Bloodchild Read Online Free PDF Page B

while.
    "Jillian will be here by the time you get back from school today," Harlan said.
    "I won't be back until after dinner today, Harlan. Today's the big game with Liberty, and afterward, hopefully, I'll be celebrating with Teddy. We're going to the Beast Burger in Middletown. Everyone is."
    "Oh, yeah, I forgot. Teddy nervous?"
    "Teddy? If he is, he'd never let you know it. That's why they call him Iceman."
    "It's a good quality to have when you're in that kind of position. Helps you take the pressure, I'm sure. But," Harlan said, leaning over his coffee and smiling, the patches of freckles under his eyes flashing, "I'm sure you defrost him from time to time."
    "Oh, Harlan." She blushed, and then she thought for a moment. "Harlan, I never asked you, but how do you really feel about the baby and all that's happened?"
    "What do you mean, Colleen?"
    "Well, I know what you told me about Dana and her mental and emotional condition and all, but what about yours? You're part of all this. You've gone through traumatic events too."
    He nodded. "Well, I guess I really haven't given myself all that much thought. Dana was so fragile—and still is. Like I said, I think we lucked out with the turn of events, but of course, I can't help thinking about that little tyke who died in the delivery room."
    Colleen was fascinated by this. She couldn't help wondering about their own baby herself.
    "Did it really look like Nikos?"
    "He had carrot-colored hair but he was smaller. I didn't permit myself to look at him all that closely, Colleen. It was too painful, after we realized…"
    "Yeah, I bet. But how did you come to this other child? You told me about the lawyer…"
    "I was out in the hallway. Dr. Friedman was commiserating with me, and to tell you the truth, I was beginning to feel more sorry for him. He really took it badly, since there was no indication that there would be such problems. Anyway, a man approached us and introduced himself as the lawyer for these people. He was a very distinguished-looking man, nearly all gray-haired. The fatherly type," he added, and smiled. "Yes, I remember thinking he was very fatherly—soft-spoken but authoritative, the kind of man you feel you can trust. Apparently he was also a close friend of these people."
    "Did you see the people? Were they there too?"
    "No."
    "What about the teenage girl?" Colleen thought about the tenth-grade girl who was in her eighth month and still attending Centerville High.
    "No, I didn't see her," Harlan said. "The lawyer didn't suggest it, and I didn't see the point. I suppose in my own mind I didn't want to make any connections between Nikos and someone else. This way it was as if the baby were just there, just appeared miraculously, you know."
    "Uh-huh. But you know the girl's name, right?"
    "I know the family name. It was on the papers we all signed. They're Italian, I guess… Niccolo was their name."
    "Niccolo?"
    "Yeah."
    "Is that why Dana wanted to call him Nikos? The similarity?"
    "No, Dana never really knew their name. She just signed the document where I showed her to sign, and even if she had, she wouldn't have wanted to do anything to remind her of the baby's real family. It brings her such mental and emotional relief to fantasize that Nikos actually is her baby. I might be wrong for permitting her to think that way, but for now I can't see the harm. Later, perhaps, when she is stronger, we'll sit down and talk about it."
    "Nikos, though… it seems like such a coincidence," Colleen said.
    Harlan laughed. "She dreamed it. That's what she told me. Sort of divine inspiration." Colleen nodded. Harlan clapped his hands together and got up. He put his coffee cup in the sink. "Well, I gotta get going, even though the airplanes are rarely, if ever, on time. Can you clean up in here?"
    "Of course."
    "Thanks, little sister." He kissed Colleen on the cheek. "Have a good day, and wish Teddy luck for me."
    "Thanks, Harlan."
    She watched him leave, then cleaned up the