Page 83 of Surprise Baby for Mr. Fischer

“I’m not taking the job,” I reassured her.

With a shake of her head, she gave me a tiny smile. “You can’t turn down every job to stay with me. I don’t want that for you.”

“Then what do I do, Harper? Help me out,” I pleaded. Neither decision was the right one when one or both of us ended up hurting.

“I don’t know, Lincoln.” She lifted our hands to her mouth and kissed the back of mine. “But I’d like to figure it out.”

I heaved a relieved sigh and nodded. “I’d like that.”

Harper let out a huge yawn. “I’m sorry. Suddenly, I feel exhausted.” She threw her hand in front of her mouth to cover another yawn.

I pushed her hair away from her face and ran my fingers through her silky strands. She blinked sleepy eyes at me. “Sleep, love. We can talk more when you wake up.”

Her eyes drifted shut, and eventually, her breathing evened out. For the next hour, I didn’t leave her side. Slowly, my body protested the position I was in. I let go of Harper’s hand and stood to stretch. A vibration shook my front pocket. Not wanting the noises from my phone to wake Harper up, I answered, only glancing at the caller ID.

“What the hell did you do, Lincoln?” Clint’s barking turned my body to stone. I moved outside of the curtained space.

“Clint—” I wasn’t sure what he knew, but fear curled in my gut as I paced to the far side of the large emergency room.

“Don’t ‘Clint’ me. Why didn’t you tell me you had a kid?”

“Technically, I don’t. She’s not born yet.” I rolled my neck, trying to relieve the nerve being pinched in my shoulder. “How did you find out?”

“You should have told me. Why am I finding this out from a reporter asking for a comment?” Clint’s words were clipped. I’d never heard him this mad before.

Shit!“How much time do we have before the story goes to print?”

“None. They’re descending on the hospital as we speak. If you’d told me, I could have gotten ahead of this.”

I glanced at the sectioned-off space. Harper still slept, blissfully unaware that our bubble was about to explode all around us. Her worst fear was about to be realized, and I couldn’t protect her forever. I needed to shield her for as long as I could. Her health was my priority.

There was no way to avoid the media’s interest now, but I could attempt to lessen the damage.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Harper