Page 49 of Baby Bombshell for the Boss

He was filled with a renewed urgency. The elevator doors opened on the subterranean parking garage. “Come on,” he said. “The car is parked close.”

She nodded, took a deep breath, and the pain seemed to subside. She let him lead her the few steps to the car and help her into the passenger seat.

Elliot hurried around, jumped into the driver’s side, and started the car, anxious to get moving. He cursed the layout of the parking garage as he pulled out — it had been designed to make drivers slow down, which had seemed like a great idea at the time, but now he wanted to go faster. He wanted to whip around corners and peel out onto the road. Manhattan traffic wasn’t going to do him any favors either, he knew.

Ivy took a deep, steadying breath.

“Are you in pain?” he asked her.

“It’s not bad,” she said. “Let’s just get to the hospital, okay?”

She’d stopped protesting the idea of him being the one to take her. Was that because she had accepted that it was happening? Or was her pain simply so severe that she didn’t have the extra energy to worry about anything else? She’d said it wasn’t bad, but Ivy was always putting a brave face on things. She probably would have said any level of pain wasn’t bad.

He made it out of the parking garage and pulled out into the street. Thankfully, the traffic was relatively light at this time of night, but relatively light still wasn’t exactly a country road. He wished the other cars would get out of the way. He’d never been one to show his temper while driving, but right now he felt like laying on the horn.

“Take it easy,” Ivy said as he changed lanes. She was starting to breathe hard. “We’ll get there. You’re not — you’re not really afraid I’m going to give birth in the car, are you? That was a joke.”

“I don’t care about that,” he said. “I just want to get you to the hospital as quickly as possible. I’ll feel a lot better when you’re in a doctor’s hands, that’s all.”

“I’m okay,” she told him. “Just don’t drive too crazy.” Then she groaned.

“What is it? Pain?”

“No,” she said. “I left my go bag at home. I don’t have any of my things.”

“What things?”

“I had a bag full of everything I was going to need at the hospital,” she explained. “Changes of clothes, a book, the music I wanted… it’s all in a bag by my door.” She sounded tearful. “I know it’s so stupid to be worried about that, but I thought I was going to have those things, and now I don’t, and…”

“I’ll have someone go by your place and get them,” Elliot said. “My building manager can do it. The bag is right by the door?”

“Yes, but?—”

“Don’t tell me I don’t have to do it,” he cut her off. “I know I don’t have to. Let me take care of you, Ivy. This is such a little thing. We can get you that bag. It’s not a problem, okay? I’ll have it brought to the hospital.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“I never should have let you do this on your own,” he said.

“I can handle myself.”

“That’s not what I mean. I know you’re capable. But you shouldn’t have to be. Just the fact that you have such a hard time accepting help from me — help from me should be implied. You should be upset when I don’t help. I shouldn’t have let you move out. I know I couldn’t stop you. But I should have come down to your place every single day and tried to spend time with you. I shouldn’t have let you out of my life so easily. I’m so sorry, Ivy. I hope you can forgive me.”

“Can we talk about this later?” she asked. “I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”

“Right,” he said. “Sorry.”

“I’m not angry at you, Elliot.”

“I hate how things have been between us.” She was right — he should wait and talk to her about this later. But the words were spilling out of him now, unplanned and unbidden. “We haven’t spoken to each other all night. That’s crazy. We’ve been acting like strangers, and this should have been such a big night for the two of us. And then, you went into labor, and you were going to take a taxi to the hospital — I know you would have called me, I’m not upset with you, but I just can’t believe I’ve put you in a position to feel like you have to do that. You should always have felt like you had me there for you, for everything. I wanted to be by your side for every moment of this. I’m so sorry it hasn’t been like that, Ivy. You deserved the world from me and I’ve let you down.”

She shook her head. “You haven’t let me down,” she said. “I’m the one who decided to move out. I know it might have been a mistake. I don’t know what I should have done. Maybe not that. Maybe we need to talk about some things, some up with a better arrangement… but you never did anything wrong. You didn’t let me down, I promise you that. I’ve never been angry with you. I let myself down.”

“It was both of us, maybe,” he said. “Maybe we can still set things right.”

The pain gripped her again. She clutched at the door handle and didn’t answer, and Elliot knew that there was no point in trying to continue this conversation right now. Of course she wasn’t going to be able to focus.

But he also knew that it was a conversation he needed to have. He needed her to know that she could have everything he was able to give. He would do whatever it took to be a good parent to their child, of course — he hoped that went without saying — but it went further than that for him now. He wanted more than to be a father.

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