“He didn’t tell me; it just sort of presented itself,” Nana said. “It’s not something teenagers talk about directly. Cornelia’s been to the house a couple of times. To do homework. She’s very nice. Her mother and father are lawyers, but I didn’t hold that against her.” She laughed at her little joke. “Well, maybe I held it against her just a little.”

Cornelia? Nana the expert, and Alex the outsider. All my good intentions and the promise I’d made myself to do things differently had been swallowed up by whatever it was that always—always—seemed to drag me back to the Job.

Missed out on Damon’s first breakup. Can’t get that one back. Cornelia, we hardly knew ya.

It was good to be home anyway. The kitchen was soon overflowing with the smells of Nana’s cooking, exponentially so, as I was being received back with a party for friends and family. Besides the chili, there was Nana’s famous corn bread, two kinds of garlicky greens, seasoned steaks, and a batch of caramel bread pudding that was a rare show-off treat. Apparently, Dr. Coles hadn’t completely gotten through to her about the taking-it-easy part.

I tried to help without getting in the way, while Nana checked her watch and just about flew around the kitchen. I would have been more excited if I felt I deserved a party. Not only was I out of the running for father of the year, but my return trip to L.A. was already booked.

Chapter 76

Chapter 76

“LOOK WHO’S HERE with the family! Will you look at this. Where’s my camera?”

Sampson and Billie arrived early with three-month-old Djakata, whom I hadn’t seen since she was a newborn. John, beaming, lifted her out of the Snugli on Billie’s chest and put her in my arms. What a sight this was—Sampson with his baby girl. Papa Bear, I thought. And Mama and Baby Bear.

“What a rare beauty,” I said, and she was—with cocoa skin and soft little swirls of dark hair all over her head. “She has the best of both of you. What a doll.”

Jannie came around and slipped between us to get a good look at Djakata. She was at the age where it sets in that she may have babies of her own someday, and she was starting to take a perspective.

“She’s so teensy-tiny,” she said, her voice tinged with awe.

“Not too tiny,” Sampson said. “Hundredth percentile height and weight. Takes after her father. She’ll be as big as Billie when she’s five.”

“Let’s just hope she doesn’t get your hands and feet, poor thing,” Nana leaned in and said. Then she winked at Billie, who was already considered part of our family.