Page 61 of Omega's Reluctant Mate
I squeezed his hand. “The nurses took him to weigh and do vitals. He’s fine and should be right back though.”
He leaned in and hugged me tight. “Are you ok? I came as fast as I could.”
I nuzzled into his embrace. “A bit embarrassed about having our baby on the beach, but otherwise fine.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” Nate whispered. “I shouldn’t have gone to Chicago.”
“We both thought you’d have time,” I reminded him. “Labor isn't usually that fast.”
“Still…” he started.
I kissed him. “What did you learn at the meeting?” I asked, purposefully changing the subject so that he wouldn’t blame himself.
He scowled, knowing what I was doing, but he sighed and relaxed. “Corporate sabotage. One of the lower-level account managers was on the payroll of a competitor who’d also bid on the Morningshire contract. He’d hacked into the file once I was on vacation and changed the parts and prices. Since everything had already been approved on my end, there was no reason to assume anything had changed, and the warehouse staff and accounts receivable just did what the paperwork indicated.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. It’s in legal’s hands now, but proving anything will be difficult. We’ll likely end up adjusting internal policy to add more checks during the process rather than press things in court.”
I nodded, then looked to the door at the sound of rolling.
“Look who’s back!” a cheery nurse said in a sing-song voice as she pushed in a bassinet. “All cleaned up and weighed.”
Nate turned, and awe crossed his face as he looked at our baby.
“Can I hold him?” he asked.
The nurse laughed. “Of course… dad.”
Nate blushed, then reached down and picked up our son.
“Hi Lucas,” he said softly, using the name we’d agreed on.
I smiled at the look of quiet awe on Nate’s face. This first moment between father and son was precious, and I realized that had he been there for the birth I would have likely been in too much pain to see it.
Nothing had gone as expected in our relationship, but maybe it was for the better. I was treated to all those little moments that might have passed by unnoticed otherwise.
Expectations and assumptions. We built them up and hid behind them when things didn’t go as planned. But ripping them down and taking life as it came was a much better choice.
I was glad that both Nate and I had found the ability to move past what society thought fated mates had to do and forged our own path.
“I made his middle name Theo,” I joked. “It’s only fair, since he played catch.”
Nate looked up at me, studied me for a moment, then laughed. “Lucas Theo Starling it is.”
I smiled. This was my life, and it was far better than I’d expected.
