“You’re my dad!” says Scout, smiling up at him.
“Come here, Scout,” says Dan. “I wish I’d known.”
He takes her in his arms and picks her up, and gives her a big hug. A pained look of fatherly love is on his face.
But he still doesn’t look at me.
“I have to go,” he says, suddenly turning away. “I love you, Scout,” he says.
“I love you too, Dan, I mean Dad,” says Scout.
He doesn’t say anything to me, and he turns away and slips into the crowd, disappearing.
What just happened? He didn’t seem too pleased with me, but… He seemed to like the idea of being a dad. It was almost, though, as if he already knew, as if he was just waiting to hear it from me. That’s strange, and not what I was expecting.
“Come on, Scout,” I say. “It’s time to go.”
“But where’s Dan going?” she says, sounding worried.
“He’s got more football stuff to do,” I say. “He’s an important player on the team. And he’s got to do a lot of interviews and talk to the coach and everything.”
But I know it’s not true. I know he could be spending time with us if he wanted to.
Then again, it is a pretty big news hit I just gave him. Maybe he just needs time to recover. Maybe he just needs time to think.
I take Scout by the hand and lead her through the crowd. There’s no site of Dan, not at all. His huge body with his football gear and pads is gone, lost into the crowd. I’ll just have to give him time…
Dan
I stand in the shower, with the rest of the team long gone. I was the first one here in the morning, and I’m the last one to leave.
So I was right. Those suspicions that had haunted me, that had just appeared, like specters, like ghosts… I was right all alone. Scout is my daughter, the result of that one night tryst that Chloe and I spent together six years ago.
I don’t know how I didn’t realize it before. I don’t know how I didn’t see it. It’s so painfully obvious now. Scout even looks like me, well, and Chloe too. She has my eyes and my hair, and her face is quite similar to mine, in its own way.
So was this the reason that Chloe didn’t want to contact me? What, she didn’t think I’d be a good father? She thought I was too irresponsible, or that she didn’t want to be stuck with a football player for a husband or boyfriend?
What was so wrong with me? What did I do to deserve this?
Moreover, what kind of woman hides the pregnancy from the man, from the father? Sure, she can do what she wants. I’m glad she had Scout, but shouldn’t she have told me?
If I only had known…
If I had only known, I could have been there for Scout. I could have been there to help. Chloe must have known that I would have changed my whole life in order to help her, in order to help raise Scout. Even if Chloe didn’t want to be with me, I could have been there for Scout, and for Chloe, as a dad, as a solid rock, as a figure just to help with the simple things.
I would have loved to be there for Scout. A pang in my heart tells me I missed a lot. I missed her birth, and all those years when she was growing up.
But she’s still growing up, I remind myself. She’s still a child. She stills needs me. And I can be there for her.
I promise myself right now, sitting in the locker room, fully dressed now in my regular street clothes, just some causal jeans and a sweatshirt, with my jacket around me… I promise myself that whatever happens between Chloe and me, I’m going to be there for Scout. I want to be a real dad, a positive force in her life.
I just don’t understand why Chloe didn’t want me to be a dad. Apparently now that we’ve been hooking up romantically, the guilt is too much for her, and she wanted to tell me, just go get it off her chest.
But I wasn’t good enough for her as a dad before, why would I be now?
I don’t know whether she wants to be with me, and I don’t know… can I be with her after what she did to me? I don’t know how I can deal with this pain.
Sure, it’s good to know now, but the years missed with Scout, and possibly Chloe… it feels like someone has torn a hole in my soul, like someone ripped out my organs and threw them into the dumpster where they were trampled on savagely by who only knows.
I feel numb now, the pain so strong that I can’t even feel it any more. I don’t understand… I don’t understand how she could do this to me.
If she wants to be with me, will I even be able to recover from this blow, will I even be able to… respond to her desires, her love?
The whole world feels like it’s ended for me. I feel like I’m at the very end of my rope. Everything around me looks dull and grey, and my body feels heavy and tired, impossibly exhausted, pushed past my last reserves.
The football game from an hour ago is just a distant memory. We won, and I scored the winning touchdown, but if I was in a haze then, confused, I’m beyond confusion now. Everything seems dull and terrible, intense, heavy, depressing, and overwhelming past all hope.
I don’t know where to go. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if Chloe and Scout are going to be back at the house.
I don’t know what Chloe’s going to say to me. I know she’s going to offer up an explanation, but I just don’t know whether she’s going to say she wants to continue the relationship with me, whether she wants to raise Scout with me, with me as the father and her as the mother.
What I do know is that I don’t want to confront her right now.
That’s why I split. That’s why I couldn’t face her. It would simply be too much of a blow for me right now if she didn’t want me…
The phone rings. Of course it’s Chloe.
I stare at the phone for five rings, which seem to last for hours and hours. My mind is racing with each ring.
Should I pick it up?
My thoughts are a nightmarish combination of all sorts of terrible possibilities, awful repercussions should I pick up the phone.
But I’m going to have to talk to her sooner or later. I have to. There’s no way around it. Especially not if I’m going to be Scout’s dad. Even if Chloe doesn’t want to be with me, I’ll have to coordinate visitation with her and things like that.
I might as well pick up the phone, but my hand and arm feel heavy like they’ve never felt before. My body is tired, exhausted from the emotional strain.
I finally swipe right, answering the phone.
I don’t speak, though.
“Dan, Dan, are you there?” It’s Chloe’s voice, sounding sweet and innocent, but she might as well be a thousand miles away from me right now.
I don’t speak for what feels like a full minute, but I don’t know how much time is passing.
“Hi,” I finally say.
“Dan, listen, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to tell you like that. But I just had to. I just had to blurt it out. I didn’t know how to tell you. I just want you to know that I really care about you and I want… Well, I want to be in a relationship with you if you’ll only have me. If you can only forgive me for what I did.”
“Are you back at the house already?” I say. “I want to see you.”
“No, Scout and I are still here at the stadium.”
“Where are you?” I say.
She tells me she’s right outside, and I run out of the locker room in my street clothes, leaving my locker open and unlocked, with my duffel bag lying out.
I rush through the crowd of people but I don’t see her anywhere. I turn around frantically, trying to find her, trying to spot her and Scout.
Chloe
I spot his muscular body moving through the crowd, his head turning around frantically, trying to spot me.
“Dan!” I cry out, waving my hands.
“There’s Dan!” shouts Scout, waving her own hands, even though she’s must too short for her hand to be seen above the crowd.
Dan spots us and he rushes over to us, rushing through the crowd, which parts for his huge body. Pe
ople are staring at him, and people are clapping and shouting, because he just won the game for them. But I don’t care about the game, or whether or not Dan won. I just care about Dan.
“Dan!” I say, breathless as he rushes up to me. “I’m so sorry, but… I love you.”
The words tumble out of my mouth without effort, as if they’re coming out on their own. It’s taken me so long to say what I’ve known for so long, and it feels good to have them off my chest. I just hope he feels the same way. I just hope he can forgive me for what I’ve done. My heart starts pounding as I stare at him, waiting for an answer.
“I love you too, Chloe,” he says. “And I forgive you. I know you had your reasons.”
“Oh, Dan,” I say, and I fall into his big arms.
He kisses me passionately, and the crowd around us cheers.
“Gross,” says Scout, from behind us.
We break apart in our embrace and start laughing.
Dan picks up Scout and holds her in his arms easily, with her feet pointed towards the ground.
“I’m so glad you’re my daughter,” says Dan. “We’re going to have a lot of fun together… as a family.”
I don’t even have any words to describe how happy this makes me. This is what I’ve wanted all along. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize what I wanted, but at least I’ve finally got it. At least our family is finally together. For the first time in a long, long time, I don’t feel alone. It’s not just me and Scout anymore. We’re all reunited once and for all, the happy family that I’ve always known I should have, and that Scout should grown up in.
Epilogue
Sara
It took us a couple months to arrange everything, but at this point we’ve got it all sorted out. Scout and I have moved into the city, into Dan’s semi-unused house in what he calls the suburbs. But to me it still has that city-like feel. We’re close enough to the city to go into get a bite to eat, or to catch a move or a show.
Oh, we moved in with Dan, of course. Not just into his house. In case anyone was confused—although that seems somewhat unlikely, especially if you’ve been following my story all along.
The school district is great, actually quite a bit better for Scout. She misses some of her friends, but she’s quickly making new ones that I have the feeling will be her friends for a lifetime.
I sold the business. After all, it wasn’t doing too well, and it was going to fold anyway. I suppose the end of some happy stories might be that the business just exploded in popularity, now that I’m with Dan. But this is real life. But I don’t really mind in the least bit. The whole business was more of a stressor than anything else. And, anyway Dan and Scout are the two most important things in my life. The money can come and it can go, and when you have it you’re not even thinking about it. That’s just the way it is—something that took me a long time to learn. And what was that? Well, don’t’ stress about money, unless you have to, and then it can be a pretty damn stressful situation.
But it’s not over for me with physical therapy. I’m going to open a new practice. Dan is going to give me a loan, since he has plenty of money, and it’s not really anything to him financially to loan me some. I’ve analyzed the market, done my market research so to speak, and found that here in the city people are much more willing to pay for slightly more experimental therapies, so to speak. Basically, there’s a huge market here for swimming physical therapy, which is great.
Everything couldn’t be going better. Dan and I are incredibly happy together, and he seems to love his new role as dad, more than I could have imagined. And Scout, well, I’ve never seen her happier, now that she has two parents who care so much about her.
Each day I wake up, roll over, and see Dan’s sexy muscular body lying next to me in bed. I almost couldn’’ believe it the first time it happened, once Scout and I moved in. Now that the football season is over, Dan has a lot more free time, and since I’m not working yet, we have plenty of time for sex, when Scout is off at school. When she gets home, Dan usually cooks dinner, and it turns out he’s a fabulous cook. We’ve been making plans for the summer, which vacation spots we’d like to go to, and all the things we could do with Scout in the city once she’s out of school. But we’ve already done a lot in the city, and I think it’s great for Scout’s education.
This is one of those rare mornings where I wake up alone. Scout’s not at school yet, and she’s probably still asleep. I remember Dan say something last night about doing an errand early this morning, but I don’t remember what it was, or whether he explained it.
This is weird. There’s something strange going on with my stomach, a strange feeling that I haven’t felt in a long time. It’s very familiar, a sick, nauseous feeling, but I can’t quite place it. When was the last time I felt this way? I really can’t remember. I’m not the type to get sick very often.
Uh-oh, the sick feeling is suddenly coming on strong.
I rush out of bed, just wearing my nightgown that I sleep in, and rush into the bathroom attached to the bedroom.
I’m headed right to the toilet, and I shove my face in it (not something you want to do every morning, obviously) and the vomit hurls itself out of me.
I keep retching for another minute, and then sit down on the tiled floor, resting my head against the wall, completely exhausted.
Suddenly, the thought hits me: the last time I felt like this was over six years ago, when I found out I was pregnant with Scout. Could I possibly be pregnant?
This time, I don’t have to rush to the store. I happen to have a couple pregnancy tests on hand, given to me be a friend at my old job, for what reason I can’t begin to fathom. But I hung onto them, just in case, as you might say.
I get up onto the toilet, after wiping my mouth and brushing my teeth (I mean, who can stand that taste, right?) and then I pee onto the stick and wait the required minute and a half (these devices seem to be improving technologically or something).
It turns pink!
Wait, what does that mean?
I check the instructions frantically.
Pink means pregnant!
I’m going to have another child with Dan!
“Chloe?” comes Dan’s deep voice from the bedroom. “Are you in there?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Just a second.”
Without thinking, my instinct is to hide everything, hide the evidence, so I take the pregnancy test and stuff it into my bathrobe pocket.
I glance in the mirror, and straighten my hair a little bit. I know Dan’s seen me every which way, even in the morning, and still finds me sexy as hell, but I guess it doesn’t’ hurt to tidy up a little. I rearrange the top of my robe so that some more cleave is showing, and then I open the door and walk out, taking a deep breath and trying to look calm, while my insides are bout to burst with excitement.
“What’s going on?” I say, taking a look at Dan.
He looks sexy as hell, as always, really, but today he’s dressed up, wearing a button down blue shirt and dress slacks. His hair is combed and gelled, and he’s clean-shaven.
“You look good,” I say, looking him up and down. After all this time together, I still find it difficult to take my eyes off him.
Dan doesn’t’ say anything.
“You OK?” I say.
Dan just look sat me, hungrily, with desire but it’s not the normal pre-sex look. No, it’s something more. But I can feel his desire for me.
He surprise me completely by walking towards me, taking my hand, and dropping to one knee.
I suddenly realize what’s about to happen, or at least what I think is about to happen.
I gasp and cover my hand with my mouth in complete surprise.
“Chloe,” says Dan, speaking gravely but with joy on his face, looking me directly in the eyes. “Will you do the me the honor of marring me?”
I’m too shocked to speak for a moment, and then I regain my voice.
“Of course!” I say, taking the ring from the
box that Dan opens up.
He helps me slide the ring on my finger and I start laughing, laughing with pure joy.
Dan’s hugging me, and now we’re kissing. We break apart and we both fall into joyous laughter.
“There’s another little surprise,” I say. “This time from me. I just can’t wait to tell you…”
“What is it?”
“I’m pregnant!” I say.
“You’re pregnant!” His face is lit up with joy.
“I’m pregnant!” I say again.
We embrace again.
“I love you so much, Chloe,” says Dan.
“I love you too, Dan,” I say. “So, so much.”
“I can’t wait to tell Scout!”
THE END
Receive a very steamy bonus chapter to Running Back’s Baby when you sign up for the Roxeanne Rolling Newsletter by clicking here: http://eepurl.com/bYiwMj
Billionaire Boss’s Baby
A Secret Baby CEO Romance
John
“There’s another woman here to see you, Mr. Clark,” says my secretary Carla, a busty woman with her thick long hair up in a tight bun. She wears a skirt that goes below her knees, but is tight enough to showcase her ample ass.
“Send her in,” I say.
“Very well, sir,” says Carla, turning around. She’s about to close my office door behind her.
“Oh, Carla,” I say, with a casual wave of my hand. “What’s this one here for?”
“A job, I believe, sir,” says Carla, finally leaving the room.
Another new hire? I’ve honestly started to lose track of all the new hires. Ever since I got Johnson to start sending me potential recruits, it’s felt like I’ve been enveloped inside a whirlwind of business.
“Knock, knock?” says a woman, standing in the door. She’s already opened the door, and she’s just making a knocking motion with her hand.
Running Back's Baby: A Secret Baby Romance Page 16
