The ER's Newest Dad

“No.” He shook his head with disdain. “You didn’t. You didn’t give him the father he obviously craves and needs. Me.”

With that he gave her one last look of disgust then left her bedroom. He wanted to slam her door. Lord, how he wanted the satisfaction of slamming her bedroom door. Instead, in deference to their hopefully still sleeping son, he closed the door behind him with a resounding click that echoed through his mind as he walked down the hallway.

Away from Brielle.

Why did that feel so wrong?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

BRIELLE HAD DREADED going in to the hospital because she’d have to see Ross. There would be no way to avoid seeing him in the emergency department with them both working there.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have bothered worrying.

He seemed as intent on ignoring her as she was on ignoring him.

She’d not seen him since he’d stormed out of her apartment three days before. A mere week at her house and everywhere she looked she saw him, had flashbacks of seeing him there with Justice, of hearing his laughter, of his scent filling her home, of just knowing he was there.

As much as she missed him, Justice missed him more.

The day after their argument Ross had called and very tersely asked to speak to Justice. She’d handed her son the ph

one, wanted to listen in, but had forced herself to go to the kitchen for a moment to give her son a minute of privacy. When she’d come back into the room, Justice had set the phone down and gone to his room. She’d picked the phone up but the line had been dead.

The silence at the end of the phone a harsh reminder of the void in her life.

Justice hadn’t mentioned what Ross had said, but he’d been full of questions.

“Where’s my daddy?

“Why did my daddy have to go far away?

“Is my daddy coming home soon?

“We need to go find my daddy.”

Justice couldn’t seem to focus on anything except the void Ross’s disappearance from their house had left. Even Vann had commented on it when he’d come to visit them. Her brother hadn’t said too much about Ross. He’d just listened to her give a glossed-over version of what had happened because she sure wasn’t telling him she’d been stupid enough to have sex with Ross. Then Vann had told her to be patient and forgiving, that Ross was dealing with a lot and probably just needed some time.

That hadn’t sat well and so they’d opted to not discuss Ross for the rest of her brother’s visit.

Only Justice had grilled his uncle on Ross’s whereabouts.

Her poor son. She’d wanted to protect him. Instead, she’d been stupid, given in to her own passion for Ross and ended up ruining every thing.

Had they been destined to fail from the beginning? The past too painful for them to forge any kind of amicable relationship in the present?

For Justice’s sake, she hoped not.

Part of her had been on edge, expecting to receive a court summons regarding custody. Probably she would as, realistically, those things took much longer than a few days to set into motion.

She wouldn’t fight him regarding sharing their son. Justice needed both of his parents. But she would fight till her dying breath if he attempted to take Justice from her completely.

Maybe he did have the right since he’d missed five years of his son’s life, but he’d destroy her if he denied her access to Justice.

Somehow she knew he wouldn’t, that he’d only do what he thought was right for Justice. He himself had said that she was a good mother, that she’d done a good job with Justice. Despite their argument, she knew Ross wouldn’t remove Justice completely from her life. Not for her sake but for Justice’s.

“Bay Three needs vitals, to be hooked up to telemetry and cardiac enzymes drawn.” Ross’s order cut into her mind’s meanderings. “His information says he has chest pain, so why isn’t someone with him?”

Good point. She’d seen the nurse call him back immediately after he’d signed in to the emergency department, stating he had chest pain, but that had been a few minutes ago and the nurse had disappeared.