My son. I know he’s mine.
“Okay, Rosie, just a couple more little pushes, we’ll stitch you up and you’ll be ready to go. Mr. Dad, you stand out of the way.”
The nurses and doctor work quickly to deliver the afterbirth and stitch Rosie up. I stay near her head, and sit down so she can reach over and touch our child.
“I wanted to tell you, Lucas. I just… How… how did you know it was yours?” She asks, her face drawn with worry. I kiss our son’s forehead again.
“The timing. I don’t know Rosie, I just knew. You’d told me you hadn’t slept with anyone.”
“And you believed me?”
I frown as I laugh. “Is that a bad thing? Should I not believe you?”
“No, I mean, of course. But wouldn’t you feel better getting a paternity test? So you can be sure?”
I look back down at the baby in my arms and am so full of love for him that all I can do is chuckle. “I don’t need one, Rosie. I know he’s mine. Ours.”
I look at her just in time to see her eyes starting to mist up. “Still,” she says.
I place the baby back in her arms and she nuzzles her face into the bundle of cloth. Both of us turn toward the door when Allie speaks up.
“I knew it was a boy.” She’s peering around the corner shyly with a huge grin across her face. Rosie stiffens and I put my hand on her arm.
“Uh, Rosie. This is my daughter, Allie.”
Rosie’s eyes widen and she looks from me to her. “Allie…”
Allie marches forward and sticks out her hand. “Nice to meet you,” she says, shaking Rosie’s hand gently. “Congratulations.”
“Daughter…” Rosie says, looking from me to Allie.
“I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid you wouldn’t be interested in me and then I thought I wouldn’t be coming back to New York, and I… I don’t know. I’m sorry Rosie.”
Allie takes a step forward and looks over toward the baby in Rosie’s arms. “He’s wrinkly,” she announces.
“Allie!” I chide, but Rosie laughs.
“I know. He looks like a tiny old man,” she replies, stroking the baby’s cheek with a soft, motherly touch. She kisses his forehead and Allie laughs.
“A cute tiny old man. Dad, this is my brother, right?”
My throat tightens. “I, uh, yes. Half-brother.”
“Brother,” Allie announces. She squints at the little bundle. “I think he looks like me.”
I laugh. “I thought he looked like a wrinkly old man?”
Allie shrugs. “He also looks like me.”
“Alright kiddo, go wait for me outside. I’ll be a couple minutes.” Allie scrunches her face but says nothing, instead leaning over and giving Rosie a kiss on the cheek. She turns around and skips out the hospital door and I turn back to Rosie.
“That wasn’t the introduction I had in mind,” I say. I’m sheepish, hardly daring to look at Rosie.
“Well, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind either,” she replies. “What are you doing here?”
“I went to your hospital room and they said you were delivering the baby here.”
She laughs. “No, I mean, what are you doing here. At the hospital. With me. In New York.”
The weight of the question hangs between us. It’s hard to swallow as I try to think of something to say.
“I heard you were due and I did the math. I know it’s crazy. I didn’t even know you were pregnant, Rosie. I would have called.”
She shakes her head and the nurse comes to take the baby. “Alright, Dad. It’s time to give her some space. We’ll get you cleaned up and then back in your room in no time and you guys can talk some more then.”
Rosie looks at me and I get up. “I should go see Allie. Do you want anything?”
She shakes her head. “I’ll see you back in the hospital room.”
All I can do is nod and step outside, closing the door softly behind me and letting all the air out of my lungs. I lean against it with my eyes close and don’t move until I hear Harper’s voice. I open my eyes to see her standing in front of me, arms crossed with one eyebrow raised.
“Now, Mr. Thorne. Are you going to explain to me why the fuck you thought this was appropriate?”
46
Rosie
It takes a while for him to latch on, but he gets the hang of it quickly. I watch in amazement as his little mouth works hard to try to extract milk from me.
“This is crazy,” I say.
The nurse laughs. “Yep. Don’t worry if it takes a day or two for your milk supply to come in. Just breastfeed him as often as possible.”
I look up at her and shake my head. “This is crazy,” I repeat. “All of it.”
She looks at me curiously but says nothing, and I turn back toward the baby. For the next few hours I’m in a daze. I’m wheeled back to my hospital room and fall asleep immediately. When I wake up, Lucas is sitting in the chair next to me reading a magazine. I groan and turn around.
“What time is it?”
He looks at his watch. “6:15 pm.”
“Where’s the baby?” My heart starts beating faster as my eyes try to adjust to the light in the room.
“Sleeping right there,” Lucas answers, pointing to the bassinet next to the bed. I sit back and put my arm over the edge, trailing it over the baby’s cheek. I still can’t believe how soft his skin is.
“Where’re Harper and Jess?”
“They went to get some dinner and I said I’d stay. You want me to call them?”
I shake my head. “No, it’s okay.” He moves a bit closer and takes my hand in his. He lifts it up and brings it to his lips, kissing my fingers gently. I close my eyes and sigh. Even after it all, even with so many things unsaid between us and a thousand and one questions, it feels good to be near him.
We sit like that, just enjoying each other’s company. The baby stirs but doesn’t cry. He opens his eyes and blinks at me. Another wave of love crashes over me and I move to pick him up.
“He has blue eyes,” I say, bringing him up to my lips for a kiss. “Just like his dad.”
Lucas looks from the baby to me and his smile breaks across his face. “Just like his dad,” he repeats.
There are so many things I want to tell Lucas, so many things crowding my brain that they all turn to mush and I can’t think of anything to say at all. Lucas doesn’t seem to mind. He just brings his chair closer and puts his hand behind the baby’s head.
“Have you decided on a name yet?”
I shake my head. “Not yet.” Lucas’s eyes look brighter than I remember. His hair is a bit longer and he has it styled like before, a little bit tousled but still neat. His beard is the same length and his chest is just as broad. His arms pull against the fabric of his shirt as he moves closer to me.
“Lucas,” I start. “I’ve asked the nurses for a paternity test.” He looks up at me and frowns.
“Okay,” he answers slowly.
“I haven’t slept with anyone else,” I add quickly. “Not since I met you. Well, not since months before I met you, really. But I just… I just think considering our history that it would be best.”
He nods and I can’t tell what he’s thinking. He strokes our son’s forehead gently and then leans down and kisses my fingers again.
“You don’t need to do that,” he says.
I shake my head. “I do. Will you take it?”
He nods slowly but says nothing. “If you want me to. But Rosie,” he adds. “I know this baby is mine. I watched my daughter be born and I felt the exact same way. This is my son.” He pauses. “Our son.”
My heart felt full before, but now it’s ready to burst. All my fears of Lucas turning his back on me, of him not wanting the kid, of him walking out on me evaporate. He’s here. He knows it’s his son, he found me and stuck with me as soon as he knew.
A small bloom of hope starts opening up deep inside my chest. Maybe there’s a future between us? Maybe there’s hope?
<
br /> I clear my throat. “So, uh,” I pause. I don’t even know where to start. “What’s the plan?”
Lucas laughs. “Don’t try to project manage this. There is no plan.”
I can’t help but smile. “I know there’s no plan. I just mean… how long are you here?” My chest tightens as I ask the question. He’s brought his young daughter across the country to meet me. Shouldn’t she be in school? He left work for the day, he’ll have to go back. His whole life is in LA, and my whole life is here. All the problems that were in our way before are still in our way now, except now there’s a baby to think about too.
Lucas moves his hand up to my face and strokes my cheek. “I’ll be here as long as it takes to get you settled. I’ll have to go to LA to sort things out, and Allie can’t miss that much school, but…”
I hang on to every word until he stops talking. “But…?” I repeat.
“But I want to be here for you. Rosie, ever since I met you, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. I thought you’d walked away from me twice but now I see that you just thought I was using you. This—” he waves his hand between us, “this thing that we have, it means something. I want to be with you, Rosie.”
I can’t even see his face anymore. My eyes are too blurry. The tears drop down my cheeks and I nod.
“I want to be with you, too. I’m sorry, Lucas.” My sob interrupts me. “I’m sorry I walked away. I thought…” I can feel my cheeks blushing as the tears stream down it. “I saw a message on your phone and I thought Allie was your wife.”
Lucas leans back in his chair, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide. His lips start curling into a grin and he shakes his head. “You thought you were the other woman?”
I nod, unable to get any words out. Lucas starts laughing and shaking his head.
“God, Rosie, if you only knew. There’s no one else. There never was anyone else. For the past nine months, ever since I jumped into your taxi, it’s been only you.”
I laugh as the tears continue to stream out of my eyes.
“I told you it was my taxi,” I say, laughing and crying and laughing some more. Before I can say anything else his lips are crushing against mine and his hand is wrapped around the nape of my neck. Our baby stretches and yawns between us and we both smile down at him.
47
Lucas
It feels wrong to be on the plane back to LA. It feels wrong to leave Rosie and our son behind. It feels wrong to be anywhere except by her side, but I have to go. Allie needs to be in school and I have to somehow explain this to Linda and hand in my resignation.
I haven’t laughed or cried this much ever before. My heart feels like it’ll explode if any more happiness comes into it.
Allie’s sitting beside me, her legs swinging back and forth as she hums to herself.
“I think you should call him Jack,” she says.
“Jack? Why Jack?”
“Because of the movie Titanic! Jack and Rose.”
I laugh. “Where did you even hear about Titanic? Isn’t that a bit inappropriate for you to be watching?”
Allie rolls her eyes. “Everyone knows about Titanic, Dad.”
“Right,” I respond, elbowing her gently. “I forgot you’re all grown up.” She grins at me.
“I can’t wait to go back. Do they have Mathletes in New York? Where will we live?”
“Whoa, whoa, Allie, slow down. We don’t know if we’re moving over yet. We don’t know what’s happening. You’re finishing the school year in LA and then we’ll see.”
Allie’s legs stop swinging and she turns toward me. She frowns and shakes her head. “We should be there. They’re our family.”
Her words cut through me and once again I’m amazed at my twelve year-old daughter’s wisdom. Somehow, intuitively, she knows what the right thing to do is.
I mean, I do too. Of course I want to be by Rosie’s side. I want to be there for her and for our kid, but there are so many things in the way.
Allie reads my mind. “It’s simple, Dad. I finish school this year, you quit your job, we sell the house, and we move. Simple.”
I snort. “Doesn’t sound simple.”
“It is, though. You can go see her every couple of weeks until then and then we get a place in New York.”
She does make it sound simple. I shake my head. “You would want to move? What about your friends?”
Allie tilts her head to the side and chews her lip. She nods. “I’ll miss them. But I have a little brother now and I need to take care of him. You always tell me that family is the most important.”
“That’s true, I do say that. And family is the most important thing.”
“Right. So that’s that.” She turns back toward the front of the plane and puts her headphones in, and then turns her head toward me again. “I like Rosie. She’s nice.”
I shake my head and laugh. She’s a little adult, that’s for sure. I don’t know where she came from but she always succeeds in telling me what the right thing to do is. I’m still not sure it’s as simple as she thinks.
By the time I get back to work, two days after I left, word has traveled about the pregnancy and the trip. Linda is on my heels as I walk into my office.
“Lucas,” she says sternly. “What the fuck is going on? When were you going to tell me about this?”
“I didn’t even know about it until Jake came back and said she was pregnant.”
“You were fucking our client this whole time? Do you have any idea what kind of position that puts us in?”
I refrain from making a joke about positions when I see the look on Linda’s face. I shrug and then sigh.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Linda. We met before we hired Lockwood, before it all happened. I didn’t even know she worked there until she walked into the conference room for the proposal. I didn’t know!”
Linda shakes her head. “So you’re pleading ignorance. You could have told me you had a history. Have you been seeing her this whole time?”
“No. It was over. Well, I thought it was over. I don’t know. Listen, Linda. I don’t know.”
Linda’s shoulders relax and she uncrosses her arms. She pulls a chair out and sits across from me. “So, boy or girl?”
“Boy.”
A small spark appears in her eye and she starts to smile. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks. Listen, Linda, I don’t know what is going to happen, but I might need some time off in the next little while.”
Linda nods. “Well, that’s the other thing I wanted to talk about. After I told you how much I disapprove,” she says with the tiniest grin. “I’ve already spoken to the board about opening up a New York office and proposed you be the director. Hopefully they’ll approve it before the gossip reaches them and it won’t look like a last-ditch attempt to save face.”
My mouth falls open. “I… what?”
“You want to go to New York, don’t you? Time off, new baby, beautiful woman there waiting for you…? Isn’t that what this is all about?”
My mouth opens and then closes again. What is it with the women in my life knowing what I’m thinking before I’ve even thought it?
Linda laughs. “Take the day to think about it. I’m waiting on a response from them by the end of the day tomorrow so if you have any objections tell me now.” She pauses and leans forward slightly. “You’ve been a great employee and a great friend, Lucas. When your wife died, something in you changed. You got so serious, and you worked harder than anyone in their right mind should work.”
I swallow and try to say something but she holds up her hand. “For a few months I saw that spark in you again, and when I heard about the baby it all made sense. Be with your family. Be with the woman you love.”
“I don’t—”
Linda holds up her hand. “Whatever you’re about to say, don’t say it. Think about the New York office and let me know by tomorrow morning.”
I nod and she turns around and walks out the
door. I sit back in my chair and stare at the open doorway in awe. Somehow, Linda has managed to solve a dozen of my problems without even asking. Her words play in my head on repeat: Be with your family. Be with the woman you love.
The woman you love.
I sigh and shake my head before pulling out my phone.
Rosie answers right away. “Hello?”
“You’ll never guess what just happened,” I say as the smile starts to spread from my face down through my heart.
48
Rosie
I think I’ve had seventeen minutes of sleep in the past four days. That’s what it feels like, anyway. Lucas just texted me, he’s on his way from the airport. I look down at myself and sigh. I’m wearing an old tee-shirt I got for free at a fundraiser event, and my grey sweatpants have stains all over the front. I’m not sure I own anything that doesn’t have stains all over the front anymore.
Jack is asleep in his crib so I rush to the bathroom. I wash in the sink and pull a brush through my hair before swiping mascara over my lashes and putting a bit of blush on. I put on a bra and wince before changing my mind. I slip on a light summer dress and a cardigan just as the apartment buzzer rings.
He’s here.
When I open the door, my heart does a full backflip. My stomach twists into knots and my mouth goes dry. I lick my lips and smile.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” he says, staring back at me. We stand and look at each other as I try to take in every detail of his face. He clears his throat. “Can I come in?”
“Oh! Right. Yes. Obviously.”
I step aside and he comes in rolling a small suitcase behind him. He smells just like I remember and suddenly I feel that warmth spreading in my center. The doctor said no sex for four to six weeks, and it’s hardly even been one. I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle that.
Unexpected (Complete Accidental Pregnancy Box Set) Page 30