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Laughing, I grab the list of items we need to buy in one hand and Pepper’s elbow in the other, and lead her to the front door while she babbles out naendI stand in the doorway to what has now become a baby nursery in my home and watch as Pepper puts linens on the crib ether so I’ht now

Also feeling an i sense of doom and potentially blind panic

I’ baby in the house tomorrow

Louise is co to become a real dad

Luckily, tea I skipped today’s practice and will skip toh I’ for a hoame There’s no way I’ll have a nanny hired by then—ith reference checks and criround checks—but luckily Pepper volunteered to stay here with the baby while I’ame

No, correction…not “the baby”

Charlotte Elise Bay

I intend to call her Charlie

I have no clue if Lida gave her a naht when she abandoned Charlie on my doorstep Louise putif we can locate Lida and get her to sign forhts If we can’t find her, my attorney will petition the court to force the relinquisher process but in the end, Charlie will be hts at all

That ht now I have no clue what she could have been thinking or what drove her to do such a heinous thing I’nant, because this is not the type of surprise that’s particularly pleasant

What the future holds, I’ht now

I airl named Charlie

I am as prepared as I can possibly be to receive her to

I am terrified

I am sad that life as I know it is over This is a new journey I’m on and I’m even a little resentful of it because I didn’t aspire to it The weight of responsibility is pressing down hard on et better