Chapter 228

[Cordelia]

On the other side of the door is the type of joyful space you'd expect in any pediatrician's office. Warm sunlight streams through high windows illuminating a saltwater fish tank that takes up a corner of the room. There is a rack of magazines and a small bookcase with parenting books.

A group of children with a very tired-looking mother with 3 kids under 5 years old watch the colorful fish swim. That could have been me, in a different life where Atlas had married me out of love and not necessity. I give her a sympathetic smile as we are escorted into Dr. Smithe's office.

It is a very large and comfortable examination room, with soft cushioned couches for us to sit on and a more proper examination table in the distance. A few moments later, Dr. Smithe enters the room and her sunny disposition brightens the room as she approaches us.

"You must be Cordelia," she holds out her hand for me to shake. "And this must be little Jasper."

I open the carrier so that she can get a be