Saving Her Billionaire

The doctor came in with the sonogram equipment and he set it up. Nate slid his fingers into Phoebes and she squeezed them. Her heart was pounding. What if something went wrong? What if all that she was feeling came through? What if the baby was hurt in some way? She had been going on runs every morning before she had found out that she was pregnant. She had stopped immediately after she found out that she was pregnant, after the home pregnancy test had proven to her that this was, indeed, the case, but she was still not sure if she had caused the baby any damage or not. What if all of that running had hurt her child?

What if her diet had not been up to scratch? She was still not following a very good diet. She had stopped eating out as much but she wasn’t a very good cook so there was not much that she could do except for make the few things that she knew how to make.

She was worried about so many things, but she found that she did not care about them while she was holding Nate’s hand. She found that she did not feel scared while his fingers were wrapped in hers. She did not feel anxious or nervous, she did not feel afraid. He gave her strength. He made her feel brave. She didn’t need him to make her feel that way, of course. She was a strong and independent woman, much like he was a strong an independent man. But just like Nate probably went through situations where he would have preferred not having to be strong on his own, Phoebe was going through something like that right now. She was just really glad that she didn’t have to be strong all on her own right now.

The doctor applied the gel and ran the device over her stomach. She clenched Nate’s hand when the doctor applied the cold gel, and was very happy when Nate returned the pressure. It made her feel safe, like nothing in the world could harm her. She had never had a father, she had never felt this way. Her mother had made her feel safe, but at the end of the day a mother’s love is very different from the love that a father gives.

She wondered if it was weird if she thought of Nate in that way, but she found that she did not care at all. She did not care if she was being weird. She just wanted him to be here with her right now. She just wanted him to hold her hand while they waited for the sonogram of their child to appear on that screen.

The screen was gray initially, until the doctor pointed out their child.

“There it is,” said the doctor with a smile. “You see that? You can even see its heart beating. There is nothing wrong with this baby. That is a good, strong heart. I wouldn’t be worried.”

“Oh my God,” said Nate. Phoebe was taken aback, because she had been about to say the exact same thing in the exact same way. She looked at Nate. He was looking at the screen with a wonderstruck expression on his face. He looked like he had seen the most beautiful thing in the world. He looked, Phoebe realized, a lot like he had looked that night they had spent together while he had been inside her. He looked like he could not believe what was before his very eyes.

“That’s our child,” he said. “That’s our child, Phoebe.”

“Yes,” said Phoebe, raising his hand to her face. “That’s our child. I… I don’t know what to say.”

“I’d say a congratulations is in order,” said the doctor with the same jovial grin. He extended his hand to Phoebe who shook it with a laugh, and then extended it to Nate who shook it with the same grin on his face.

“You two look like you are really in love,” said the doctor. “You have something really special together, I’ll tell you that. I see so many parents that come in here and they aren’t compatible at all but the two of you… well you seem like you are very intimately connected.”

Phoebe looked at Nate and he looked at her. They had not been expecting that. Were they really that connected? Did they really give off the vibe that they were in love? Were they in love? It was a scary thought, because it had serious implications for their future.

Phoebe decided to simply smile and nod at the doctor’s comment and continued to look at the sonogram before her. This was her child. This was his child. This was their child. Was there a chance, even the tiniest of chances, that they could raise this child together? Phoebe was starting to realize that she would like that very much, and as she looked at Nate she started to think that perhaps he liked it too. What did that mean? Did that mean that he would be open to the idea of discussing something like this?

*****

Nate brought her home and Phoebe sat down on the edge of her bed. Stephanie was not home yet. She did not know when she would be back but she wasn’t afraid. Stephanie wouldn’t judge her for having the father of her child in her room, even though she had a very negative view of Nate after he had practically abandoned her after she had told him that she was pregnant with his child.

“So,” said Phoebe.

“So,” said Nate. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Sure,” said Phoebe, her heart pounding even though her voice remained utterly calm and steady. “Fire away.”

“I was wondering if… well I’m a little confused to be honest. I felt like running my company was the right thing to do. I felt like that was what I should be focusing on, you know? It’s what I am supposed to be doing because that was what my father wanted me to do my whole life. It was what I was expected to do. I feel like… I feel like I’m not doing the right thing anymore. I looked at the sonogram and just… that’s my child, you know? Our child. It’s the product of that night, and even though I was really fu*ked up and I did wrong by you, that night was special to me. It was… it was very, very special to me, Phoebe. And just… I was wondering if it would be okay if I was involved in the baby’s life.”