Let Me Tell You a Story: Part 5

Welcome back! Starting a new chapter today. :-)

Marita punched the elevator call button with a coral-lacquered fingernail. "Tell me again why I agreed t this."

Charli grinned. "Because I appealed to your sense of compassion."

Marita rolled her eyes, stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the fifth floor. "Vintage Mary Kate. I knew I shouldn't have let you spend the night at Anna's."

"Oh, come on, Mom. You know you want to see the baby."

Jim and Angel's baby. Charli's half-brother. "I agreed to bring you to see the baby. And to see Angel, so you'd know for sure that she's okay."

"I wonder if he'll look anything like me."

Marita smoothed her daughter's straight brown hair. "He could definitely do worse. But Angel is so fair, I doubt he'll have your coloring. Those are your Mercer genes."

"Yeah, well, it's not like I'd have any idea what my Alessio genes are. Except for Dad."

"Oh, honey, except for your hair, you are the picture of your father." Who is the picture of the grandfather who refuses to acknowledge you.

"I guess we do look kind of alike."

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Marita took a deep breath and stepped out into the hallway. "Should we go to the nursery and take a peek at the baby?"

"Won't he be with Angel?"

Marita shrugged, turning left off the elevator. "Maybe. But let's check the nursery first. That way, if Adam's not with her, we'll still be able to tell her how adorable he is."

"How do you know he's adorable?"

Marita wrapped an arm around Charli's shoulder. "Oh, honey, all babies are adorable."

Charli wrinkled her nose and shrugged off her mother's arm. "Let's hope so."

They stopped in front of the nursery window, and scanned the tiny faces. 

"There he is!" Charli said. "Oh, Mom, he looks just like Angel! Do you think she'll let me hold him?" Charli's brown eyes were wide and misty. 

She was already thoroughly entranced by her little brother. 

Half-brother. He's her half-brother. With Angel, Jim had done things in the right order. He had married Angel and then given her a child. One he would actually stick around to raise. One his parents would acknowledge.