Read California Diaries #7: Dawn, Diary Two for Free Online Page B

worried glance. Had something happened to Baby Schafer-Olson? We rushed to Room 307.
    There, lying in Carol’s arms, was the baby we were looking for.
    “Hi,” I whispered to Carol and Dad.
    “You don’t have to whisper,” Dad said in a loud, happy voice. “We want her to get used to noise.”
    “Come on over and see her,” Carol said. Carol looked tired but so very happy.
    I looked down at the sweetest infant I’d ever seen. Dad put his arm around me.
    “You know what, Sunshine?” he asked. Dad hadn’t called me that in so long. The tone of his voice was warm and familiar. It was the voice he used to tell me bedtime stories when I was little and that he used to comfort me when I was sad. I suppose he’ll use that voice with his new daughter. It’s her turn to have bedtime stories and a dad who makes up a terrific nickname for her.
    Hearing Dad call me Sunshine reminded me of Sunny too. The fact that my
    nickname was Sunny’s real name was the great coincidence of our friendship. Not many people were named Sunshine. We decided this was a sign that we were supposed to be best friends forever.
    I missed being Dad’s Sunshine and I missed Sunny. I felt a lump rise up in my throat, as if I was going to cry.
    I swallowed and said, “What, Dad?”
    “Your sister looks just like you did.”
    “But…” I looked at Carol. It was Carol’s baby. Shouldn’t she look like Carol?
    “She does look like you,” said Carol. “I’ve seen your baby pictures, Dawn. Isn’t it wonderful?”
    I am amazed that Carol doesn’t mind that her baby looks like me. She took the baby and held her out to me. “Here.”
    I took my half sister and cradled her carefully in the crook of my left arm. Other newborns I’ve seen looked scrunched up like old men. But not this baby. She had smooth, soft, pink skin. And her lips were a perfect tulip shape.
    “She’s so little!” Jeff exclaimed. ‘I thought she’d be bigger. Are boys bigger?”
    My father laughed. “No,” he said. “And Elizabeth Grace is eight pounds, two
    ounces, which is a very respectable weight for a girl or a boy.”
    “Elizabeth Grace!” Jeff cried. He threw the “name your baby” book down on
    Carol’s bed and pouted. “You went ahead and named her without me.”
    “I’m sorry, Jeff,” Dad said. “But it just came to us. We were looking at her and I said, ‘Let’s call her Elizabeth.’”
    “And I was thinking what a grace it was that she is finally here,” Carol said.
    “That she is my special Grace. We put them together and came up with Elizabeth Grace.”
    “You can give her a nickname,” Dad told Jeff.
    “Like Liz, maybe,” Carol suggested. “Or Lizzy.”
    Jeff thought for a few seconds. “I’m going to call her Gracie,” he announced.
    “That’s my nickname for her.”
    “Gracie,” Carol and Dad said in unison;
    My dad looked at me and I nodded. I thought Gracie was a perfect nickname for Elizabeth Grace.
    “I like it,” said Dad.
    “Me too,” Carol added.
    “She is so lovely, Carol,” Mrs. Bruen said. “Now, wasn’t it worth all those
    months in bed?”
    “Yes, it was,” Carol said. “You were right.”
    I felt as if I were dreaming. I couldn’t take my eyes off the peaceful infant in my arms. “Elizabeth Grace,” I whispered. “Happy birthday.”
    Then we all sang “Happy Birthday” to the newest member of our family.
    I’m too tired to study for my finals. I have all day tomorrow to study. I’ll go to the hospital too. I want to visit Mrs. Winslow when I’m there. I promised to tell her all about the baby after she was born.
    There’s also something else I want to do with Mrs. Winslow. I hope it works.
    Afternoon 6/18
    It was hard to study this morning. Dad was calling all our friends and relatives to tell them about Elizabeth Grace. A lot of them wanted to talk to me. I guess they were worried that I’d be jealous, which is pretty weird since I’m thirteen years old. When Dad wasn’t on the phone,