He let out a little sound that seemed somewhat positive and I let out a short chuckle. “Is that so? Well, I thought you might be bored so I brought you a new friend and something to pass the time.”
I pulled up the teddy bear and those green eyes of his widened. “Bawr?” he said sluggishly. “Yeah. You wanna cuddle with him now, or have me set him in this chair here?”
“Cuddle.”
I smiled, approaching the bed, and Belle was right there. “They had to leave his wound open, so put it on his left side.”
I nodded, tucking the giant bear alongside the little guy. He smiled faintly, curling into the stuffed animal and if that wasn’t just the most adorable thing.
“And this is for when you’re a little more awake.”
I set the handheld on his chest lightly, unsure of where his open wound was on his abdomen, and the boy perked up even more.
“What is… is thissa, a, uh… is this gonna be mine for the games?”
“Yeah, it’s yours for the games,” I said, reaching out and smoothing his sandy-blond hair back. Strange, that he didn’t have his mother’s coal eyes. From what I knew that was a pretty dominant trait, and yet he had green eyes bordering on hazel. Strange.
“Thank you so much Mister… Mister…”
“Bishop,” I answered quickly. But the boy’s eyelids were already sagging and only a faint murmur of syllables escaped his mouth before he fell asleep.
“Still pretty out of it, huh?”
Belle nodded, looking worn, upset and more than a built guilty. “Yeah. Him and I never do well with any sort of depressant.”
“Personal experience?”
She nodded. “I had my wisdom teeth and tonsils removed. Both times were rough.”
“Right.” I watched her face for a moment, and I knew that wasn’t it. “Hey, why don’t we step into the hall for a minute?”
“Why?” she asked, her brows knitting together.
“So, you can tell me what’s really bothering you that you’re clearly trying not to say in front of your son.
Her mouth fell open a bit, as if that was the last thing she had expected out of my mouth, but she nodded. “Okay. Let’s do that.”
A few moments later, we were standing outside the door, the entryway cracked open slightly, so her eyes didn’t have to leave her son. “It’s silly.”
“If it’s bothering you this much, I can’t imagine that it’s something that’s not important.”
She licked her lips, and I had to remind herself that her son was in the hospital and it wasn’t appropriate to watch the movements of that plush mouth of hers so closely. “It’s just that… It’s looking like we’re going to be here a whole week instead of just the weekend, so he’s going to spend his birthday in here. And he hasn’t said anything about it yet, but I’m sure he will soon.”
“I hate it. I hate it so much. Celebrating his birthday is just as much of a highlight for my year as it is for him.”
“His birthday is this week?”
She nodded, chewing on her lip as she gazed into the room at her son, and something about the math of all of that stuck out to me. Doing some quick calculations in my head, I realized that this week had to be pretty close to ten months after the fateful office party that had brought us together.
That was… that was interesting.
And terrifying.
“Could maybe the father help?” I asked cautiously, watching her carefully for her response.
“No. I’m not reaching out to him. I don’t want anything to do with that man.”
The vehemence and panic in her voice made me drop it. If I was the father of the boy, it felt like she wouldn’t shit talk me right to my face. So, I supposed I just had to trust her.
Eager to change the subject, I realized that she was still wearing her dress from the benefit. “Hey, that doesn’t look very comfortable. Can I bring you some clothes from your place?”
“Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to-”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering. Maybe if Stacy is still at your place, you can have her round up a bunch of your personal items and I’ll go pick them up.”
“Why would you do that?” she asked, voice soft, uncertain. Out of anyone else’s mouth it might have been suspicious. Or even accusing. But she just seemed utterly confused.
I couldn’t tell her it was because I wanted any excuse to keep her in my presence. That just being near her made me feel a strange sort of… of something that I hadn’t felt in years. So instead I just shrugged. “I don’t have anything planned, and it’s really not trouble.”
She wavered again, and I wondered what had happened to the woman to make trusting someone for something simple so difficult for her. “I… I’ll text Stacy.”
I nodded to her. “Sounds like a plan. How about you head in there and hang with your guy for a while, then once I’m back I’ll watch him and you can clear yourself up n’ maybe even take a nap.”
“Uh, yeah. Thank you. That would be nice. Really nice.”
I sent her a smile that I hoped was charming. “It’s nothing. Really.”
She nodded and headed back into the room. I closed the door the rest of the way for her, then looked for the nurse’s station.
I found it around the corner a few moments later, and I strode up to one of the workers.
“Hi, did you need anything?”
“Uh, yes. Room C-1779. I want them moved to one of your better rooms. One with one of those couches that pull out and a view overlooking the river.” I pulled out the insurance card from my company and gave it to her. “Also, I want everything from here on charged to my company. If there’s issues with your billing department, I can provide a credit card.”
“And, uh, who are you?”
I gave her a smile. “I’m Michael Bishop, and Ms. MacIntyre was a former employee of mine. Taking care of her and her son in this emergency situation is the least I can do considering how she always helps everyone else.”
“Wait, Bishop as in-”
“Yes. There’s a wing in the respiratory center from my father and I’ve got one in the children’s cancer ward.” She nodded emphatically, taking my information and I remembered something belatedly. “But how about we save the move until the boy wakes up again?”
“No problem. We need our logistics and bed teams to handle the transfer anyways.”
“Great. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
“Of course, Sir.”
I headed out, feeling slightly better about the situation, but more ideas were already brewing in my head. A birthday in the hospital, huh? That didn’t sound like a fun time at all. But maybe, if I swung things a certain way, I could be a little more useful than a sex-toy with novelty attachments.
At least it was a start.
14
Anabelle
Staying in the hospital was nothing like I had thought it would be. The entire time my son was in surgery and then the recovery room, it was like time wasn’t real. I wasn’t lonely. I wasn’t bored. I wasn’t tired. I was just existing in some sort of suspended animation while I waited for them to finish up.
The only things that interrupted the static of my mind were multiple worst-case scenarios that scared me right down to my core. I knew that anytime someone went under, there was always a chance that they never came back. Nightmare after nightmare had played out in my mind, locking me further into my catatonic sort of state until finally, finally, I was told I could see my son again.
Then came the hours waiting for him to wake up. And hours still to find him a room. By the time morning came, I was more exhausted than I had been since giving birth.
When Michael showed up, touting flowers and a ridiculously oversized teddy bear, I felt equal parts relieved, flattered and guilty.
It was wrong of me not to tell Michael that he was the father. It was wrong of me to accept gifts from him for his own son but keeping all of that a secret. But no matter how much I wanted to tell the trut
h, the thought of split custody or losing Griffin entirely kept the words in my mind and away from my tongue.
But even with all my fear… my son could certainly benefit from having someone who could completely take care of his college at the drop of his hat. Get him the best education. Anything he could ever need. And those thoughts only picked up when we were suddenly moved to a much nicer room for no reason.
I told them that I couldn’t afford a private hospital suite like they had given us, but I was assured that it was taken care of and I didn’t need to worry. It wasn’t until Michael showed up with the duffle that Stacy had packed me that I put two and two together to figure out he was the one who had changed our room.
I was grateful. I was. But every kind thing he did made me feel worse, and soon I was going to burst out of my own skin from my damn consciousness boiling over.
I found myself debating again, staring out the window while Michael showed Griffin how to play one of the games the billionaire had gotten him. He didn’t need to visit every day. In fact, I told the man he didn’t have to. And yet every day he spent lunch with us, often ordering a ton of food that I definitely wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise.
Or, at least he did once Griffin’s nose tube was removed on the second day and he was given the alright to try liquids.
For as awful at it was to see my little boy in the hospital, having to struggle to just walk to the chair or sit up even by the forth day, I had to admit it was going much easier than it had any right to.
My work was letting me use all my vacation days I had built up, and a couple of coworkers had donated theirs as well. Stacy stopped by once or twice to check on the little guy, and even a couple of his friends video-chatted with him on my phone. He wanted them to come visit, but the doctors didn’t think it was good to expose him to all of those germs that kids tending to carry around, and that Griffin’s packed wound was still a bit too much of a danger.
So, for the most part, it was me and him, getting better every day, with Michael visiting for three of four hours to basically be an absolute Prince Charming.
I was distracted from my internal debate when three nurses came in, one of them pushing an empty wheelchair and one of them holding balloons. I stared at them, unsure what was happening, until one of them stepped forward with a big smile.
“I heard it was a certain big man’s birthday,” she said in singsong, pushing the wheelchair right up to the side of the bed and then lowering the arms. “Would you like to take a bit of a walk outside to celebrate? See the sun? I know it’s been a while since you’ve gotten out of this room and I got you this sweet ride.”
“It’s my birfday?” Griffin said, looking to me with surprise. I couldn’t quite tell if he was pretending not to know for my benefit or if he had genuinely forgotten considering all the trauma of the past few days, but either way it was adorable.
“It is!” The balloon nurse said while the one with empty hands clapped excitedly. “And we know birthdays in the hospital can be lame, so we thought a little freedom would be fun, right?”
“Okay,” Griffin answered with a nod.
I had no idea that the nurses had anything planned, and I felt tears prick at my eyes. They really were a good staff, and I was so glad that my boy’s birthday wasn’t going to be him stuck in a bed with doctors coming in every eight hours to change the dresses of his wound.
I followed them out, Michael saying he’d clean up then be right after us. My heart was so full it felt like it might swell to bursting, but that feeling only increased ten-fold as the nurses guided us out into the courtyard of the children’s part of the hospital.
There were so many balloons and an entire tent set up with plenty of chairs and long picnic tables. I recognized a couple of the other recovering kids from the floor and the play room, along with snacks, soda, juice, ice cream and even… was that a magician making balloon animals for a group of kids?!
All of it hit me at once, and then the nurses all declared surprise around us. Griffin let out a squeal, and I could only stare dumbly at everything.
“Is this for me???” he asked, both of his hands going to either side of his face.
“It is indeed!” Balloon nurse said, crouching right by him. “We heard it was a very special boy’s birthday and we just had to do something. We’ve got all your favorite things, and I even hear that a superhero might visit us later.”
“A, a, thuperhero?”
She nodded and I couldn’t say a single word. I was so struck by the action. So overwhelmed that I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh, cry, or do a damned flip.
Because I knew who was behind this all. I knew who had bought the beautiful, massive cake I could see resting on top of a platform above a bed of ice, who had arranged everything, who had plotted and planned the sweetest possible thing.
Michael.
Griffin wasn’t even his, as far as he knew, and yet he had gone above and beyond. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had done something so nice for me just because.
Because I wasn’t anyone. I was a one night stand who pulled a dick-Houdini move on him. I was a stranger and a liar and yet…
Wow.
Just wow.
Michael finally caught up with us and my body moved of its own accord. Wordlessly, I walked up to him, before throwing my arms around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug.
“Whoa, what’s going on here?” he asked, voice deep and rumbling. “This looks like y’all are throwing a party.”
“It’s for me!” Griffin declared, throwing both of his hands in the air. “I wanna walk to the table!”
“You sure you want to walk?” The head nurse said. “Because I don’t mind pushing you around like a race car. Vroom vroom!”
“No! Wanna walk!”
“Well, alright then. Let me put the breaks on and then we’ll go as slow as you need.”
I let go of Michael, wanting to watch my son take the largest amount of steps he’d taken since he was allowed to walk, but I wasn’t done yet.
“Thank you,” I whispered, although the words didn’t feel like nearly enough to express to him just how much his actions meant to me.
Rushing to Griffin’s side, I took one hand while the nurse took the other. With shaky legs, he got to his feet and took one wobbling step forward. He swayed, but the nurse and I held him firmly until he adjusted and took several more slow steps.
It certainly took much longer than it normally would have, but eventually he made it to the table and I set about serving him whatever he wanted. It didn’t take long for a gaggle of kids to join him, grabbing plates and holding them out.
It was nice. Practically perfect. Of course there was the faint hint of melancholy that always came from being around hurt and sick children. There were a couple of hairless ones who I knew enough to guess were going through treatment for cancer. A girl with bandages all over her arm and the faint remainder of a burn on her cheek. A boy with deep, purpled bruising all along one side of his body and an eyepatch. A couple of kids that were underweight. A couple with walkers. I knew each of them had their own story, and I was so glad that Michael’s kind deep heart for my son was also brightening their day a little. Goodness knew, they deserved it.
Maybe, if I was lucky, I could convince work to have our next benefit be for the children’s hospital. I’d seen their activity room and even though they had a lot, they could still use so much more.
But all my thoughts of work faded as not just one superhero showed up, but an entire team. That time I really did burst into a quick wave of tears, but it was only the cheering of the children that covered my shocked, happy reaction.
I knew they were just people in costumes, but that didn’t matter. They all interacted with the kids beautifully, and I didn’t even want to know how much it had cost Michael to round all of them up.
He was amazing. He really was. And he deserved so much more than I was giving him.
I had always thought o
f myself as a good person. As someone who worked hard and tried to do my best by everyone. But as I gazed at the handsome, amazing man, I realized that I really was the bad guy.
Maybe that was why, when the party had wound down and Griffin was practically falling asleep sitting up, I let him help me push Griffin back up to his room. And maybe that was why, after I tucked my son in, I turned around and laid a desperate, grateful kiss on him.
This time, he didn’t seem startled by the action. Instead, he responded instantly, his lips moving against mine and his hands encircling me with that crushing force that I craved.
There were no words between us, no questions or uncertainty, just the two of us experiencing each other in the moment.
But that moment quickly grew heated, my brain overloading with so many sensations at once. His biceps squeezing the sides of my arms slightly as his hands slid down to my ass, his breath fanning across my face, heated and smelling slightly of cake. The firm and very defined press of his erection against my belly, telling me exactly he thought of my kiss and how I felt against him.
It ramped up too quickly, all of my emotions and stress from the past week rushing me along with the rush of it, and I felt like I was going to sink under the deluge and never come back up. But, ever the responsible one, Michael pulled away.
“As… painful as it is for me to say this, I, uh, think that this might not be the best place.”
He was right. Dammit, he was so right. But it didn’t suck any less.
“You may have a point there,” I breathed raggedly, remembering that my son was behind me and pushing Michael into the hospital bathroom for a quickie seemed more on the gross side than the romantic one.
“Maybe,” Michael paused, seeming to find his words. “Maybe when you’re released to the hospital, and Griffin’s put down to bed, I can take cook dinner for you at my place and you can have some grown up time to yourself. Nothing too fancy, but I do happen to have a very deep tub with jets and a fully stocked bar. I figure after this week, maybe you could use a drink. The babysitter is on me, of course.”
Baby Daddy (Forever Daddies Book 1) Page 12
