Boss’s Secret Baby for Christmas

by Black, Natasha L.

  For now, I forced myself to pull away from her and set off to find someone who might know something about her situation. I managed to find the police officer who was writing the report on her case. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much information at the moment, and he could only tell me that they hadn’t taken anyone into custody yet. He wouldn’t tell me if they had any sort of leads.

  “Look, I get that what happened was scary and that you want revenge,” the man finally said. “We want the guy off the streets just as much as you do. At the moment, we’re just going to all have to be patient, though. Just let us do our job.”

  I grimaced but was distracted by the sight of one of the nurses at the other end of the hall. I was pretty sure he had helped wheel Mindy back into her room after the ultrasound. I hurried after him and managed to catch up.

  “I’m trying to find out some information on when the patient in 314 will be discharged,” I said.

  “What’s your relation to her?” the man asked.

  “I’m her…” The words died in my mouth. I didn’t want to admit, even to this stranger, that I was her boss. But I also wasn’t her boyfriend, or even her friend. I was the father of her unborn child, but what kind of relation did that make me to Mindy?

  “Are you the baby’s father?” another nurse asked, stepping forward. “She said you might want a picture of the ultrasound.”

  “Yeah, that’s me,” I said. “And yeah, I do.”

  I didn’t know how to name the emotion that went through me as I stared down at the grainy little black-and-white image she handed me. Of course, the baby looked more like a peanut than a baby, but at the same time, it was clearly becoming something. I felt my heart swell just looking at it.

  I had always imagined having kids, starting a family. It was something that Kelly had never wanted. One of the many things that had driven us apart in the end. She thought that kids were messy and time-consuming. I wondered now if part of the reason she had never wanted kids was because she was afraid they would be competition for her riches one day.

  That didn’t matter now, though. I had never had kids with Kelly, but Mindy and I were having a baby. Boy or girl—it didn’t matter, I realized. Either way, I was going to love that baby fiercely. Still, I could imagine a little girl with a smile just like her mother’s, and of course all of her mother’s fiery passion as well. With maybe a little of my own rationality.

  Or maybe a little boy, one with Mindy’s green eyes and brown hair.

  Either way, I suddenly couldn’t wait for the day when our little one was born. Except that I still didn’t know what Mindy’s plans were for afterward. Suddenly, I felt a stab of fear go through me. Was there another reason she hadn’t told me about the baby? What if she didn’t want me to have any part of the child’s life? Or what if she wasn’t planning on keeping it?

  I wanted this baby, but I’ve had enough of courtroom fighting to last me a lifetime. If it came down to that, would I be able to let Mindy have everything she wanted, regardless of my personal thoughts on the matter?

  I suddenly felt nervous, and not just at the idea of being a father, but at the idea of what being a father might or might not mean in this situation. Mindy and I weren’t in a relationship. She didn’t owe me anything.

  I stared down at the picture in my hands, barely listening as the nurse gave me a time frame for the discharge. When I finally managed to look up, I was more resolved than ever. I had to prove to Mindy the kind of man that I could be, before our baby was born. I had to prove to her that I was dependable and that I would make a good role model for the kid.

  Above all, I had to prove to her that I cared about her. That I would do whatever was in my power to make sure she was taken care of. It started here and now. I was just lucky that I had the opportunity to spend the coming months showing her that I deserved a place in the baby’s life. And maybe, if I could manage that, I could find a place in her life as well.

  As the nurse returned to her duties, I took one final look at the ultrasound picture before slipping it into my wallet. Then, I dug out my phone and called Wendell. He knew about Mindy and me, and besides, there was no one else I could ask. I was already formulating a plan for how to win Mindy over, and I wasn’t going to be able to do it on my own.

  21

  Mindy

  When I woke up the following morning, I hurt everywhere. No exaggeration, there was pain outside and inside, in places I couldn’t even name. I glanced over at the machines they had me hooked up to. As far as I could tell, everything was still functioning as normal. Which meant that this was the way I felt on painkillers. Yikes. I could only imagine what it would feel like without them.

  My hand hovered over my stomach. They had reassured me that the baby was going to be alright, and they’d done all the tests they needed to do. It was going to take a while before I trusted that the baby was really alright, though. What if there was something they had missed?

  As hard as it had been to come around to the idea of having a baby, it was equally difficult now to imagine what my future would be like if I didn’t have this child. Even if I didn’t have Adam there by my side through the pregnancy, I wanted this.

  Speaking of Adam, I glanced over and was surprised to see him still there in the chair by my bedside. His neck was bent at an uncomfortable angle, his arms folded across his chest as he slept. I couldn’t believe he had stayed there for the whole night.

  I had been so sure that I wasn’t going to tell him about the baby, at first. Something had changed when I was hit by that car, though. He hadn’t reacted the way I’d expected. I had expected anger, frustration. I had expected him to make me feel guilty. Instead, he’d seemed shocked, but he had also seemed curiously gentle as he took my hand and stroked it lightly.

  I wished I knew what he was thinking. There was a lot we were going to need to talk about. Did he want to be there for the baby? But he and I didn’t know one another well enough to start a long-term relationship, did we? Still, it seemed like he wanted to take care of us, if his presence here in the hospital was any indication.

  That warmed me from the inside, even if I had fallen asleep the night before prior to having a chance to talk things through with him. Adam had stayed, even though I had tried to convince him not to. I had told him to go home, that things weren’t likely to change now, that I was all right to be left on my own. I had tried to point out how uncomfortable he was bound to be, sleeping in that chair all night.

  He hadn’t listened to any of that. He had stayed. That had to mean something.

  I smiled, wanting to laugh with the force of my elation. I could tell just how much laughter was going to hurt me, though, and I forced myself to hold it in. Man, I was in a lot of pain.

  I was just lucky that it had apparently been mostly surface pain, bruising, and scrapes rather than broken bones or anything more serious. I was going to get to go home that day, even. It was scary to think of how different things could have been if that car had been going just a little faster or if I had left work just a minute earlier. Any number of little changes and the outcome could have been very different, for me and for the baby.

  The baby. Again, my hand dropped to my stomach. It wasn’t big enough to start kicking yet, but all the same, I was comforted by the thought of it warm and safe inside of me. Everything was going to be alright.

  I glanced over at Adam again. Maybe everything was going to be alright.

  I was glad he was there with me. His presence made me feel calm and steady.

  I would have to call my parents when I got home and tell them what had happened, but it would be easier to reassure them that I was going to be all right if I could tell them that between Risa and Adam, I was going to be taken care of.

  Maybe I was getting ahead of myself, though. Who knew what Adam might be thinking when he woke up today?

  As though that thought had summoned him back to wakefulness, Adam’s eyes suddenly blinked open. He yawned and smiled sweetly at me, b
ut before he could say anything, a nurse bustled in with a breakfast tray for me. I made a face at the gray, lumpy oatmeal and tried not to grimace at the lack of coffee.

  “Good morning,” the nurse chirped, not seeming to notice my look of distaste. Or choosing to ignore it, maybe. I couldn’t be the first person to turn up my nose at hospital food, or even the first person that morning. “Here are some pain meds you can take,” she added, pointing to the packet at the edge of the tray. “Make sure you get some food in you first, so they won’t hurt the baby.”

  “Thank fuck,” I muttered, quickly beginning to shovel food in myself, reasoning that the sooner I was done with the food, the sooner I’d be feeling relief from this terrible pain. They must have taken me off whatever it was they’d been pumping through the machines before.

  I took the meds and then glanced awkwardly at Adam as the nurse bustled back in to collect the tray. “Um, I also need to…” I trailed off, waving my hand vaguely toward the bathroom. Adam pinked slightly at my announcement as well.

  There was still so much we had to learn about one another, I was realizing. Would we ever feel comfortable around one another? We had been the most intimate that two people could be, and the proof was right there inside of me. Yet we were still strangers.

  “I’ll help you,” the nurse said, easily taking control of the situation.

  Afterward, I lay back in bed, a faint blush still coloring my cheeks even though of course it wasn’t like I had done something out of the ordinary. I wondered if maybe it would have been better to have my parents there.

  Risa burst in just then, though, and that interruption was the next best thing. “Mindy!” she exclaimed, shaking off the nurse, who was following fretfully after her. “God, they almost didn’t want to let me in here, even though I’m sure I’m listed as your emergency contact. They wouldn’t let me in yesterday when I finally got back from Mom’s and got your message because it was ‘after visiting hours,’ and then this morning they tried to give me even more bullshit. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here sooner!”

  She was brought up short at the sight of Adam sitting there tensely on the edge of his chair. Her eyes narrowed at him, and then she turned angrily toward me. “What the hell is he doing here?” she asked, her words dripping with disgust.

  “I asked him to come,” I said. I was surprised she was that angry at Adam, but then again, the things I had told her about him hadn’t exactly painted him in a favorable light. I mean, not that I’d slammed him for getting me pregnant or for the fact that it was a one-night stand. Nothing like that. Risa was just a little overprotective of me, treating me like her little sister almost, and that meant she was mad at Adam and everything he represented in my life.

  She didn’t know the whole story, though. When I had told her I was pregnant, I had outlined my reasons for not telling him, but she hadn’t wanted to listen to them. So after a few days of her pressuring me to tell him, I had finally just told her that Adam wasn’t going to be in the picture. She probably thought he was a deadbeat.

  She didn’t know that I had never told him about the baby before. Nor did she know that I had finally come clean and told him about the baby and that he was still here—somehow, miraculously. She didn’t know he had stepped up as soon as he knew about the baby.

  I tried to explain things to her, but she refused to listen.

  “You,” she said, pointing a finger at Adam. “You get this poor girl pregnant, and then you refuse to have anything to do with her? I mean, I guess it makes sense since you’re apparently an asshole who just sleeps around with anyone he can find. I’ve seen you around the bar, don’t think I haven’t. I know what kind of guy you are. But what the hell, preying on your interns of all people and then pulling a stunt like this?”

  “I—” Adam started to say, but Risa wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise. Rather than shout louder to be heard over her tirade, Adam sat back, his lips tightening, and let her have it out. I cringed, listening to the words my roommate had for him.

  “Did you even think about her at all?” she snapped. “About the fact that she was stuck carrying your baby no matter what? You might have just ruined the best chance she’s had at a career, and you’ve decided that you don’t want to have any part of it? Are you this irresponsible when it comes to your business, too, or is Mindy just special?”

  She continued along this vein until she was out of breath. By this point, I was mortified, wishing I could just hide under the blankets and pretend I was anywhere else. I knew I couldn’t do that, though. I had to stick up for Adam.

  “Hey. Risa,” I said, trying to get my friend’s attention again.

  She turned back to me, shaking her head. “I just can’t believe you called him,” she complained. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come right away, but you could have at least called Vera or someone.”

  “Adam never flaked on me,” I said, rather than directly address that. I didn’t blame her for not being able to come to the hospital right away. It wasn’t like I had scheduled this or anything. “I didn’t tell him about the baby until yesterday.”

  Risa’s mouth formed a little O of surprise. But of course, she wasn’t about to give up that easily. “Still,” she said. “This shouldn’t even be an issue in the first place because he should have been more careful.”

  I gave her a look. “You know that’s not fair,” I said to her. “I’m as much at fault as he is. And you’re not mad at me, are you?”

  “Of course I’m not mad,” Risa sighed. She came around to the far side of my bed and fussed over my pillows. Then, she looked pointedly over at Adam. “Well, thanks for being here, but I think I can handle things from now on.”

  Adam frowned at her and then looked over at me. “I was thinking that when you get discharged, you would come home with me. I already talked to the doctors about it, in fact. They’ve given me your prescription paperwork and told me everything to watch out for.”

  “Well, that won’t be necessary,” Risa said breezily. “Look, I appreciate that you’d like to look out for her, but she’s not going to go home with you. We all know what happened last time.”

  “I’m hardly going to get her pregnant again,” Adam said dryly. But there was a flinty look in his eyes as he glanced over at me, and I could tell that he was losing patience with my roommate, and fast.

  I hated the idea that they might not get along. Risa was one of my best friends. Adam, on the other hand, was the father of my unborn baby. If the two of them never managed to mend this rift between them, I didn’t know what I would do. That was a topic for another day, however.

  “Thanks for the offer,” I said to Adam, trying to mediate the situation, “but Risa’s right. She can handle this.” I had to admit, as much as I appreciated him being there, and as much as I appreciated him wanting to look out for me, there was a small part of me that was a little annoyed he had already made the decision that I’d be going home with him, without even consulting me.

  On the other hand, I definitely had a lot that I wanted to talk about with him, and going home with him for the next few days would give us a chance to do that. I was exhausted and didn’t feel much like talking over the fate of our child now, but at the same time, I was afraid that if we didn’t have that conversation soon, it would be all too easy for me to go back to pretending I didn’t want Adam to have any part of this.

  Being at his place would force us to have those uncomfortable conversations, and I had to admit, that might be just what we needed. Still, I could tell that Risa wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

  I sighed. “Risa…”

  “Don’t tell me you’re actually considering going home with him,” my roommate said, sounding scandalized. “I mean, okay, I get that you’re trying to be the bigger person here and overlook the fact that he hasn’t been there for you and that, by your own admission, you barely know the guy. Don’t let him pressure you into anything, though. You need to do what’s right for you.” There was no se
cret of what she thought that was.

  I smiled crookedly at her. “I’m pregnant,” I reminded her. “I guess that being a mother means sometimes putting the needs of this little one ahead of my own. At the end of the day, there are things that he and I need to talk about if we’re going to do right by this kid.”

  Risa pursed her lips. “Can’t it wait until after you’ve healed some?” she asked.

  I shook my head and glanced sheepishly over at Adam. “I think I’ll lose my nerve,” I admitted. I paused. “Besides, his building has an elevator, and I’m not sure I can make it up one flight of stairs at the moment, let alone four. And I don’t think you’ll be able to carry me up them either.”

  Risa grimaced and then sighed. “I guess,” she said reluctantly. I could tell that she still hated the plan, so I hurried to reassure her.

  “It’s not forever,” I promised her. “Just for a few days until I’m feeling better. I’ll make sure I check in with you, just to let you know that everything is alright.”

  “Fine,” Risa finally said. She narrowed her eyes dangerously at Adam. “I hope you know, though, that if she so much as hints that something’s wrong, I will break down your door to get her out of there.”

  “Noted,” Adam said dryly, trying not to laugh.

  “Well, I guess that means you’ll need some things,” Risa said matter-of-factly, and I could tell how important it was for her to feel like she had a purpose, some way to help me.

  “That would be awesome,” I said gratefully.

  “If they discharge you before I get back, just send me the address,” Risa said. She spun around to leave, but not without giving Adam one final dirty look.

  After she had left, Adam turned toward me, raising an eyebrow. “So I take it she knew about the pregnancy before I did?” he said mildly.