"Oh, thank goodness your here," Henry Higgins burst out the moment Doctor Ogden stepped through the door.
She hurried in, Henry sticking close to her side. Now wasn't the time to admire the grand foyer of Ruth Newsome's mansion. "Your phone call sounded quite urgent. Whatever's the matter?"
"It's our daughter, we think there's something wrong, or she's sick, or... or..." Henry sputtered out.
"Yes, so you said on the phone," Julia reminded him gently, trying to calm him down. "What exactly are her symptoms? How long has she been ill?"
Henry took a deep breath. "We think it happened when she was born."
"Everything about her birth was perfectly healthy, I was there," Julia said.
"You were with her the day she was born," He insisted, "but there was a full moon that night. She and Ruth could have both seen it. Aren't people rumored to go crazy on account of the moon? The word 'lunacy' comes from 'lunar', after all. "
Julia barely smothered a scoff. "Really, Henry. You're starting to sound worse than George. You're daughter isn't going to turn out to be a werewolf or a vampire on account of the day she was born."
"Can't you at least look at her? I don't know, perform some kind of... psychiatric thing?" Henry pleaded.
Julia shook her head in disbelief. "I honestly don't know how to perform an psychiatric evaluation on a newborn. I'm not even entirely certain that it's possible."
He slumped at her words so deeply it made her worry there might be a call for mental health support after all.
"Henry, please try to tell me what's the matter," She coaxed.
"It's when Henrietta cries, you can just tell there's something not right about it, and every time she cries, Ruth does too," He looked utterly at a loss.
"It's normal for babies to cry," Julia reassured him.
"When they need their nappies changed," Henry argued. "Henrietta cries over shadows, or when you say the word 'cat'."
"I suppose don't say the word 'cat', for starters," Julia laughed, but hastily made a serious face when Henry frowned. "Alright, since I'm here, I will examine both Ruth and the baby. If I say there's nothing wrong with either of them, you have to believe me. Do we have a deal?"
"Yes, anything!" Henry cried with the relief of a drowning man thrown a rope.
He all but dragged her into the nursery. Ruth stood over the cradle, gently singing "Do fa sol mi si fa... Do mi fa sol..."
Henrietta cooed, and then gave a tiny mewl.
"Henny-Penny, she's doing it again," Ruth called anxiously. "I'm sure I didn't make the notes sound like 'cat', I was careful this time."
She fluttered desperately over the cradle. Henrietta screamed. Ruth's face crumbled, and she burst into tears herself.
Henry rushed to her side and put both arms around her shoulders. "Not to worry, my sweet. Doctor Ogden's here, and she's going to take care of everything."
"Well, hardly everything..." Julia protested, and then cleared her throat when they both looked at her despairingly.
"Right," She started over. "Ruth, how have you been feeling? Not too tired?"
"I'm fine," Ruth sniffled. "It's little 'Etta we're worried about. Babies are so much more work than I ever realized."
"I thought you hired a nanny," Julia said. "Several, in fact."
"We did, one for changing her, one for feeding her, one for bathing..." Ruth counted off. "but we decided we wanted to handle the things that actually involved spending time with her, like singing."
Julia tried to keep her expression still, lest she come across as judgemental. "I'm flattered that I'm the doctor you trust with the health of your child, but are you really certain there was a need to call me?"
"Are you sure she's all right?" Henry pressed. "I mean, you did only just get here, after all."
Julia looked back down at the baby girl. "What I can tell you is that you have a beautiful little girl, one who resembles her mother in every way."
"That isn't exactly reassuring," Henry muttered.
Ruth frowned at him. "Henny, what do you mean by that?"
Henrietta saved him from answering by abruptly shrieking, and then subsiding back into gurgles.
"Was there a shadow?" Ruth looked anxiously around the sunny room.
Julia smiled. "I believe I may have an explanation after all. Somebody's taught herself a trick for getting attention." She lifted Henrietta from her cradle and passed her into Ruth's arms. "You see, no tears now. All she wanted was to be held by her parents."
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you," Ruth gasped. "I promise you, this baby will have all the attention she needs."
"It that case, it looks like my work here is done." Julia said.
She hurried out, just in case Higgins wanted to explore his moon theory a little more.