Bachelor Doc, Unexpected Dad by Dianne Drake

Author:Dianne Drake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-05-03T17:21:56+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

“MR. AND MRS. RIGSBY. They’re outside. They’d like to have a look at Lucas.”

Matt glanced up from his desk at Lucas’s social worker, Mary Jane Snider, as trepidation knotted his stomach. Sure, this is what he’d asked for, but now that it was so close he wasn’t as set on adoption as he’d been initially. But Lucas needed more than he could offer. And he owed it to Janice to see that Lucas got the very best. God knew, he’d failed his sister in doing that for her. And being a child, trying to raise a child, wasn’t an excuse. To some maybe. But not to him. His sister had been his responsibility from the time he’d been five and she three, and that was the one responsibility in life he’d failed. He wasn’t going to fail Lucas, though. “Good,” he said half-heartedly. “Show them in.”

He stood, went to the Dutch door play area connected to his office, and reached over for Lucas, who stood there with his arms up, smiling, waiting to be picked up. “Don’t be afraid of all the people,” he told the boy. “They want to be your friends.” Try as he might, he could raise no enthusiasm in his voice.

“Remember me?” Mary Jane said, stepping forward to take Lucas from Matt.

Lucas’s response was to draw harder into Matt’s shoulder and bury his face. “He’s not good with strangers yet,” Matt explained. “It takes him a while to warm up to them.”

“Any chance he’ll warm up by the time I bring the Rigsbys in?” she asked, stepping back.

“Probably not.”

“We could schedule for another time. Maybe by next week...”

Matt shook his head. “This is who he is. If they’re interested in him, they’ll have to accept it.”

Mary Jane nodded, left the office, then returned a minute later with the Rigsbys—Mr. Rigsby with his hands stuffed into the pockets of a pinstriped suit, something no one out here wore, and Mrs. Rigsby with her arms folded across her chest. Neither looked unfriendly, though. Just indifferent. And older than he’d thought they would be. He doubted Mr. Rigsby would be able to teach Lucas how to climb a rock when the time came, due to his age. And Mrs. Rigsby—she seemed too nervous. Or out of place. Could someone like that nurture Lucas the way he’d need to be nurtured?

“This is Lucas,” he said, making no attempt to get Lucas to look at them. “He’s shy,” he explained.

“Does he walk?” Mr. Rigsby asked.

“Yes, he does. But he doesn’t talk, yet.”

“Is he slow?” Mrs. Rigsby asked. “Is that why he doesn’t talk?”

“He doesn’t talk because he has nothing to say. And, no, he’s not slow. More like he’s just taking life at his own pace.”

“Does his pace include toilet training?” Mr. Rigsby enquired.

“Not yet, but we’re working on it.”

“Any peculiar habits?” Mr. Rigsby continued.

“What do you mean by peculiar? He’s two. Most of his habits could be described as peculiar.”

“Just oddities,” the man said. “Things you wouldn’t normally expect to see a toddler doing.

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