Soon enough, Namęšéme came over to the McBride house to pick me up. Frankie and I could see in his face how hard he tried to hold back the tears that would be coming down soon. When we encountered him at the front door, I was the one to ask him how Mrs. Richardson and the baby were holding up.

"Arizona's doing alright now," Namęšéme answered as stoically as he could. "Thank goodness the doctors and nurses were able to get to her on time."

"What happened to her anyway?" Frankie asked curiously.

Namęšéme cleared his throat. "Well, uh, she experienced what's called a placental abruption. It's when the placenta separates from the womb before the baby is born. In Arizona's case, the placenta had completely separated from her womb. If they'd gotten to her any later, both she and the baby would have died."

"What about the baby?"

"She's not doing great, but it's too soon for a prognosis. All we can do now is wait and see what happens."

Oh my God. It was a girl. I didn't know why, but I was instantly compelled to teach her everything I could about being a girl.

"When can we see the baby?" I asked Namęšéme.

"She's staying in the NICU in the meantime," he replied. "So I might take you to see her tomorrow or the day after that." He also gave me a smirk. "By the way, I dropped by your school and picked up your homework for you to do over the weekend."

"Dammit, Namęšéme. That's such a bummer."

Namęšéme smirked at me again. "That's just how that works, kiddo."

The next day, I'd finished up on most of my homework when Namęšéme decided to drive me down to the Saint Francis Hospital Vinita on 735 N Foreman St. to visit the newest member of our family. On the way over, I couldn't help but worry about this baby. I mean, she wasn't supposed to have come for another four months, and yet there she was. Would she make it through the night? Would she be able to live a normal life? Would she ever even know that I was the one who actually sired her and not Namęšéme? Speaking of family secrets, I also couldn't help but wonder how Frankie was taking in all that new information not just about her Aunt Leota and Uncle Kevin, but about how she actually came to be.

"Everything alright, Jessica?" Namęšéme asked me out of concern.

I was tempted to shake my head at him, but I just shrugged instead. "I guess I'm worried about Frankie."

"What about her?"

"Well, we were down there in the basement, and... uh, we came across something that I don't think we were supposed to have seen."

"What was it?" Now I could hear alarm in Namęšéme's voice. "What was it you weren't supposed to see?"

I wasn't sure what to tell him. I was more worried about what his reaction would be than I was about actually telling him. I just blurted out, "Frankie and I came across a letter that we think means that she was a surrogate baby."

Namęšéme breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, goodness, I thought it was something horrible for a second. So it turned out she was just a surrogate baby, huh? I mean, I don't see what could be so bad about that-"

I cut him off. "Except Jewell might have originally been carrying her for her sister Leota and her husband."

"Oh." Namęšéme didn't know what to say. "I wonder what could have happened to the whole surrogacy thing? Clearly, something went wrong because she never ended up with the parents she was supposed to go to."

"Well, Frankie did say her Aunt Leota and Uncle Kevin had died before she was born, so I'm guessing that had something to do with it. Still, how am I supposed to reconcile with... with this?"

"Our first teacher is our own heart." He waited a few more seconds before saying anything further. "You have to accept it as truth. Some truths may be unpleasant or hard to swallow, but we all have to accept them eventually whether we want to or not."

"How are we supposed to just accept that, though?"

"Give it time. You may come to accept it when the time is right."

There was no arguing with that logic. He seemed to have had it all figured out.

"Thanks, Namęšéme," I said with a smile. "I needed that."

Eventually, we made it to the Saint Francis Hospital Vinita on 735 N Foreman St. in practically no time at all. Namęšéme led me through the doors of the hospital and right up to the front desk to sign us both in as visitors. I just stood beside him and listened to him lie to the clerk that I was the baby's older sister (well, older half-sister would be more accurate) and that I needed to see her right away in the NICU. The clerk gave the go-ahead and we took the elevator to the sixth floor where the NICU was.

"Namęšéme, why did you have to lie to the clerk?" I asked him curiously. "I thought honesty was the best policy?"

"Well, most of the time, it is," Namęšéme replied. "But sometimes, you're in a situation where you'll have to lie. You see, the NICU only allows parents and siblings to visit the babies, so I lied to make sure you could visit your new aunt."

"I mean, you didn't really have to do that."

"You're right. I didn't have to do that, but I did it for you."

Some time later, we reached the sixth floor and headed straight for the NICU where the newest member of our family was. Something about this place gave me sad vibes. Maybe it was the crying moms and dads, maybe it was all those babies hooked up to tubes and wires, or maybe it was just the whole idea of this section of the hospital existing. In any case, it didn't prepare me for what Namęšéme and I were going to see next. We stopped at the incubator labeled with our last name. Inside, I gawked at the thing inside the incubator. Well, I called her a thing because she sure didn't look like a baby; maybe the baby from "Eraserhead," but not a real baby. Soon, a doctor came up to us.

"You'll have to forgive me when I tell you you can only look at her," the doctor explained. "She's too weak to be held or even touched right now."

Namęšéme's expression didn't change. "I see. Any progress?"

"Not that I can see."

"Alright. I was just..." Namęšéme took a deep breath. "...wondering, that's all. Thanks for letting us know."

"No problem, sir."

"Would you mind taking me and Jessica to my wife's room? Erm, Jessica's my daughter from a previous marriage."

The doctor nodded. "No problem. Just follow me."