Doctor's Baby (The Billionaire's Secret Book 8)
By: R. S. ElliotHonestly, I wished that they would let me do more for them, like helping them pay off the house or something. However, my parents believed in hard work and handling their own burdens. They refused my help. All that they truly wanted was my presence every once in a while.
Speaking of my presence being needed, my pager was finally going off. I checked it, seeing that I was being called to the ER.
It was showtime.
With a grin on my face, I strode out of the locker room and down the hallway, letting the adrenaline take over.
Chapter Two
Jenna
There’s nothing worse than not being able to help your child.
With a deepening frown on my face, I watched my daughter, Natalie, cough and shudder on one of the chairs in the ER waiting area. I reached out and placed my hand on her clammy forehead, feeling how hot she was. She had to be running a fever.
It all happened so fast. We had just moved to this town, and two days ago she started to lose her appetite and not feel good. Things just kept getting worse as time went on, no matter how much rest and chicken noodle soup I managed to get her to eat. We hadn’t even gotten a chance to settle into our new house because I had been so busy worrying over her. Now it seemed like I had a right to worry.
I hoped that it wasn’t pneumonia or anything serious. This was a new start for both of us. Natalie had been so excited to start kindergarten and make some friends. Now everything was on hold as I tried to get her better. With how bad she was progressing, the ER seemed like the best choice before things got even worse.
Natalie was my entire world. I was a single mother, and raising Natalie for the past five years had been the honor of a lifetime for me. However, it struck me really hard when she got sick or hurt because the responsibility was all on me and no one else. That wasn’t by choice, but jumping on a job offer as a journalist for the local paper here and moving our entire life here was my choice. Hopefully, I didn’t regret it.
“Natalie Wright. Running a high fever, cough, experiencing loss of appetite …”
I sat up when I heard my daughter’s name from one of the nurses nearby. When she walked out of a nearby door, I stood up to talk to her, but my words became lodged in my throat when another person followed her. A person that I didn’t think that I would ever see again.
All I knew was that his name was Aidan, and he was the father of my child. Seeing him felt like getting punched in the stomach. I saw him once six years ago at a friend’s wedding—thirty minutes after catching my fiancé with his hand up the dress of one of the bridesmaids. I was devastated, so the only thing that I could think to do was to drink away my sorrows.
However, there was also a devastatingly handsome man at the bar at the time. Seeing the streaks from my mascara, he spent the next hour comforting me and drinking with me, telling me that I deserved better and that I was gorgeous in my blue dress. Before I knew it, we ended up in his bed together.
The next morning, I rushed out to catch my flight home, too hungover to remember to get his number or even his last name. Then, I fell pregnant with Natalie, and I had no way of finding him … until right this moment. I really thought that I would never see him again.
Natalie asked about her father from time to time, and it was always hard for me to come up with a good answer to her questions. She was so young, and the situation was so confusing. I didn’t want to confuse her or make her worry. I just wanted her to know that we were still a happy family with it just being the two of us.
At times, I wondered what my life would be like if I had gotten Aidan’s number and stayed in contact with him. We could’ve raised Natalie together, and she wouldn’t have so many questions about why she didn’t have a dad.
However, that wasn’t the reality that I lived in. I was raising Natalie as a single mom, and I didn’t have any plans to change that anytime soon. We were finding our way to happiness. I didn’t know if seeing Aidan again was a roadblock or a shortcut.
Aidan walked over to us, holding a clipboard in front of his eyes. When he finally lowered it, he looked over at me, his eyes hovering for a few seconds. He then snapped his head to the side to look over at Natalie as he knelt in front of her.
