Officially Over It - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,39

to the birth certificate,” Nathan continued, sounding smooth and confident at the same time as if he wasn’t brooking any room for argument. “They needed the DNA reports first, though, before they could add me.”

Eerie blew out a breath as if she couldn’t quite believe her ears.

“Ladies,” Peyton said. “It’s time for your shift to start. Please go relieve the night nurses.”

Sierra and I jumped as if we’d been reprimanded by our own mothers.

“Yes, ma’am.” I looked guiltily at Nathan as if I was abandoning him to a charging bear.

He winked at me, calming me down with that one signature move that never failed to make my heart pound.

My feelings must’ve shown clearly on my face because his smile grew as I made my way into the NICU.

Chapter 15

Behind every great woman is a pile of fucking shit her man can’t seem to pick up on his own.

-Reggie to Nathan

Reggie

I went to work, content in the knowledge that she would no longer get to take our boy somewhere else without us knowing.

My first stop was to the nurses’ station to get which babies I’d be working with today. After the night nurses gave reports, they signed off and we signed on, collecting who would get what baby today.

We had a new admit while I was away.

I smiled at the name when I read it.

“Ohhh,” I said as I made my way to the tiny little baby.

She was by far one of the plumpest babies in the entire room.

She was a nearly full-term thirty-five-weeker. She was a solid five pounds eleven ounces, but had come out with some breathing issues that they felt needed to be addressed for twenty-four hours before they let her go home.

Smiling wide at the woman hovering beside the baby’s bedside, I said, “Well hello there.”

The woman jerked her head up and smiled hesitantly at me.

“Hello,” came her soft spoken reply.

“My name is Reggie.” I winked. “My name and this little trooper’s name are the same.”

“Regina,” I heard from behind me. “Did you get named after a grandmother?”

I turned to see a man standing behind me also decked out in the NICU gear.

The father, I imagined.

“Actually, no,” I said. “My mother stuck me with that name all on her own.”

The dad huffed out a laugh as he walked up to his girl’s bedside.

“This is Alison,” he said, introducing the mother. “My name is Rod.”

Rod.

Nice.

And he was teasing me about my name?

Slipping on gloves, I checked out the little girl.

“Nice to meet you,” I said as I lowered the side glass and started to do my routine checks. “How’d the delivery go?”

Alison went on to explain her labor, what had gone wrong, and how her birth plan had completely gone out the window.

I couldn’t help but smile at her frustration.

“I think we all come into the hospital wanting everything to go perfectly,” I admitted. “Things rarely go as planned, though. I’ll likely go in myself with a third and fourth option, just in case.”

“Oh, are you pregnant?” Alison looked excited for me.

I was already shaking my head.

“Actually,” I said as I closed up the glass doors on baby Regina. “My husband just had a baby over there.” I pointed to Baby Cox’s area where Sierra was doing her own routine checks.

“Oh.” Her eyes went wide. “We did a lot of listening today.”

I snorted out a laugh. “I’m sure you heard a lot. Let’s just say you don’t even know the half of it.” I paused and glanced at her. “They had frozen embryos from when the mother had cancer when she was seventeen. My husband didn’t know, um… he was having any kids. It’s really complicated, but needless to say, we’re just as surprised as you are.”

I realized rather quickly that these people probably didn’t want to know my life story.

“You should sue her,” Rod suggested. “I’d be pissed if I’d found out I was having a baby and hadn’t actually taken any part in it.”

My sentiments exactly.

“We’re still in the really early stages,” I admitted. “Right now we just got the DNA test back saying that Nathan was the father.”

“Oh, holy shit.”

I looked up, startled to find Nathan walking into the room, Eerie following closely behind looking utterly pissed.

She looked like she was about to start spitting fire any second. All the while, Nathan did his utmost best to ignore her and her scowling, very unhappy self.

His eyes caught mine and he stared at me with so much terror on his face that I couldn’t help but