life, and both sets of eyes turned eagerly to inspect her. Anna was only a beat behind, scrutinizing her as if there were encrypted answers in her expression.

“Oh? Who?” Anna asked.

Abby rarely dated and had thwarted numerous attempts on her family’s part to set her up with men they considered good possibilities. The fact that she had a living, breathing male stashed away and waiting for her in the library aroused instant interest from all fronts. She knew this had the potential to snowball if she wasn’t careful.

“Just the brother of one of my patients.” Her tone was casual, dismissive. “I told him to come by the office after hours.”

“This is getting more interesting…” Mitchell raised and lowered his brow comically.

Abby sent a withering look his way. She knew their hearts were in the right place. It was their noses she objected to. “You know what I didn’t like about growing up in the middle of a big family, Mother?”

Playing along, Megan deadpanned, “No, what, dear?”

“There was never any privacy.” Abby’s gaze swept over all of them, warning them that she was too tired to put up with teasing comments for very long. “Fortunately, I can walk away now.”

“Spoilsport,” Beth called after her.

“You bet,” Abby shot back over her shoulder, then looked at her mother. “Okay if I leave?”

Megan rose. They’d said all there was to say for the moment. There was one more thing, but she wasn’t going to mention it now. For the time being, she intended to keep to herself the baby bracelet she’d taken from the infant with its initials, CO. She’d noticed it when she first saw the baby, and had managed to remove it without anyone observing her doing it.