The Daughter He Wanted by Kristina Knight Page A

this, inviting him to a swim lesson was a big deal.
    “I thought you might enjoy it. She loves to swim.” Her tone was tense, and Alex felt responsible. Because what was tense about a mom taking her kid to swim lessons? Nothing, until you added a sperm donor to the mix.
    “I used to swim.” Maybe talking about something innocuous would dispel the tension. “Just summer leagues when I was in school, but it was fun.”
    The coach blew her whistle and one by one the kids jumped into the pool, sputtering as they came back to the surface to hold on to the side. Another instructor joined the coach and they started at opposite ends of the pool, helping the kids rocket away from the wall on their tummies. Reminding them to blow into the water like elephants, and reach their arms to the ceiling. When Kaylie’s turn came she hesitated and Alex felt his hands clench. The instructor, a young girl with a long brown ponytail, encouraged Kaylie to kick away from the wall. Finally she pushed off, but instead of reaching her hands above the water, Kaylie pushed around in a doggie paddle.
    “Big arms, Kaylie,” Alex couldn’t help shouting out, echoing the phrase the instructor used. Paige shot him a side-eye look but didn’t say anything. Kaylie didn’t change her stroke, just kept pushing around from beneath the surface. He called to her again. “Come on, Kaylie, you can do it.”
    The little girl looked over at him, forgot to paddle altogether and slipped beneath the water. She came up sputtering and shaking her head as the instructor caught her and held her up. Her tiny hands came up to her eyes and rubbed, then she shook her head and blinked her eyes open. The instructor said something he couldn’t hear and Kaylie shook her head as they started back to the side, Kaylie on the instructor’s hip as she walked.
    “She can do it—” he began and stood up, but Paige reached out, putting her hand on his forearm and urging him back to the bench seat.
    “Don’t embarrass her.”
    He turned, dumbfounded. “I’m encouraging her.”
    “You just screamed at her from across the pool, distracted her and she inhaled a mouthful of pool water. What would you call that?” Her voice was quiet in the loud room, but he could hear the anger beneath the calm words. Alex sat, watching the little girl at the side of the pool, who was studiously not looking his direction.
    When she probably needed to be since he was sitting beside her mother and she’d just inhaled pool water. But he wasn’t wrong, darn it. It wasn’t wrong to encourage her to swim correctly. Every other parent in the place seemed content to see their kids dog-paddling when they could be freestyling with just a little more effort.
    “She wasn’t reaching out of the water, that’s important when you’re learning to swim, isn’t it?” Somehow it was important that Paige agree with him, which only made him more annoyed. Because her opinion shouldn’t matter.
    He was a swimmer, she was not an athlete. He might be new to the parenting game, but he wasn’t new to the dangers of the water.
    Paige focused on Kaylie, who rocketed off the wall again, this time on her back. And once more her arms stayed below the water instead of reaching above it. Alex clenched his hands, but didn’t call out to her this time.
    “You’re doing great, Kay,” Paige called when she reached the rope dividing the shallow from the deep water.
    He saw the little smile on Kaylie’s face when she heard her mother’s voice. She didn’t turn her head, didn’t drop below the water. She did a semismooth turn and kept back-floating toward the starting wall. He couldn’t not say anything, could he? All she had to do was push her arms above the surface.
    “Reach, Kaylie, just a little higher. You’re doing great,” he added, not wanting to be accused of embarrassing her again.
    Paige didn’t look at him, but her next words were definitely meant for him. “Proper strokes are important, but this