“Okay, I hear you.” Reesa closed her notebook. “One last thing. I know Levi just got out of the hospital, but you’ll need to make an appointment and get his intake form filled out by the superhot, there’s-nothing-going-on-there Dr. Sheehan this week.”
Jordan dug deep to find some peace and took a cleansing breath. She would make it work with her schedule. Somehow. “Of course.”
“And now, I’m really sorry, but I have to see him awake while I’m here. Can you wake him up?”
“Yes. He’s been sleeping a lot. He’s healing, for one thing, but I’m not sure he had much restful sleep before. Let me get him a bottle before we wake him. He hasn’t had anything in a couple of hours.” In the kitchen, she got a bottle out of her new stash, quickly mixing six ounces of formula for Levi. “He’s not always happy to see me, so I’m just warning you.”
“You’re doing a great job with him, Jordan. He’s going to adjust. What are you going to do when you have to go back to work this week?”
“My hours are flexible and Claire has Mrs. Matthews, who’s agreed to keep him during the day when I have clients. Unfortunately, it will be another adjustment for him.” Jordan lifted Levi into her arms and tickled his foot to wake him up. He woke up scowling and opened his mouth to scream. She stuck the bottle in it.
Reesa laughed and gathered her stuff. “Good enough. You’re a natural, but I guess you’ve had some practice with all of Claire’s kids.”
“I have. Will you keep me posted if there are any changes?”
“I’ll do my best. And I’ll see you next month if not before.” Reesa let herself out the front door.
Jordan knew that Reesa meant well, but she also knew that information flowed slowly and usually in one direction in the system, from foster parent to caseworker, not the other way around. She looked into Levi’s big brown eyes, which were focused on hers. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. But you don’t have to worry, buddy. We’ll figure it out.”
She hoped she was telling the truth. She prayed constantly for this sweet baby, who so did not deserve what had happened to him. God, do Your will for him. Make it unmistakable.
Her phone buzzed on the table beside her. A text from Reesa:
Don’t forget about the pediatrician.
As if she could.
Ash stopped at the reception desk. His nurse, Marissa, slid a file to the bottom of the stack on the counter. A grandmotherly woman with a heart of gold, she was the organizational glue that held his practice together. “We have a new patient. Levi Wheeler, three years old.”
He glanced through the window into the waiting area and saw Jordan with Levi in her arms. He smiled. The other moms were dressed to the nines, having been taught from the cradle—according to his mother—not to leave the house without hair done and lipstick in place. Jordan was herself, boots and flannel, hair tied back, rebellious red curls framing her face. Levi had his head buried in her armpit. “Go ahead and put them in the red room.”
“But—”
They were overbooked. They were always overbooked because who could turn away a sick kid? So they went in order of arrival. Sometimes, though, you had to break the rules. “Marissa, take a look at him.”
His sweet nurse peeked over the counter and sighed. “Poor little one. He looks terrified.”
“He’s her new foster son. Let’s get the two of them in a room.” Ash stripped off his white lab coat and tossed it over a chair before picking up Levi’s thin chart. He opened the door to the waiting room. “Ms. Conley?”
Jordan’s eyes widened and darted around the room to the other moms, but she hastily made her way to the door. Jordan glanced out at the people lining the walls in the waiting room. “I think they’re planning a mutiny. Might want to send out some snacks or something.”
Ash laughed. “I’ll take that under advisement. We thought waiting in a room might be more comfortable for Levi.”
“You thought right. Thank you.”
“Hey, buddy.” Ash reached into his pocket for a sticker. He held it out to Levi, who looked at him from under Jordan’s chin.
The little boy’s eyes were huge in his thin face and seemed to question Ash’s motives, but he stuck his hand out and took the sticker from Ash’s hand. Ash considered that a victory. “You’ll be waiting in the red room, better known as the Giraffe Room. I’ve got just a couple of patients to see before Levi, but I won’t be long. Marissa?”
Ash’s nurse showed Jordan to the red room and followed them in. After an eight-month-old with an ear infection and a two-year-old with eczema, Ash knocked on the door. He pushed it open to find that Jordan had sketched roads on the paper cover of the exam table and was showing Levi how to make sound effects for his Matchbox cars.
When the toddler saw Ash, he pulled his car close to his chest and narrowed his dark brown eyes.
Tucking the pen and extra cars back into the diaper bag, Jordan smiled at Levi. “It’s okay, buddy. Dr. Sheehan is just going to give you a checkup. Remember how we watched the little girl give her stuffed animal a checkup on TV?”
“Time for a checkup, time for a checkup!” Ash sang the song from the kid’s show.
Jordan laughed. “See, Levi? He even knows the song.”
Ash pulled a couple more stickers out of his pocket, once again the pediatrician’s secret weapon. He held them out to Levi. “We’ll do as quick a check as possible today so I can fill out your form for the caseworker. I’m hoping he’ll get used to me so he’ll let me do a full exam soon without it being too traumatizing.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“If you’ll pick him up and put him on your shoulder, I’ll look in his ears.”
Jordan lifted Levi, and Ash took a peek in one ear and the other.
“Great job, Levi. Jordan, if you want to hold him in your lap with his back against your chest, I want to get a look in his throat and nose. I’ll try to be fast.”
Jordan held Levi’s arms and hands still and Ash took a quick look in the little guy’s nose. Just as he was gearing up to yell, Ash got a look in his throat. “All done. Let’s put him on the table and we’ll see how far we can get with an exam. I want to check those burns if he’ll let me.”
She laid Levi on the table and Ash held his exam light up, pretending to blow it out. No laughs, but at least he got a little smile from the somber little boy. He gently checked one fragile arm and then the other. The burns looked better.
A quick check of reflexes and he would call it a day. Ash slid his thumbnail up the sole of Levi’s foot. His big toe curved back and his toes spread. Babinski in a three-and-a-half-year-old?
He tested the other foot. The primitive reflex was not as strong, but it was still there. With long practice, Ash hid his concern, smiling at Levi. “You did awesome, little man!”
“So, rainbow fingernails are in now?” Jordan pulled a T-shirt over Levi’s head.
Ash glanced down at his hands and yes, his fingernails were painted in rainbow pastel shades. His face flushed hot, but he laughed and shrugged. “It’s the latest thing, didn’t you know? I have a little patient going through chemo right now. She has specialists overseeing her care, but when I can, I go by to see her. Last night she was bored and her mom needed a nap, hence my new fashion statement.”
Jordan’s eyes were soft. “I’m sorry. That must hit home for you.”
“It