Page 52 of The Boss's Triplet Surprise

“Of course.” Moira got to her feet. “The nurse will be in in a moment to get everything set up. I’ll make the call now.”

She left, and Leah lay back, overwhelmed by the fact that she was about to give birth and by the gesture Dan had made. She could only hope that he wanted to come and that he could put aside their months of not talking to help her through this.

Leah sank into another contraction, torn between fear and hope. Would Dan come? Even if he did, this wasn’t exactly a romantic way to reconcile with the man she loved…

CHAPTER 21

DAN

“And I think it’s entirely possible to safely streamline the manufacturing process and minimize the loss to the company,” Dan concluded. It was his seventh meeting of the day and he was feeling exhausted, but energized.

When Dan had decided to reduce the price of Forenal to make it affordable for everyone, he’d hoped to win Leah back and prove to her that she was more important than his profits. So far, he hadn’t heard from her, but his decision had had an unexpected impact. Letters of appreciation and support had come streaming into the office all day, mostly from hopeful couples and tired fertility doctors. Within a few hours, their existing stock of Forenal, which had been forecast to last the next three months, was exhausted.

Dan couldn’t believe how good the decision made him feel. Even if Leah didn’t come back to him, even if the company ended up losing money on the drug, Dan knew he’d done a good thing. Putting people before profits felt right.

Since the announcement earlier that morning, Dan had been in a never-ending list of stakeholder meetings, advertising-brainstorming sessions, and press conferences. To his surprise, the people in his company also seemed excited about the new direction and praised Dan’s move.

“I think we can also leverage the affordable fertility drug to, in a way, rebrand RMA,” one of Dan’s colleagues suggested. “We can pitch ourselves as a more human pharmaceutical company. That could fit in with offering more natural alternatives, like you suggested before.”

“I think the important thing is that if we make a change like that, it shouldn’t just be about rebranding,” Dan said. “We should actually change the direction of the company, if that’s the way we want to go. And it might be. I?—”

“Sorry.” Dan turned to the door, where his assistant was standing. “I don’t want to interrupt, but there’s an important call for you, Dan.”

“Please tell them I’ll call them back,” Dan said. He’d asked his assistant to hold all his calls today and was slightly annoyed that she was interrupting the meeting. There couldn’t be anything more important than this.

“I think you’ll want to take this one. It’s urgent.”

“All right. Folks, continue without me for a few minutes. Excuse me.” Dan got up and walked around the edge of the table. A few of the people present exchanged confused looks, but Dan ignored them. If this call wasn’t urgent, he would be back in moments. And if it was, he’d probably be glad he’d taken it.

“Who’s calling?” Dan asked. He made to head back to his desk, but his assistant held up his cell phone.

“A doctor. Moira something. She has… well, an update I thought you’d want to hear.”

Dan’s heart began to race. Why was Moira calling him? Something must be wrong. Dan pushed down a wave of apprehension and took the phone.

“Hello, this is Dan Marley.”

“Dan, I’m glad I managed to reach you.” Moira’s voice was uncharacteristically flustered. “I tried several numbers and everyone said you shouldn’t be disturbed…”

“Sorry about that.” Dan’s impatience was growing. “May I ask why you’re calling?”

“Of course, of course. Leah went into spontaneous labor about an hour ago. It’s a little early, but we have every reason to believe that both she and the babies are doing well.”

Relief hit Dan in the chest, hard, and he leaned against the nearest wall. “Wow. Thank you for telling me.”

“I’m not just telling you.” Moira chuckled lightly. “Leah asked me to call you. She wants you to be there.”

“She did?” Dan’s relief multiplied, along with a wave of joy. Leah wanted him there. He was going to become a father today. “I’m on my way. Where is she?”

Moira provided the name of a nearby hospital, along with a room number. Dan thanked her again, then hung up.

He turned to his assistant. “Thank you for getting me out of that meeting. You’re right; this was incredibly urgent. Please reschedule my day.”

To her credit, his assistant didn’t blink. She just nodded. “Will do. Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Dan practically ran out of the building. He hustled towards his car, then realized that, with the traffic, the car would probably take too long. Everything felt like it was taking too long. He wanted to be with Leah, right now. So, instead of going for his car, Dan jogged to the El and rode it most of the way to the hospital. He ended the journey with another brisk jog.

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