The Child Who Changed Them (Parent Portal 5)

She had no idea how he’d feel about that. And was pretty sure she should have some misgivings about it, too.

“Dr. Alexander, Dr. Adams...” A medical technician she didn’t know stood at the door leading back to the examination rooms, calling to them both.

Glancing over at the receptionist desk, she noticed Christine Elliott Howe, the clinic’s founder, standing there, nodding to her. Peter’s former employer during his residency, she had been a distant friend over the years, the kind she always knew she could call but never did, because it brought up memories that hurt too much.

Christine wasn’t smiling. Two doctors...she supposed that was enough of a shift from normal routine in a medical facility to merit some notice. They were treating two of their own.

By the time Elaina was shaking her head over that one, she and Greg, who’d walked separated by the technician, were shown into Dr. Miller’s office—a cluttered space with a big desk, some armchairs, a couch and a flat-screen TV. The lived-in feel gave the impression that the ob-gyn spent a great deal of time in the somewhat large room.

Dr. Miller stood from one of the armchairs as they were shown in, motioning toward the couch. Elaina sat on one end, Greg on the other.

They hadn’t ever even talked about families and children, their own or anyone else’s, before all of this had happened. They’d certainly never planned to have a family together. They weren’t even a couple.

Suddenly the nights they’d spent in each other’s arms seemed cheap. Wrong, somehow. As though they’d played with fire without thinking about getting burned.

It hadn’t been that way. She knew that. But sitting there, like she was in the principal’s office...panicky and bordering on frighteningly excited, too... Elaina didn’t feel like herself at all. Her whole life had become a surreal incident in time.

“I wanted you both here together because I understand from my conversation with you, Greg, that you expected Elaina to need good care and understanding when she finds out that you aren’t the father of her child. In fact—” Cheryl, who’d been addressing Greg, turned to Elaina “—you specifically requested that I see to it that Elaina got the best care.”

Elaina glanced at him. He’d specified that?

A sudden warmth flooded the cold that had begun to seep through her. She shivered.

“Elaina, on the other hand, came in for blood work without requesting any consultation,” Dr. Miller looked at Greg now as she spoke.

“Because she’s certain that the baby is mine,” Greg explained, nodding.

“The baby is yours.”

She’d known it! Yes! Oh, God, a thousand times yes! Elaina maintained an outer calm as inside she exploded with immediate joy. She wallowed in it. For the thirty seconds it took her to realize that she wasn’t alone in the room. In her life.

To realize that, officially, now this child would never just be hers, as she’d originally planned it would be.

But she then looked at Greg and saw the shocked expression he wore. There was no joy there—no sorrow or anger, either. He seemed to be truly in shock and those waves reverberated through her, too.

“I thought it best that the three of us talk through this together, or at least to make the conversation possible if either of you’d like to have it.”

Elaina glanced at Dr. Miller and then back at Greg.

The doctor was studying Greg. But he didn’t seem to notice either one of them. Standing, he excused himself, and walked out the door, shutting it quietly behind him.

Chapter Seven

As soon as he’d stepped out into the hallway, Greg knew he’d made a fool of himself. Made a mistake. His fight-or-flight instinct had kicked in when he’d heard the news, and he’d flown.

Turning, reaching for the doorknob, thinking he’d go back, he’d had a flash vision of Elaina sitting on the couch, of Dr. Miller in her chair—both of them watching him, expecting things from him, expecting a rational doctor facing medical news, and he’d flown again, bolted for the door that would lead him out into the waiting room—and from there to the exit that would get him out into Monday morning’s hustle and bustle out on the streets of Marie Cove, where he could breathe gulps of air, all of it that he wanted.

Yes, he could get in his car, drive to work, and...

Do what?

He wasn’t on shift.

He’d figure that out when he got to it. First one door. Then the next.

Sunshine bore down upon him as he emerged outside. A hint of warmth in a breezy spring day. Blue skies and brightness eased the steel around his chest. Breath was a glorious thing. Passing a stone bench, he considered sitting for a sec. Strode on past, his body too filled with energy to slow long enough to allow him any other choice.

He could consider that there’d been a DNA mix-up. Medical mistakes happened! He knew. He’d learned that lesson. Was it coming back to remind him?