or flight instinct coming alive. But she should’ve known that, just like when she’d gotten ugly with Ted, only little Oreo and defending her defenseless brother brought that side out in her. This might be more difficult than she’d anticipated. Danica could do this. She had to. Felicia’s questions and comments, while a little annoying, were harmless enough. An unentitled inquisition she could deal with. Danica was willing to do whatever it took to be here. But, clearly, if her instantly warming insides were any indication of what might be in store, she’d have to work a little harder to keep the claws from coming out when it involved anything about the baby’s well-being.
Deciding to take the high road because she was curious about something else anyway, she seized the moment to ask about that instead. She’d wondered how much if anything Orlando might’ve uncovered about Oreo’s mother. Maybe he’d shared with Felicia about it. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but where is his mother?”
Felicia’s face soured a bit before shaking her head. “Orlando doesn’t remember the mother.”
Furrowing her brows, Danica shook her head, pretending to be confused. “What do you mean?”
“I’m sure he’s planning on telling you. It’s not exactly a secret.” Felicia picked at her fingernail before looking up at Danica. “So, I don’t think he’d mind me sharing. He’s a doorstep baby.” She motioned to him before turning back to Danica. “Apparently someone Orlando slept with sometime last year—before he and I had ever met—got pregnant and never told him about it. Then when the baby was about four months old, he was dumped at Orlando’s doorstep with a note saying she couldn’t take care of him anymore and it was time for Orlando to step up. A positive paternity test, tons of red tape, and three months later, Orlando got full custody of him.”
Danica took a deep breath. Oreo wasn’t dumped. His being delivered to his father, albeit as discreetly as possible, was methodically planned for weeks. Danica had left everything she could think of that Orlando might need for him, including thorough instructions in that bag for every item in there. “Oh, wow,” was all she allowed herself to say but then had to ask. “But you said he doesn’t remember her, so he does know who she is?”
“Well, after checking the records because she did leave his vaccination information, they later informed him of the mother’s name.” Felicia lifted and dropped an indifferent shoulder. “The name didn’t ring any bells, that’s how insignificant the tryst was, but it doesn’t matter. Turns out she was a junkie who died of an overdose.” Felicia leaned over to the coffee table between them and grabbed the TV remote. “Honestly, whoever left him is lucky Orlando is such a good guy. He didn’t have to keep him.”
“What do you mean he didn’t have to?” Danica asked, mindful to keep her cool. “He’s his father.”
“Technically, yeah, but it’s not like he agreed to having him. Clearly, the junkie had no business being a mother. She should’ve just aborted. A lot of men would’ve just handed him off to child services and washed their hands of him.”
Should’ve just aborted? Washed their hands of him?
Biting her tongue again, it was a challenge not to glare at Felicia. “Who said she was a junkie?”
“Well,” Felicia picked up the remote and turned to Danica. “I don’t know if they actually used that term, but it’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear someone died of prescription drug overdose, doesn’t it? I mean who does that?”
Someone who was legitimately suffering from an illness and desperate to feel normal again. You ever think of that, you fucking idiot? Again, Danica struggled to keep her thoughts to herself as she watched Felicia aim the remote at the television and clicked it. The raucously loud sound effects of the cartoon on the TV startled both women as Felicia fumbled with the remote before dropping it on the carpet. “Shit,” she muttered, bending over to pick it up. Wincing from the loud laser shots as the animated robots on the screen battled it out, Danica turned to the baby and froze. He was wide awake and looked as startled as Danica had initially felt from the sudden noise. His bottom little lip was in a full pout and quivering. Danica was instantly on her feet just as he let out his first whimper. Felicia finally got the noise down, but it was too