The morning has been a disaster. I haven't slept more than three hours straight, so I'm a train wreck.

Thankfully, Lexi came over early this morning with reinforcements. Bagels and lattes.

Best friends are better than sex, almost. I mean, yesterday pretty much ruined me for any other men for the rest of my life.

Looks like Dane Westbrook is my one and only.

"Okay, I'll just run out and grab some Tylenol. I think Asher's slept so poorly because he's teething."

Lexi grimaces. "The subways are down, I read it on the news this morning. A bunch of issues with some of the tracks."

"How did you get here?" I asked.

"I drove. Oh, actually you should just take my car. It will save you time. You can get to that Super Target in like four minutes flat and it's free parking. It's better than taking Asher out of the car when he’s in meltdown mode."

"How do you know all these things, Lexi?" I ask, grabbing my purse.

"I may not be a mom yet, but I'm good at taking care of you."

"I'll give you that," I say, finishing my latte. "You're good at convincing me what to do. I think if you hadn’t told me I had to go to Dane yesterday, I would have chickened out. And yet, yesterday was the best decision I've ever made."

"Yeah, but we both know what decision you didn't make. I still can't believe you didn't tell him." Lexi was shocked that I didn't tell Dane yesterday... but I know introducing him to his child face-to-face will be so much more meaningful.

"I didn't want to tell him in an office."

Lexi snorts. "Yet you had no problem fucking him in the office."

"True." I let out a sigh. "I'm trying not to think about how sad this all is, every time I do, I start to cry. It’s crazy to feel so strongly for a man I barely know... but Lexi, he is my soulmate. I just know it. We go together. And yet..." Tears start falling down my face. “He is so tender with me, and I’ve always worked so hard, keeping things together on my own. But when I’m with Dane, I feel like I wouldn’t be in anything alone. He would be in it with me. He sees me as I am.” I crumble again as sobs wrack me.

"Oh, sweetie," Lexi says, pulling me into a hug. "It's okay to get a little crazy when you are falling in love... and this situation is so..."

"Tragic?"

Lexi nods, wiping the tears from her own eyes. "Yeah, it really is." Taking a deep breath she squeezes my shoulders. "You better go, go get your baby Tylenol, we will sit tight here until you get back."

"Thank you," I say, slinging my purse over my shoulder and tucking my phone in my coat pocket. "You know how Asher gets at the store."

Asher gets like every seven month-old: needy and clingy and hungry. All at the same time.

"I'll be back in 30 minutes."

I grab the Tylenol at Target and even find myself leafing through the lingerie rack. Not exactly designer, but it is in my budget. I grab a lacy bra, still semi-mortified that Dane saw me in a nursing bra yesterday. Thankfully I don't think he noticed. I thought it was smart of me to flip off the lights before he saw my stretch marks.

Though with the way he touched me and caressed me and made love to me, I honestly don't think he would mind any scarring on my body at all.

When he touched me, I felt beautiful.

By the time I'm back in my car, only eighteen minutes have passed. Super mom, right here folks. I exhale knowing that I can get through this day.

As I pull out of the parking lot, my phone starts ringing and I see a number from Westbrook Incorporated.

My heart sinks as I answer the call on speakerphone.

"Dottie? It's Carla, Dane's secretary. There's been an emergency. He's at the hospital, right now and—"

She doesn't need to say more.

"Manhattan General?" I ask.

"Yes. He's on the fourth floor."

"I'll be right there," I tell her. I end the call, my hands shaking, tears already running down my face.

I drive. I drive without thinking. I drive right toward the hospital knowing I have to see him. I have to see him now.

As I drive I remember Asher. And Lexi. Tylenol. I'm in her car. How could I be so irresponsible?

That's when I remember I never even called in sick today. I am all over the place, such an uncharacteristic fucking mess. How did my life go from being so normal to being so out of control so quickly?

It doesn't matter right now. Right now, I just need to get to that hospital and see Dane and make sure he's okay.

"Lexi?" I say, calling her on speakerphone.

"Something must be wrong," she says immediately. "You never call me. Texting only."

"I know, and something is wrong. Really, really wrong."

"Okay, what is it?"

Before I can answer, a car runs a stop sign and slams into the hood of Lexi’s car. My eyes close, I scream as the car spins, as glass shatters.

This is it. I'm going to die.

And then as if the universe has given me this tiny slice of a miracle, my eyes open. The car stops moving.

I'm alive.

The car did not explode and I did not perish. I'm alive.

It seems like mere seconds pass before first responders open the car door and help me out. The other car, the car that came out of nowhere and hit me, is totaled. An ambulance is here, a man is on a stretcher.

"Is he okay?" I ask. "Is he alright?" I ask, pointing toward the man being carried into the ambulance.

The officer shakes his head, wrapping a blanket around my shoulders.

I shake my head as he leads me to an ambulance. "I need to get to the hospital."

"That's right, that's where we're headed, to make sure you're okay."

I try to explain that I need to get to the hospital for Dane, not for me, but they don't listen.

They put me in an ambulance and take me to Manhattan General.

I guess the universe knew where I needed to end up after all.

* * *

"I need to call my friend," I tell the emergency room nurse.

"Of course, dear. Just fill out this medical form and I'll get you a phone."

"I can't fill out anything right now." Lexi must be worried sick. Thank goodness, I was in the car alone. If I'd brought Asher with me...

I squeeze my eyes shut, the thought making me ill. I blink back the tears, how this is my life, I don't know. The doctor has already cleared me, I was questioned by a police officer, and I just need to get to the fourth floor.

"Fine," I say, knowing arguing with this woman is not going to get me where I need to go. "Just give me the paperwork."

Twenty minutes later I am given access to a phone—my purse and phone still in Lexi's totaled car.

I explain everything to Lexi, who's been freaking out all morning.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Dottie. I was so scared."

"I know, it's awful. I'm just so glad I'm alive... the other guy though... he is in bad shape."

"He lived though?"

"Yes, thank God. I don't want to imagine..." I start crying, my emotions in overdrive. "Can you bring Asher to the hospital? I'm on my way to see Dane."

"Of course, he's been sleeping for over an hour. Do you want me to wake him up?"

I bite my bottom lip. Remembering how hard a night he had, teething and never getting his Tylenol.

"Let him finish his nap, I'll get upstairs, see Dane, and call with an update. I have no idea what condition he is in, okay?"

"That makes sense. Stay strong, Dottie. Asher and I will be there as soon as you need us."

I nod, knowing she's right, but also knowing this entire day has been out of my control.

* * *

I know I look like a hot mess when I walk into his hospital room, but when I see him sitting up in bed, relief floods my face and every cell in my body.

"Dottie," he says breathlessly. His words sound shallow, his eyes dark, his face swollen.

How in the space of a day did a strong man become this?

As if reading my mind, he says, "Sepsis. Never sexy."

"Dane, I'm so sorry," I say rushing to him, reaching for his hand and pressing my lips to it. Words fail me, and I shake my head, brushing away the tears. But Dane, even in this state, is as steady as ever.

Grounding me in the moment. This morning, I thought of him as my soul mate... and other people may not understand that... but as I look into his darkening eyes, I know it is true.

He is mine.

I am his.

And yet... he's dying.

"At least we had yesterday," he says softly. "And Miami."

"Dane, we also had..." I start, ready to tell him about his son, knowing there may not be more time. But before I can finish my sentence a doctor rushes in the hospital room.

"Dane, a man was admitted to the emergency room. He was just in an accident, he ran a stop sign and totaled another woman's car, and he's dead—"

I gasp. "He's dead? I was just down there and the nurse told me he was... oh God." I cover my mouth, sobs escaping me. If I hadn't been there when I was, he wouldn't have hit me... he could have survived.

"Why are you telling us this, doctor," Dane asks exhausted as if the mention of more death is breaking him down.

The doctor looks at us as if the words leaving his lips stun even him. "You'll never believe it."

"What?" Dane asks in a subdued voice as if nothing in the world could surprise him now.

Little does he know I have a surprise that he will never expect. I have a secret baby. His secret baby.

But then the doctor smiles, and I don't understand why. Why smile at a time like this? "The man in the wreck?" the doctor says. "He is your brother."