“Miss Oliver, this is my other dad, Harry.”
Harry extended his hand. “Hello, Miss Oliver…”
Phil pushed his way through the lobby of the hospital. He couldn’t believe he was going through this again. Well, it wasn’t him; it was her. After the first time, he’d never wanted to experience this kind of anxiety again. It was more than anxiety: it was the helplessness. Phil told himself he never could have stopped it. But why would Claire willingly put herself in this danger again.
The first time, she’d almost died.
Over the years, he’d unapologetically done what he needed to do to keep Claire and Nichol safe. It had been a long time since they’d received a threatening package or letter. Rawlings and Claire hypothesized that the mysterious sender became bored and moved on. Eric knew the truth. Patricia was the one to take herself off the radar. Having her disappear permanently went unnoticed. Phil maintained his position. No one would threaten or harm his family. That was until now—the overwhelming sense of helplessness grew.
Perspiration moistened his brow as his shoes pounded the tile floor of the nearly empty corridor. Determined, Phil made his way toward her room. It was nearly midnight and visiting hours were over: he didn’t care. As he rounded the corner, he was surprised by the number of people he saw. Scanning the sea of familiar faces, Phil’s eyes met Courtney Simmons. Immediately, she stood and walked toward him. Her reassuring smile did little to quiet his frantic nerves.
Taking his hands in hers, she said, “Phil, don’t look so worried. Women give birth all the time. Claire will be fine. She has the best doctors that money can buy.”
Peering over her head, he saw Brent Simmons as well as John and Emily Vandersol. Turning back to Courtney he asked, “I thought you and Emily were going to be with her, well until…”
Courtney giggled. “Well, it’s that time. We were in there, but things started moving fast,” she squeezed his hand, “not too fast, just moving. We left Claire and Tony alone with the doctors to experience this together. From what I hear, this will be Claire’s first conscious delivery.”
Phil nodded. The memories of that day and night, four years ago, were what haunted him as he drove frantically to get back to the hospital. He would’ve been here sooner if he hadn’t been taking Nichol and Shannon back to the estate after their visit. Phil didn’t think things would progress so fast: last time she’d been in labor for almost twenty-four hours. “I hope this time isn’t anything like that time,” he said.
“There’s no reason to suspect it will be. She was doing great when Emily and I left the room…” Courtney looked at her watch. “…about twenty-five minutes ago.” She tugged at his hand. “Come, sit down with all of us.”
Phil accepted her invitation and tried to get lost in their conversations. He didn’t want to think about what Claire could be going through.
“…I was worried, but she reassured me that once all the medication was out of her system, she had her doctor’s okay to become pregnant,” Emily said.
John squeezed his wife’s knee. “I think after we found out that Beth was on her way, Claire had baby fever.”
“Oh, Nichol is so excited about Beth,” Courtney said. “Every time I see her, she tells me about her little cousin. I think she’s holding out hope she’s going to have a little sister.”
Emily sighed. “I know. I’m afraid she’s going to be disappointed. We’ve all told her that the doctors said she’s getting a brother.”
“At least Michael’s happy,” John said. “He didn’t want to be the only boy.”
“Has anyone gotten them to spill the name?” Brent asked. “I’ve tried and tried, and Tony wouldn’t tell.”
All of them shook their heads.
Phil continued to listen as the minutes ticked to hours. He was teetering between sleep and mental breakdown when Rawlings came into the room wearing a paper gown and the biggest smile Phil had ever seen. “Claire and baby Rawlings are both doing great,” he said. “The nurse said that you can come in, one at a time.”
Emily and Courtney jumped up, as Courtney offered, “After you, but hurry.”
When his turn finally arrived, Phil opened the door. Despite the late—or rather early—hour, Claire’s emerald eyes shone and her smile beamed.
“I’m not holding him until he gets bigger, so don’t ask,” Phil offered jokingly.
“He’ll be bigger tomorrow,” Claire replied.
“I think he already is,” Tony said, sitting on the edge of Claire’s bed, gazing at his green-eyed son in her arms.
“I think you’ll need a pay increase if we keep adding charges to your watch,” Claire joked.
“No one will tell his name?”
Claire smiled at Tony and said, “We kind of want to explain it, so everyone understands.”
Tony offered, “We put a lot of time and thought into his name. We knew we wanted to find the right one, one we both wanted and felt good about—”
“Like Nichol,” Claire interrupted. “Phil, may we introduce you to our son, Nathaniel Sherman Rawlings.”
Phil’s eyes widened.
“It may seem strange,” Claire continued, “but the way we look at it, the truth is that even though people make mistakes, it doesn’t stop the reason you loved them in the first place. Tony and I both loved and respected our grandfathers. More importantly, had it not been for them, we wouldn’t be here today.” She looked at the sleeping bundle in her arms. “And neither would Nate.”