Page 51 of Triplet Babies for My Billionaire Boss

Chapter Twenty Three

Rodney

I hadn’t gotten a lot of work done over the past couple of days. By Friday, my production levels were at an all-time low. I was lucky the developer and my marketing team were on top of things because I wasn’t much use around the office. The only thing I had to do was look good for the paparazzi who were getting on my case more and more.

This morning, I’d had two journalists for tech magazines come in to interview me. I was in the popular phase again. This time, I didn’t like the media attention the way I usually did. I was distracted. I couldn’t get Danielle off my mind. I couldn’t believe I was going to be a dad again.

The last time I had gone through this felt like it had been in another life. I had been a much younger man then, married and in love. The baby had been planned. We had had a future in mind.

Everything was different now. We were going to have to build a future around a child that was already on the way. I was going to start something with a woman that was totally off limits. I had never allowed myself to consider something long term with her, but now, I had to.

I had no idea how I was going to make this work. I was having a child with a woman that was half my age and my best friend’s daughter. It sounded surreal. The whole thing was absurd.

At the same time, I was thrilled. I had no choice but to hold on to Danielle. When I let my rational brain do the decision-making, I had called it off. Now, my heart was back in charge, and it was looking forward to doing the right thing. I would be the man Danielle and the baby needed.

When I arrived at home after work, I pulled into the driveway just before my mom did. Tommy clambered out of the car before I came to a standstill. He ran to my mom with open arms, excited.

“Hello, darling,” she said, hugging him. My mom lived about an hour’s drive away, a little too far for her to see Tommy as often as she would have liked. When we did arrange for a visit, it was for the weekend.

“You looked stressed,” she said after one look at me. God, if only she knew.

“It’s a little rough at work,” I said. It wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t the whole truth. “Tommy is so excited to see you, aren’t you, buddy?”

Tommy nodded, a big grin on his face. “I’ll go get my bag,” he said and ran toward the house. We had packed a bag that morning for the visit.

“Looks like I’m not going to stay for a cup of tea,” my mom said with a laugh.

We followed Tommy into the house, and within half an hour, Tommy and my mother had left me alone in the empty house. I locked up behind me and drove to Lisa’s place. I had promised I would pick Danielle up as soon as I could. She hadn’t been to the office again since Wednesday.

“How are you feeling?” I asked when she got into the car.

“I’m worried,” she said.

I frowned. I had been referring to her morning sickness. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“It’s my dad,” she said, and I already knew this was trouble. “He’s been trying to see me all week, but I can’t face him. Not now. I’m not going to be able to put on a brave face for him, and there’s no way I can tell him what’s going on yet. I don’t even know how I feel.”

I felt a little guilty. “I know Mark was looking for you,” I admitted. “He came by the office looking for you. I told him you were off sick.”

Danielle sighed. “That makes sense now. He’s tried to call me so many times today. I don’t know how I’m going to do this.”

I didn’t offer any advice because I didn’t know, either. We drove in silence for a while. Danielle looked out of the passenger window, lost in her own world.

“How are you dealing with the morning sickness?” I asked to break the silence. “Are you coping?”

Danielle looked at me, a little down.

“I’m coping,” she said. “It’s bad in the mornings and just after lunch. I struggle to keep food down then. But at dinnertime, I’m fine, and I can eat anything. I guess it’s just a routine I’ll have to figure out for now.”

I nodded. Chrissy had struggled with morning sickness when she had been pregnant with Tommy–all-day sickness she had called it. I didn’t understand everything a woman went through during pregnancy, but the morning sickness was something I had witnessed, and if anything, it had reminded me how happy I was to be a man.

Danielle looked depressed, and I wanted to do something to cheer her up. A thought struck me. We hadn’t done anything to spend time together, not since all of this had started. If we were going to have a child together, we had to start spending time together outside of working and fucking.

“So, you’re not sick now?” I asked.

Danielle shook her head.

“Right. Well, why don’t we go out to dinner?”

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