Chapter 5 - The Hospital Corridors
At seven o'clock the following morning, the sun rose bright and golden over the hills of San Francisco.
A fleet of black SUVs sat outside the St. Regis. Nathan had traded his three-piece corporate suit for a dark cashmere sweater and tailored jeans. He walked out of the hotel lobby carrying twenty-two-month-old Lily in his arm.
The toddler was wearing a fresh pink coat that Marcus had sourced from a high-end children's boutique, her small arms wrapped securely around Nathan's neck. She was holding a silver spoon from the hotel breakfast tray, tapping it happily against Nathan’s shoulder.
Emily walked beside them, a soft, weary smile playing on her lips as she watched the most powerful executive in Chicago patiently allow a toddler to mess up his multi-thousand-dollar cashmere sweater.
They arrived at San Francisco General Hospital thirty minutes later.
The surgical waiting room on the fourth floor was quiet, smelling faintly of antiseptic and industrial coffee. Emily’s sister, Sarah—a bright, sharp-witted woman in her early thirties—was sitting in a wheelchair, dressed in a hospital gown, waiting to be prepped for her gallbladder removal.
When the elevator doors slid open and Sarah saw Emily walk in—followed by Nathan Cole carrying little Lily—she nearly fell out of her wheelchair.
"What in the name of holy sanity..." Sarah gasped, her eyes darting between Nathan and Emily. "Nathan? As in Nathan Cole? The guy from the Forbes magazine on the waiting room table?"
"Hi, Sarah," Nathan said smoothly, stepping forward with a respectful nod. "It’s good to see you again. I heard you're having surgery today."
Sarah blinked repeatedly, looking at her sister. "Emily... did you kidnap a billionaire?"
"He followed us on the plane, Sarah," Emily explained, her cheeks flushing slightly as she took Lily from Nathan's arms. "It’s... complicated."
"It’s not complicated," Nathan corrected gently, stepping beside Emily and placing a supportive hand on the small of her back. "I found out about Lily yesterday. And I'm not going anywhere."
Sarah looked at Nathan’s hand on her sister’s back. She saw the fierce, protective light in his silver eyes—the exact same silver eyes as the toddler gurgling happily in Emily's lap.
Sarah’s sharp expression melted into a warm, knowing grin. "Well... it’s about damn time, Cole."
For the next four hours, Nathan remained in the surgical waiting room.
He didn't check his emails. He didn't take calls from his frantic Chief of Staff regarding Claire Beaumont’s father pulling his investments. He sat on a vinyl waiting room chair, holding Lily on his lap, reading a brightly colored picture book about farm animals for the fourth time in a row.
"Moo," Nathan said, making a goofy face at the toddler.
Lily let out a high-pitched belly laugh, her chubby hands clapping together. "Moo! Daddy say moo!"
Nathan froze.
The book slipped slightly in his hands.
Daddy.
He looked down at the tiny girl looking up at him with those silver eyes, trusting him completely, seeing him not as a titan of industry, but simply as her father.
A wave of overwhelming, pure, unadulterated joy crashed over Nathan, threatening to drown him. He lifted Lily up, pulling her small body close to his chest, kissing the top of her dark, curly head.
"Yeah, sweetie," Nathan whispered, his voice thick with tears. "Daddy says moo."
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Across the room, Emily stood near the coffee machine, watching them. She wiped a single, happy tear from her eye, realizing that the cold, unreachable man she had walked away from thirty months ago was officially gone forever.
In his place stood the father her daughter had always deserved.
