“I’m so glad you're okay,” I say as I grab Joanne's hand.

“Well, ‘okay’ is an overstatement. I’m alive, but only barely,” Joanne says with a small smile. She's paler and weaker than I’ve ever seen her, and that's saying a lot.

“I can't believe you're already joking about it. I don’t know how you’re so calm.”

There are traces of adrenaline rushing through my body. My heart rate is still way too high, and I’m restless as fuck.

It’s one thing to watch people in colorful scrubs rushing to work on one patient on TV, but it’s different when it’s in real life, and the patient is someone you actually care about.

I still can’t quite believe that only minutes ago, a bunch of doctors and nurses were crowding around this bed on which Joanne is lying. All I could see through the small window in the door was the backs of those blue scrubs.

“I’m sure I would’ve been freaked out too, if I were the one watching you go through something like this,” Joanne says, in a serious tone this time. “I mean, my whole body feels weird, but I don’t remember what happened.”

I take a deep breath, and then another, hoping the extra oxygen will help my body realize that the danger is over—at least for now.

“Thanks for being here, Zeke,” Joanne says softly, squeezing my hand. “I know you’re usually at work at this time of the day.”

“Are you crazy? There’s no way I wouldn’t be here.”

“I know,” she says. “Thanks for that.”

I stop myself from telling Joanne, but I’m still blaming myself for not getting here sooner. I rushed from work, but I could’ve gotten to the hospital earlier had I not needed to stop by at home first.

The nurse who called me with the news told me that I might need the power of attorney in case Joanne became incapacitated and I had to make decisions on her behalf. I should’ve kept the document close to me at all times, but instead I had it at home, and I didn’t even know where it was in my own apartment.

I’m glad Joanne has pulled through. I was afraid that I was never going to talk to her again, but she’s a survivor.

Still, she might not be as lucky next time.

“Jo, I was afraid that you might…” My voice trails off as I remember how terrifying it was to get that phone call.

“I know. But I’m okay. You said it yourself.”

“Yeah. I can’t imagine how it would feel to lose you. It would be the worst thing ever.”

“You have Ali now. You’ll be fine,” Joanne says, smiling weakly.

Ali. Fuck.

She was home and I said some things. I can’t remember the words, but I was brusque and impatient with her.

It wasn’t her fault that I wasn’t keeping track of where Joanne’s documents were, but I misdirected my frustration at her.

But I’ll worry about that later. There’s one very important deal that I need to close right now.

“Jo,” I say in a serious tone, “while I was stressing out about how you were doing, there were some other things I was worried about. And I’d rather not have to worry about those things.”

“You mean about Brody?” Joanne asks, without an ounce of hesitation. We’ve talked about this enough for her to know how determined I am to get her to agree to my plan.

“Yeah.” I watch as Joanne stays quiet, seemingly lost in thought. I ask, “Why not? Just tell me why, and we’ll… We’ll come up with a solution together.”

“I already have a solution in place, Zeke.”

“But tell me why my solution isn’t better than yours,” I insist.

“The last time I gave you a reason, you went and got married. This might sound crazy, but I almost thought you got married just because of what I told you.”

“And now you see you were wrong. You’ve seen Ali and me together.”

“Yeah, you’re right. But I don’t know if I should burden you with such a big responsibility,” Joanne says, repeating the same thing she has already told me multiple times.

“You said you didn’t want me to raise Brody on my own. You didn’t want to disrupt my lifestyle because I was a bachelor with a hectic work schedule and too many girlfriends,” I say, listing the reasons she gave me herself. “Well, now I’m married, so Brody won’t have to worry about a new girlfriend every week. And you’ve just seen how easy it is for me to get away from my business when I have to, so my schedule shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I don’t know…” Joanne lets her sentence hang in the air, with no conclusion.

“You don’t have any good reason why not. You know I’ll raise Brody better than anybody else.”

“Sherry’s doing a pretty good job at it,” Joanne says, mentioning of Trevor’s sister, who has been taking care of Brody.

“Yeah, but you’ve never liked her. And from your stories, it sounds like the feeling is mutual,” I say.

“I want to tell you off really badly right now, for implying that some people might not like me, but you’re right.” Joanne sighs. “I think she blames me for Trevor’s death. Maybe she feels like I could’ve stopped him from doing dangerous work.”

“You and I both know there was no way to stop Trevor from doing anything he’d set his mind to do. As her sister, Sherry should know that.”

“Yeah. I guess grief does weird things to you,” Joanne says.

“She hasn’t even been bringing Brody here much, has she? I haven’t bumped into her at all in the past month, even though I’m here almost every day.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while since she last came to visit me. I don’t really care about seeing her at this point, but I do miss my baby.”

“I’ll do anything to let you see Brody as much as you want.” I can tell Joanne is starting to see my point. I add, “You have the power here. You have the choice. You don’t want Brody to grow up hating you because of Sherry’s propaganda, do you? You know that’s a possibility.”

“Yeah,” she admits. “But don’t you and Ali want to spend some time alone? You’re newlyweds, and you’ve already lost so much time.”

“Exactly. We’ve already lost so much time, so we’re making up for it by having a baby right away. We’re already trying,” I say.

“Really?” Joanne asks, narrowing her eyes at me suspiciously.

“Yeah. Ali is already starting to buy pregnancy test kits,” I say, remembering the way Ali was waving one of those things in my face earlier this afternoon.

Joanne remains quiet, but I can tell the gears are turning in her head. She’s about to agree with me.

I need to close this deal right now. Today.

“Ali’s really excited about getting pregnant.” I know Joanne likes the fact that Sherry already has two kids. She likes knowing Brody is in the hands of an experienced mom, and he’s growing up with siblings. I say, “Brody will grow up with a brother, or a sister, or multiple brothers and sisters.”

Joanne’s lips widen into a smile, and I know I’ve got her. She can already see it in her mind—me, Ali, our baby, and Brody. One happy family.

“Are you sure?” Joanne asks.

“I’ve never been more sure in my life,” I say. “I can already imagine the kids running around the apartment. We’ll have shitty plastic toys all over the place and it’ll be a big mess. But I look forward to it. I’m ready, Jo.”

To my surprise, it’s easy to picture this future.

Before Ali, having Brody in my custody was an abstract concept. I just knew that he shouldn’t be living with a woman who doesn’t even respect Joanne enough to schedule regular visits. He’s my family and he should be with me.

But now, knowing Ali might already be pregnant, I can see it. Me coming home after a long day at the office, feeling energized as soon as I come home, welcomed by the kids and Ali.

Funny. When I tried to picture it before, there was no Ali in my imagination. There was only me and Brody—and maybe a nanny. But now I can see it so clearly. I bet she’d make a great mom.

“Give me the papers,” Joanne says.

“What?” I turn to look at her and realize she’s been watching me daydream about my new life as a family man.

“The document for making you Brody’s guardian in case something were to happen to me.” Joanne’s wearing a smile on her face. She seems happy, despite her lack of physical strength. She asks, “You have the document, right?”

“Of course,” I say, quickly grabbing the folder on the nightstand that contains all of Joanne’s paperwork.

Aiden has already prepared all of them and tailored them to my specific requirements. Once Joanne signs them, I’ll have a bullet-proof claim over Brody.

I pull out a couple pages that are stapled together and hand them over to Joanne, along with a fountain pen.

“I don’t know what it is today, Zeke, but you’ve convinced me,” she says as she starts to sign on the lines that have been marked with neon-green Post-It stickers.

I watch with fascination as Joanne’s signatures make this decision official.

This is it. I’m actually going to be Brody’s father in case Joanne were to succumb to her illness.

This feels final. My life is going to completely change. But I’m not freaking out. I’m absolutely calm, and much of it is because I know Ali’s going to be there with me.

The best lies contain some truth.

When I first asked Joanne to let me be the one to raise Brody, I wasn’t ready. But now I am. I really am. And Joanne is perceptive enough to see that.

This whole thing with Ali—the marriage, the baby—it all started out as a means to an end. But now I want it.

I want all of it. Not just Brody, but also Ali and our baby.

I want a little family to call my own, and I want to do it with Ali.