by Sierra Rose
“I know. I just thought—”
“What are you going to do, force them down his throat?”
He flashed me a scowl, then sighed helplessly as he looked around. It wasn’t often that powerful people like him found themselves at the mercy of forces bigger than themselves. For James, it was a lesson in submission that couldn’t have come at a worse time.
“Well, what about an extra blanket?” he asked hopefully, trying to seize the smallest detail he was able to control. “I could find him another...” He trailed off suddenly, as Nick stirred between us on the bed.
In an instant, the chairs were abandoned as we both pushed to our feet, staring down with bated breath.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, ever so slowly, he opened his eyes.
“That’s it, honey. Take it slow,” I said.
At first, he stiffened in surprise, bracing himself against the unfamiliar scene. The harsh light and acrid smell of antiseptic startled him, but then his muscles relaxed one by one, coaxed to calmness by a generous cocktail of drugs. Those beautiful blue eyes flickered up to the beeping machine just over his shoulder. Then, even more slowly, they found their way to me.
“A-Abby?” he mumbled in a gravelly voice.
A pair of tears slipped down my face as I stroked back his hair with a gentle smile. “Hi, darling. I’m so glad to see you awake.”
Chapter 16
Nick tried to sit up but winced in pain and sat back. “Where... What’s going on?” he asked when he saw James. After taking another moment to get his bearings, he glanced down at the side of the bed. “Man, why are you holding my hand?”
James dropped it like he’d been burned. “I wasn’t,” he lied defensively.
The two stared at each other for a moment.
“Do you remember your name?” James asked.
“Yes, James, I do.”
James looked at Abby. “Okay, I don’t think we have to worry about amnesia.”
“You’re in a hospital, sweetheart,” I said.
Finally, James could no longer take the emotion. He abandoned all pretense of machoness entirely and squeezed Nick’s shoulder. “You were in an accident, but you’re all right. Just a concussion and a couple bruised ribs,” he said with a warm smile. “You made it through with just a few scratches.”
“I remember a car hitting me.” Nick glanced around, disoriented. He yanked the oxygen tube away from his face.
It was a rare occasion when I couldn’t determine what was going on behind those blue eyes of his, but I knew something deeper than the cocktail of drugs was blurring the corners of his mind, something I had no possible way of predicting. Does he even remember? Does he even remember what I said?
With his usual catastrophic timing, James leaned forward with a smile. “Abby said you two were fighting before it happened.” He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Want me to kick her ass?”
The tension eased for a moment before Nick looked up into my eyes. “Actually, pal, we, uh... Abby and I need a minute. Would that be okay?”
James’s eyes grew wide as he perched sympathetically on the edge of the bed. “Of course! Shit, with everything that’s happened in the last couple days, you’re going to need more than a minute.” He shook his head like a martyr, and I was seized with the sudden suspicion that James didn’t consider for one second that Nick’s “Abby and I” did not include him. “What do you want me to do? The way I see it, this damn hospital owes me. I can call up the board and have you moved to a private floor, send away the nurses so the three of us can enjoy a little peace and quiet.”
A faint smile flickered across Nick’s face as he gazed up fondly at his friend. By now, he knew better than to try to make the distinction. Instead, he simply made a strategic request. “I’m actually a little cold.” He shivered for dramatic effect, looking tragically helpless as he lay back against the bed. “Do you think you could find me a blanket or something?”
James was on his feet at once, a man on a mission. “Leave it to me,” he said, and the next second, he was pacing out into the hall, loudly shouting demands to the medical staff. “First one to find my friend a clean, warm blanket gets a crisp $100 bill.”
Nick closed his eyes with a painful chuckle as I leaned forward to stroke the side of his face. His eyes opened again the second he felt my touch, and I froze, wondering if it was allowed.
“Do you...” My throat constricted, and I took a deep breath before trying again. “What do you remember?”
The two of us locked eyes.
“I remember every single word you said,” he said simply.
There was a brief pause before I nodded quickly. I was sure it was good that he remembered, because it meant we wouldn’t have to go through it all again and risk him toppling out the tenth-story window or falling somehow into an open elevator shaft.
Then again, if he does remember, why isn’t he saying anything about it? What does he think?
“Abby...”
Two fingers lifted my chin, and I looked up to see him staring at me. I didn’t know when I had looked away, didn’t even know when I had started to cry.
“Nick, I’m so sorry.” The words shot out before I even made the conscious decision to say them. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the first second I found out. I’m sorry I ran away...twice. I have no idea what got into me, but if I had told you, maybe we wouldn’t be in this position. We’d still be back in the Hamptons, where the worst damage you could do to yourself would have been falling into a fountain. You know as well as I do that Harold would have dived in to rescue you before you could drown.” My voice rose in volume the longer I talked, working myself into a full-blown panic. “Still, I can’t be sorry about the baby. I’m sorry if you are, but I can’t be. I didn’t plan it and certainly didn’t expect to, uh...be expecting, but I am. No matter how strange the circumstances or terrible the timing, I already love this baby with all my heart,” I said, patting my belly. “I love him or her, even if our child is only about three months old.”
“Abby...”
Refusing to stop for even a breath, as I feared I couldn’t go on if I did, I ignored him and continued, “Look, I know you think you’ll be a terrible father, but, Nick, that’s just not true. I can’t imagine anyone being a better father! Not that you have to,” I was quick to interject. “I mean, if this isn’t something you want, I completely understand. I’ll move to the West Coast, or something, get a different job. You’ll never hear a word about this again, I swear not a word will be leaked to the press, and I promise that neither I nor the child will ever ask you for anything.” With that, I pushed swiftly to my feet, suddenly sure that was what he wanted to hear. “In fact, now that I think about it, you’re totally right. I’m so sorry. What was I even thinking? I’ll get my stuff and be out of the city by tonight. Let me just get my purse and—”
“Abby!” Nick shook his head with a gentle smile, still trying to finish his original sentence.
“What?” I asked softly.
“I’m so happy.”
With those three words, he stopped all my momentum. Just like that, he changed all my plans. My eyes grew wide as I stared down at him, unable to believe it could be true.
“You... You are?” I asked, biting my lip, terrified it was a huge, cruel joke.
He beamed up at me, his eyes shining with a million tears. “Of course I am. How could I not be? Abby, we’re going to have a baby.” The word seemed to hit him hard, as powerful as it was unfamiliar. A wave of realization shook through him, freezing him from head to toe before his radiant smile relaxed into something gentler, something tender, something completely overwhelming. “A baby,” he said again, liking the word more and more. “I’m going to be a father and I’ve never been happier.”
His arms opened, and I slid into them without another word, careful not to place any weight on his bandaged ribs. Despite the fact that we were in a hospital and that I’d just seen the man I loved thrown int
o the air by a taxi, I’d never been happier than I was in that single, perfect moment.
“I’m going to be a hands-on type of dad. No nannies! I’m going to do all those late night feedings and burp the baby...and I’ll even change diapers!”
“Even when the baby’s screaming at the top of his or her mini-lungs and kicking?”
“Yes! I’m going to be this baby’s role model and hero. Which means I’m going to have to change. It’s time to grow up. I realize that. I’m going to be the dad I never had in my life. I’ve heard it all goes by so quickly, and I want to enjoy every single moment.”
“Me too. Our baby is going to be so loved and cherished.”
“Three months already?” he asked, arching an eyebrow at me.
I glanced up with a little smile, watching the wonders of parenthood transform him right there before my very eyes. “Yep. I have an ultrasound scheduled for next week,” thrilled that I now wouldn’t have to attend it alone.
“I will be there every step of the way,” he said.
I kissed his lips.
“And the flu?” he said suddenly. “You didn’t really have the flu.”
I shook my head, cuddling into him. “Actually, at first, I thought I did.” A sudden peal of nervous laughter burst out of me. “I couldn’t believe you didn’t catch it too. Now I know that what I have isn’t contagious.”
Nick smiled, then held me delicately against him, his magical eyes lost in thought. “Do we know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?” he asked quietly.
“No.” I twisted up to look at him. “Do you want to know?”
He paused, considering the question for the first time. “I’m not sure. Do you want to know?”
I grinned. “I’m not sure either. And I do love surprises!”
“It’ll be a surprise like no other. And who doesn’t love a good mystery?”
For a while, we just lay there, slowly recovering from the aftershock of all that had happened between us and to us, both of us saying silent prayers of thanks that we’d survived what could have been the world’s most catastrophic day and making tentative, hopeful plans for the future.
A future for all three of us...
“You’ve given me the greatest gift anyone has ever given me,” he said.
I squeezed his hand. “And you’ve done the same for me.”
“This is a magical moment I’ll never forget. Our love has sculpted a brand-new soul. Do you think our beautiful baby will look like me...or like you? Will he or she have your nose, my eyes, or your laugh?”
I laughed as a tear slipped down my cheek. “I guess time will tell. And let’s just hope she doesn’t get my Dumbo ears.”
“You do not have big ears!”
I laughed.
He touched my stomach. “Hey, little one, I’m your daddy, and I love you and your mommy so much.”
The emotion in his voice was so tender, so touching, totally melting my heart.
“I wonder what you’ll look like or what you’ll act like,” he continued. “I’m trying to imagine the person you’re going to be. And I can’t wait to meet you. I can already feel our bond starting to grow.”
I looked up at Nick. “You’re going to be the best father ever.”
He wiped a tear from my eye. “And you’re going to be the best mother ever. We might make a few mistakes and be completely clueless, but I think we’ll eventually get this parenthood thing nailed down and be the best parents ever.”
I smiled. “I think so too.”
“Are you scared?” he asked.
“I was at first, but not anymore. Not with you at my side. How about you?”
“The idea of fatherhood scared the shit out of me and I always thought the universe wouldn’t be that stupid to give me a child. But I wasn’t in love. And when you’re in love, you think different. I want to start a family with you, Abby. I think about us buying the perfect home with a big yard and a white picket fence, and a big yellow lab running around. I know we can have a great future and the perfect life together.”
I couldn’t stop grinning.
“You’re ready to settle down?” I asked.
“It doesn’t feel like settling down. It feels like we’re continuing our adventure and I want to spend every waking moment with you.”
When we heard footfalls marching triumphantly down the hall, we pulled apart, wearing matching grins. I climbed off the bed, and Nick braced himself against the mattress with a little smile.
“We need to tell James.”
“I’ll go get us something to drink,” I said.
“To hear this news, James is going to need something stronger than what they’ve got in the vending machine,” Nick teased.
“Yeah, well, we’ll just have to ease him into it with Mountain Dew.” I gathered my purse and kissed his cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
The two of us locked eyes with a conspiratorial grin just as James swept past me, balancing a small mountain of blankets in his arms.
“Twenty-seven,” he announced proudly. “Coulda been twenty-eight, but security caught me trying to pull one off of this comatose guy on the seventh floor.”
“James!” I screamed, my mouth falling open in astonishment.
“What? He wasn’t complaining,” he said, brushing it off with a casual shrug.
“Oh my gosh!”
“I’m kidding, Abby,” James clarified. “C’mon, woman! I’d never do that, not even for this clumsy asshole,” he said, nodding toward Nick. “Where’s your sense of humor? Ever heard of lightening the mood?”
I turned around with an incredulous grin and slipped out into the hallway. “I’m just gonna go...get some coffee or something. I’ll be back in a bit.”
The nurses parted before me, each gushing in delight as they flashed their crisp $100 bills, but I didn’t even make it to the elevator before I heard the explosion.
“She’s what!?”
The doors slid shut in front of me but not fast enough to hide my grin.
Ease him into it? Right! I bet he’s comatose now!
Chapter 17
Given the sheer magnitude of James’s response, I decided to give the two of them a little extra time. Theirs was a bromance for the ages, and if Nick and I were set on carving out a future together, James was the person I was going to have to compete with for the rest of my life.
I wandered around the gift shop with a little smile on my face, putting an occasional item in my bag and silently marveling at how fast the day had turned around. An escape from the Hamptons, a confrontation in Brooklyn, and a life-altering confession in Manhattan? Yeah, just your typical day in the Big Apple!
I selected some chocolates and a few bottles of water, then paused a second to stare at row of headlines: “New York Royalty Elopes in Peruvian Paradise,” I muttered before walking down the aisle with a grin, shaking my head. For a moment, I considered picking up an extra pair of clothes for Nick, since his doctor insisted on keeping him there for at least one night for observation. Knowing Nick as well as I did, though, I was sure he was already plotting his escape, so I decided to put the cheap pants and t-shirt back on the shelf. At any rate, he would never wear polyester anyway.
By the time I stepped off the elevator onto the correct floor, the deafening exclamations had come to an end, but the fantastical speculation was just beginning. The second I walked through the door, James swept me off my feet, crushing me in an embrace that was borderline inappropriate, considering that my boyfriend was lying just a few feet away.
“Abby, I can’t believe it!” he screamed, squeezing me so tight I feared my bones would buckle and snap.
“I-I know,” I gasped, spitting out a mouthful of his dark hair. “It’s pretty crazy.”
In the background, Nick lifted a tentative hand, trying to call attention to my purpling lips, but it was no use. James just smiled obliviously as I slowly suffocated in his arms.
“I can’t believe I had to hear about it from Nick! I should ha
ve been your first call!” he countered, swinging my legs back and forth.
Fortunately, he chose that moment to drop me where I stood. My knees gave as my shoes smashed to the floor, sending a wave of blood and feeling coursing back through me. I took a second to catch my breath, then looked up to see him staring at me expectantly. Lying on the bed behind him, Nick merely shook his head with an indulgent grin.
“Well, of course I wanted to tell you,” I said quickly, trying to figure a way back into his finicky good graces. “James, you know you’re always my first call—”
“Oh, Abby, do you know what this means?” he interrupted with a sudden revelation.
“What?”
“You’ll never hook up with me after all,” he said, feigning a pout.
Nick reached over to silently up his pain meds, but I froze in confusion.
“Uh...I’m sorry?”
James’s handsome face saddened with a wistful smile.
“If you and Nick were simply dating, we mighta had a chance. Sure, the fake engagement and eloping complicated things, but it was still somewhere on the table, right? This though... You, pregnant with Nick’s baby...” He shook his head and clicked his tongue as if I’d made some egregious oversight. “It’ll never work out, love,” he said, then flicked me gently beneath the chin, as if to console me. “Sorry you had to...settle for less.”
I literally bit my tongue. “Well, I’m sure I can learn to live with it...if you can,” I said, struggling hard to keep from laughing.
“We both have to,” he said cheerfully, already on to the next adventure in his head. “Now, Nick, according to Nurse Ratched, all you have to do to earn your freedom is to walk from your bed to the end of the hall. I say we hire a body double. Then we can...” He trailed off suddenly, and a truly terrifying expression flashed across his face.
Nick and I turned quickly around to see none other than Mitchell, looming in the doorway.
The second he saw us, he froze. It wasn’t like him to look so uncertain, but the sight of his son in a hospital bed, with wires and tubes laced across his body caused something strange to happen. In a blink, the most powerful man in the world disappeared, just vanished right there on the spot, leaving nothing but a trembling father in his wake.
