Page 1 of Enemy Ex's Secret Baby

1

GILLIAN

I’ve never liked hospitals. I can never seem to get comfortable no matter how I cross my legs in these waiting room chairs. Of course it doesn’t help that Stella, my daughter, has her head on my lap, waffling in and out of an impromptu nap. I can’t blame her. It’s been a marathon of a day.

Harley, the second to youngest of the Solace sisters, went into labor early this morning with her first baby.

Everything has happened so fast, from her pregnancy to falling in love, to getting engaged to her now fiancé, Grant Neville. Boy, was that dramatic. But now, we’re all happy as clams.

I was her first phone call, if you can believe it. We’ve come a long way from our past sibling rivalry. But since I’m the only mom of the five of us (until now, that is), she and I formed a close bond as I helped her through her pregnancy.

So, I rallied the troops. Dana, Kira, Amy, Dad, Stella, and me have been here since three A.M. camped out in the waiting room. Doesn’t matter that it’s her first labor and will probably take all day. This is just the Solace way.

Victoria, supermodel and Grant’s younger sister, arrived shortly after we did and cancelled her full day of photo shoots and a red-carpet appearance to be here. “I’m not missing the birth of my first niece for Versace,” she explained. Then, my best friend, Lola got here an hour ago after keeping an eye on the bakery we run together. Harley’s got a full house waiting for her.

Stella stirs in my lap, stretching out her legs and sighing. I brush her blonde hair, same shade as mine, around the crest of her ear and smile.

“Is the baby here yet, Mommy?” she asks, blinking her eyes open, corners crinkling.

We’re the spitting image of one another except those eyes. Mine brown, hers a gorgeous green. Like leaves and bark. Together, we are our own little tree. “Not yet, honey.”

“Dad, you’re going to create a hole in the floor if you keep pacing,” Dana pipes up in her chair across from mine. Dana’s the eldest of us and is, consequently, the caretaker, especially since our mom left.

I look across the waiting area at our dad. He’s been pacing for the last hour since the doctor let us know Harley was getting ready to push.

Amy pats the chair beside her. “Come sit and relax, Daddy.” Amy’s the youngest. Always as sweet as a peach…unless she’s not, in which case she’s a menace.

“Pacing won’t make the baby come faster,” Kira, the middlest, says in her usually rational, clipped cadence.

“Can’t help it, I’m nervous,” Dad says, pushing a hand through his hair.

Victoria puts her magazine down on her lap, her lacquered nails clacking against the pages. “You know Grant is taking good care of her, Kent.”

Dad grimaces and I can’t help but laugh. Grant is Dad’s best friend since their fraternity days. The fact that Grant and Harley somehow found their way into each other’s arms still hits him funny on certain occasions.

“Oh, don’t make that face,” Victoria says, smacking her magazine against his leg.

“You’d think you haven’t done this five times before from the way you’re acting,” Lola says. Lola is practically a sixth Solace sister. After all, she grew up right next door and we’ve been friends with her since we were in diapers. Lola and I just happened to be in the same grade and managed to be desk mates all through elementary school, so I get her as my best friend.

Dad sighs and crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s different being out here than in there. At least when you’re in there you know what’s going on and where you stand. Out here, I have no idea if something is going wrong or…”

“The doctor said she was doing great when she came out, Daddy. Let’s just trust the process, huh?” I say with a smile.

He looks over at me, Stella in my lap. The nervousness on his face softens. “Can you believe? Five years ago?”

“Six!” Stella replies with a scolding tone. “I’m six now, grandpa.”

Dad clutches his heart. “Six. You’re right. They grow up so fast, don’t they?”

Yes, they do. Way too fast. Six years ago I was getting ready to be a single mom and terrified of the future. Now, I’m twenty-nine, my daughter’s a kindergartener, and life is cruising down the highway.

Dad comes over and reaches for Stella. She latches onto him fast and leaps into his arms.

“Dad, your back!” I cry out. She’s average for her age, not particularly big or small, but she’s not as pick uppable as she used to be.

“Oh, relax, I’m fine!” he replies, holding Stella on his hip and rocking her back and forth.

I can’t help but smile as she tucks her head on his shoulder. The first Solace grandchild. Sooner than anyone expected, probably. But Dad never flinched away from me with disappointment or concern. He was with me every step of my pregnancy, even held my hand in the delivery room. He was the first person to hold her, after me of course. Because of that, Stella and her grandfather will always have a deep bond. More of a father figure than her father will ever be.

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