BECKHAM

It’s impossible.

But at the same time it isn’t.

Nothing rattles me, but I’m shaking like a leaf and Odessa hasn’t stopped staring at me since this morning. She’s unusually quiet, and I’m particularly grateful. This situation is none of her business, and I’m not about to shell out the complicated details.

The plane grounds at JFK, and I unbuckle my seatbelt before we come to a stop. I’ve got to get the hell out of here, call my attorney, call Dr. Brentwood and rush to the hospital.

If this kid is in fact mine, I refuse to miss its birth. I’ll deal with Eva the first chance I get.

Two cabs wait for us at the tarmac, and I watch Odessa pull away in one as I climb inside mine. I pull up the number from this morning, the one belonging to Eva’s friend, and call her back.

“Where is she? Which room?” I ask the second she answers.

“Is this Beckham?”

“Yes. Where can I find Eva?”

“Room 8174,” she says. “Pitocin’s been dripping a couple hours. Contractions are starting. Doctor thinks she’ll be here soon, so get your sorry ass down here.”

“She?”

“Yep. It’s a girl.” I’ve never felt so much hatred in someone’s voice. Apparently she doesn’t know Eva as well as I do.

“On my way.” I end the call, tapping the driver on the shoulder and handing him an extra twenty to step on it. Spinning through my contacts, I find my attorney’s cell and give him a call. His voicemail picks up on the first ring. He’s probably in Tahiti or some shit like that. I scan through my contacts once more, dialing Dr. Brentwood’s office and telling his secretary that an emergency has come up.

* * *

“Beckham?” Eva’s covered in a pale pink gown and a thin, flannel hospital blanket. Wires run from a monitor around her exposed belly, connecting to a machine spitting out paper with zigzagged lines. She offers a delirious smile when she sees me. Eva radiates, a healthy flush on her tan cheeks. “You came.”

Her delicate Argentinian accent used to make my knees weak and my cock hard. Ever since things went south and our foray into fuck buddy territory ended with a restraining order, I can’t so much as think about Argentina without breaking into a cold sweat.

A woman sits in a chair in the corner, shooting daggers my way. Her arms are folded and she huffs before looking away. I’m assuming it’s her friend.

“I knew you’d come. I haven’t seen you in so long.” Her eyes close softly, the machine beeping. “I’ve missed you so much, baby. Have you missed me?”

Words catch in my throat, stopped by a heavy dose of apprehension. Dr. Brentwood told me not to engage her, not to feed her obsession. But if she is the mother of my child, if she’s hours from giving birth to my daughter, I can’t be an asshole.

Another time. Another place. Not here.

Eva winces, smiling though she’s clearly in pain. “I’m going all natural. It’s better for the baby that way. And I want to feel it all, Beckham. I want to remember it all. This moment. Bringing our baby into the world.”

She’s crazy.

But I already knew that.

“Have you spoken to Dr. Brentwood lately?” It might not be an ideal time to ask, but I have to know if he’s aware of her current…condition.

“Can we not talk about him, please?” She blows a slow, heavy breath. “Oh, these are picking up. Nikki, can you go get someone please? I think I need to be checked again.”

Her friend rises slowly, her dark gaze firing at me still, and treads out of the room. A moment later she returns with a nurse, who takes a seat on the edge of Eva’s bed and places a gloved hand under the sheet.

“You’re at a six, Eva. That’s great. We’re making progress. I’ll check again in a bit. Hit the call button if you need anything, okay?” The nurse pads away.

“I didn’t know you were pregnant.” I take a seat in a chair and pull it up to her bedside.

“You stopped returning my calls,” she sighs. “I tried sending letters. Those came back each time. You blocked my emails. Julie would never patch me through. And then the restraining order came.”

“Eva, you were stalking me. I had to do something. You’re lucky I didn’t have you arrested.”

She ignores me. “I tried, baby. I tried to tell you.”

Eva reaches for my hand. I don’t want to take it. I don’t want to send her the wrong sign. But her face is pinched, her eyes watering. She’s in physical pain. I hesitate before offering my hand, and she clenches it tight.

“We can finally be together again, mi amor. We can be a family. I love you so much.”

An alarm chimes behind us, sending Eva’s friend upright in her chair. I glance at the elaborate machine set up behind me, squinting at a flashing number on the lower left side of a computer monitor.

“What is it?” Eva’s expression is washed in panic, tears forming in the corners of her dark eyes. “Baby, what’s wrong? What does it say?”

Two nurses run in, shouting orders for us to clear the space. They lower Eva’s bed, and one of them mumbles something about the baby’s heart rate dropping too low with each contraction.

“Can’t you try giving her oxygen?” Nikki’s hands fly to her hips, her demeanor unnervingly calm. “That’s what we did with my fourth.”

Another nurse hurries in carrying a set of blue scrubs. “Are you Daddy?”

Fuck. I don’t fucking know.

I take them from her, following her to a changing area. She tells me I have exactly one-hundred twenty seconds to change or I won’t be able to go into the operating room with Eva.

When I woke up this morning, my biggest problem was the morning wood that wouldn’t go away unless I thought of Odessa again. My second biggest problem was choosing which tie to wear to the office.

Nothing about this moment feels real, but here I am, rushing out of a changing room tying a scrub cap and chasing after a nurse so that I might not miss the birth of a baby girl who may or may not be mine.

They point me to a little stool at the head of the operating table. Eva’s arms are strapped down.

“Hold my hand, mi amor,” Eva smiles. Her dark hair is covered and a blue sheet hides everything lower than her chest. I take the hand of a woman whom I currently have a restraining order against, and swallow the lump that forms in my throat the second I hear the cries of a newborn baby.