Page 58 of Billionaire Hunt

And with that, Jude tossed his arm around Oliver’s shoulder and we followed them into Lacey’s room.

She was just waking up it seemed and baby Sebastian was just starting to wake up too. She spotted me and gave me a big smile before reaching for the baby as she admonished me.

“What are you doing up here? You’re supposed to be healing from surgery.”

“It was pretty minor surgery. The impact of the car hitting me just pushed me into a pile of rebar.”

She winced. “That sounds excruciating.”

“So does labor.”

She rolled her eyes, “Twenty-four hours...I was in labor for 24 freaking hours! At the end, I wanted them to just kill me...but I birthed this beautiful bundle of joy.”

I looked at baby Sebastian who looked straight at me and made cute baby cooing noises. He was a beautiful baby, with just a tiny curl of hair, a single strand on his little bald head. He reminded me of Oliver. I said so and the rest of the room laughed.

“Want to hold him?”

I shook my head no, but Lacey was already putting him in my arms. I guess she didn’t notice that I didn’t have full use of both hands.

I awkwardly held him with my forearms in my lap since I was still seated in the wheelchair and to my surprise, it was Erik who helped adjust him in my arms.

“Don’t be nervous,” he said

“How can I not be nervous? He’s tiny!” I said in a loud whisper.

“You’re doing great.” He then said, “Mind if I hold him?”

Lacey nodded and Erik gently removed baby Sebastian from my arms. I was relieved. Erik held him in his arms and started to talk to him. Sebastian snuggled up close to Erik and I watched them.

My heart went out to Erik. He clearly wanted more than anything to be a father. Well, I was out of the running to make him one, I thought to myself as he handed the baby to Jude.

“We should get going. I promised you a minute and you already had about ten.”

I nodded knowing he was right. And I felt just really tired. I squeezed Lacey’s hand and told her congratulations. I gave Jude and Oliver a hug and let Erik and Emmaline push me back into the wheelchair.

“Can’t I just walk like a normal person?”

“Just in case you haven’t noticed, you can’t quite walk like a normal person yet.” He was right. I was barely shuffling along.

“Come on, stop being stubborn. Sit down,” Emmaline said.

I did as she said and waved at her until she disappeared from view. On the way back to Erik’s car, I didn’t have much to say, but the silence between us was deafening.

When he finally helped me into the car and then came around to the driver’s side, I tried my best not to look at him. Maybe it was all the medications running through my system, but I was starting to feel a little melancholic again.

“Sooo...you seemed really comfortable with the baby.”

He shrugged. “I used to volunteer in a neo-natal unit.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, that’s how I met Candy.”

“The skank doctor?”

He laughed. “Yes, the skank doctor. She was working at one of the hospitals where I was volunteering and we became friends.”

I scoffed. “You can stop with the act. We all know you’re not a boy scout.”