My Doorstep Baby -Ryden-

One

I hear a pounding on the door and I groan and sit up. I look over at the clock and see its 3:29am. I stare at the clock for a moment with the banging getting more and more intense.

I stand up and run down the stairs and unlock the door as I was unlocking the door the knocking stopped.

I opened the door and saw a black SUV driving away. I look down and see a carseat and a...

No..

There was a baby on my doorstep.

I pick up the car seat with the sleeping baby in and take it into my house. I flick the living room light on and put the seat on the coffee table.

I notice a note taped to the baby's blanket. I reach over and peel it off quietly.

ᗪEᗩᖇ ᖇYᗩᑎ,

hєч rч, í tαkє ít чσu fσund thє вαвч, hєr nαmєѕ єmmα αnd ѕhє'ѕ чσur chíld.

í dídn't tєll чσu вєcαuѕє í thσught í cσuld hαndlє ít σn mч σwn вut α вαвч'ѕ α lσt tσ hαndlє.

вut í'm ѕurє чσu cαn hαndlє ít, íf nσt í'vє gσt thє αdσptíσn pαpєrѕ ѕσ αll чσu hαvє tσ dσ íѕ ѕígn thєm.

lσtѕ σf fun lσvє,

jαc

I reread the letter countless times before looking at the baby.

My daughter.

What do I do now?

I reach out to pick her up but stop my hands halfway and start moving them around hopelessly.

"Fuck " I mutter and she peels her eyes open and blinks at me. The first thing I notice is that she has Jac's eyes but the rest of her features are like mine, highs cheekbones, button nose and chestnut hair.

I sigh and reach over and unbuckle her from the seat and she grabs my finger with her tiny hand and I melt.

Don't get attached.

She squeaks happily and squeezes my finger. I smile and pull her arms carefully out of the straps and I try and wriggle my finger out of her grasp.

"Emma, come on, let Papa go" I smile and I feel a fuzzy feeling in my stomach at the realisation that I'm a dad.

She lets go of my index finger and I cup my hands under her armpits and I stand up, taking her up with me. I place her on my hip and make my way upstairs, after turning the light off.

I open my bedroom door and turn the light on. I walk over to my bed and place Emma down. It's when I look at her when I realise I'm not getting any sleep.

I sigh and walk over to the cupboard in my room and open it. I start digging through the boxes and I finally find what I'm looking for.

I hear Emma start to make uncomfortable noises and I race over to the TV and flick it on, turning the dial on the TV to change it to Baby TV.

After she makes a satisfied noise I go back to the cupboard and pull out the box. I place it on the floor by my bed and open it.

I hear Emma laughing and squealing and I smile to myself. As I open the box I pull out an item of clothing.

This box contained all of my old baby clothes.

I pull out a white babygrow and some blue dungarees and that thing that you put around your chest and the baby sits in it? I never learnt what that thing was called.

I look over at the clock and it says it was 7am. I sight and run a hand through my hair and walk over to my desk and sit down.

I straighten my hair and rim my eyes with eyeliner and stand up. I change out of my pyjamas and into a black button down and skinny jeans.