Page 87 of The Omega's Secret Baby

“I will!”

“Good! See you soon.” Eli ended the call, and I stepped on the gas a little harder.

We made good time too, until Jake decided he really, really needed togo.And no, it could not wait.

Oh, the joys of being a parent.

Swallowing down some curse words, I stopped by the side of the road where I spotted some trees that would obscure us from sight.

“But there’s no toilet here,” Jake complained.

“That’s okay, buddy, just try to aim for that flower.” I pointed at some weed with yellow blossoms.

“Can I really?” He shifted his weight rapidly from one foot to the other.

“Of course you can.”And please don’t pee yourself.

I looked aside as he pulled his pants down and went to business. Of course my phone chose that moment to ring again.

“Hello?”

Eli’s voice greeted me, sounding even more irritated than before. “You’re still not here! You promised you were going to be here!”

“Jake needed to water some flowers.”

“Don’t tell Daddy!” Jake shouted.

“What was that?” Eli asked.

“Nothing. Listen, I’ll be there in twenty minutes!”

“You better be! They want me to push this thing out already. And honestly, I’m tempted!”

“Right. I’ll get back in the car.” And I did, just as soon as Jake had zipped his pants back up.

It took me another half hour to get us to the hospital, and once I’d parked the car, I grabbed my kid, who was still carrying that stupid plushie, and sprinted inside. I wasnotgoing to miss this birth. I’d missed too much of my time as a parent already. Yeah, being a parent could be tiring some days, but I loved being there for my son, and I wanted to be there for this child too—from the moment it came into this world.

And I was going to make it,damn it.

Nothing was going to slow me down.

Until something did.

“Dad!” Jake yelled, trying to get my attention.

I stopped immediately. “What?”

“They have flowers!” He pointed to another damn gift shop while all I could think about was what he’d just called me. “We need to bring Daddy flowers.”

“Okay.” Like in trance, I set Jake down and walked over to the gift shop with him, where I quickly grabbed a bouquet of their prettiest flowers and paid for it. Then I gave them to Jake to carry. And I decided not to comment on the fact that he’d just called me Dad for the first time. I didn’t want to make him feel awkward about it.

But Iwaspretty damn happy.

I was still grinning when we finally made it to the delivery room. Griff was standing in front of the door, waiting for us. I left Jake with him and hurried inside.

“Oh God, you’re finally here!” Eli was red in the face, already pushing. “Come here!”

I ignored the doctor and the nurse in the room and went to stand by Eli’s bed. He grabbed my hand and squeezed so hard I thought he might just break it. But I was so relieved that I’d gotten here in time that I didn’t mind. “Thanks for waiting.”