The Billionaire Prince’s Surprise Son by Leslie North

13

It turned out the little flush of pink on Harry’s cheeks during his nap at the palace was a sign of something more than sleepiness. He’d somehow managed to catch a little seasonal cold. Logically, empirically, Nic knew it was nothing serious. He was a doctor, for pity’s sake—he could tell the difference.

With that in mind, he’d snapped into “medical professional” mode. Summer had taken a day off to take care of Harry the first day, and Nic had volunteered to take the following day off so Summer could continue with her fellowship and he could take care of their son. He’d spent the day dressing Harry lightly, encouraging him to drink watered-down fruit juice and to suck on popsicles that inevitably stained whatever clothes he was wearing, and Nic changing Harry’s diaper frequently. He’d even sponged him down after administering children’s fever reducer.

It was probably the closest he’d been with Harry, watching cartoons about talking cars and puppies as Harry watched listlessly with fever-bright eyes, making the occasional little whimper of unhappiness.

Logically, it was easy enough. His “patient” was sick. It wasn’t serious. He knew what to do.

But internally, deep down… Nic was freaking out, and he knew it.

What if it’s not something simple? What if it is something serious?

Harry quickly improved, though, and by the third day, they told Alma she could come back and watch Harry as she normally did. But Nic still found himself leaving the cozy bed he shared with Summer in the middle of the night and creeping to Harry’s room, watching his son twitch, his eyes moving with deep dreaming behind his eyelids, his breathing deep and even.

Nic had been doing it for a week now. On some level, he’d considered getting Harry up and getting him ready for the day. Just waking him, getting him cleaned up and changed, feeding him his breakfast. All the things that Summer did when Nic left early to go to the hospital. But today, just like every other day, he just stared at his peacefully sleeping son and thought of one thing.

Tom.

Nic wasn’t sure if it would be better if Harry didn’t resemble his dead brother so closely, but at this point, he doubted it could be worse.

He stroked Harry’s hair. The boy squirmed a little, chuffing out a little sleepy noise, then kept on snoozing.

In a weird, messed-up way… it was easier to deal with Harry when he was sick. When the stress and challenge of taking care of a medical problem pushed Nic into his usual laser focus. Now, with Harry better, there was just the amorphous hovering fear that there would be a time when Harry was sick for real, and there would be nothing Nic could do to stop it.

Just like that, Nic’s heart clenched, and he retreated from Harry’s room. He headed to the kitchen, put the kettle on and made himself a ridiculously strong cup of tea.

Summer’s fellowship was just another few months. He had to get it together. They needed to decide, one way or another, what was going to happen between the two of them. Between the three of them.

He took a deep breath.

They still had time, though, he consoled himself.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he grabbed it, grateful for the distraction. It was the hospital. He frowned, quickly answering it.

“Dr. Hansen,” Sofia the hospital scheduler said, sounding frazzled. “I know that you’d called in sick this week, but… ah, we’re going to be short-staffed today, and I wanted to make sure…”

“Yes, I will absolutely be in today,” he said quickly. “Is everything all right?”

“Dr. Anker seems to have caught the summer cold that’s going around,” Sofia said. “And Dr. Gunst is still recovering. So there’s been a bit of a strain.”

“Do you want me to work a double shift?” Nic volunteered immediately. “We’ve got plenty of patients, and I don’t want anybody to be shortchanged.”

“That would be great.” Sofia’s relief was evident.

“All right. I’ll head in early, and we’ll make sure everything’s covered. Don’t worry.”

Nic hung up, feeling more centered, more in control. He finished his tea, then went upstairs. He ought to let Summer know his plans.

In the faint sunlight creeping under the curtains, Summer looked peaceful, her tumble of blonde curls covering her pillow, her pointed chin jutting up, her arms spread out as if reaching for him in sleep. Part of him instantly regretted his decision to go into the hospital early—the part of him that was quickly hardening at the sight of Summer’s sun-kissed skin—but part of him wanted her to stay like this, comfortably tucked into his bed, dreaming and happy.

He leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. Then he walked out to where Felix was waiting, and headed into the hospital, trying hard not to fixate on what, exactly, he ought to do with Summer, Harry, and their future.

* * *

“What, exactly, were you thinking?”

Nic woke with a start, completely disoriented. “Huh?”

Summer was standing over him, arms crossed. After a second, he realized he was in the living room, on the couch. It was still dark out. He glanced blearily at the clock. Four a.m.? What was going on?

“I started getting worried at around eight o’clock last night, when you still hadn’t made it home,” Summer said, her voice quiet but firm, her eyes stern. “I had to call Felix, to make sure you were all right.”

“Of course I was all right,” Nic said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “I was just working late. Why wouldn’t I be all right?”

She stiffened, and immediately he was hit with the unbidden thought: Her parents had been out, at night, when they’d gotten in their car accident. When they’d gotten killed.

Shit.

“He said you were fine, that you’d just picked up a double shift,” she said, her voice cold. “Funny that you thought it was okay, even thoughtful, to mention this fact to your driver—but then neglected to let the woman who’s sharing your bed and taking care of our kid know this.”

Nic winced. “I didn’t…”

“What time did you get back?” she asked, cutting across his excuses.

“Um. Around two,” he said, mentally scrolling through the previous night. “I was going to just sit on the couch for a second, get my shoes off, maybe unwind with the TV on. But I guess I never made it that far.”

“No, I guess you didn’t,” she said. “Because Harry’s sleep schedule is all out of whack from when he was sick. He was fussy and a pain all through bath time, he didn’t want to go to bed, then he was awake and crying on and off till twelve thirty. Which meant I didn’t get any sleep until then, and after the past few days, I’ve been tired.”

“I know,” Nic said, realizing he did know.

“And I’ve got my own shift starting in…” She glanced at her watch, and he realized she was fully dressed—much like he was, although in his case, his clothes were rumpled and a mess because he’d fallen asleep in them. “Two hours. Sofia told me that the fellows need to come in early to help cover for the sick doctors.”

“Yeah. I should be coming in too.”

Summer’s hazel eyes widened, and she let out an impatient huff. “You’ve just said you had three hours of sleep,” she pointed out. “We’re not residents. We shouldn’t have been working those kinds of shifts when we were residents.”

He rubbed his hand over his face. “A few hours down, a few cups of coffee, and…”

“Doctors at a sleep deficit make mistakes,” Summer said sharply.

Now pride warred with common sense. “I’ve never made a wrong diagnosis,” he argued. “And I’d never jeopardize any of my patients. The hospital’s short staffed. What was I supposed to do? Just turn my back on them? Damn it, Summer, you know me better than that. You know how important my work is to me!”

She seemed taken aback by the vehemence of his answer. She tilted her head, studying him. “I do know,” she said, her voice low. “Sometimes, I wonder if work is all you care about.”

It hit him like a slap. “Summer…”

“I’m used to taking care of Harry on my own,” she said quietly, pride of her own shining in her eyes. “Your help would’ve been appreciated last night, but I didn’t expect it, and I certainly don’t resent him for it—because you know how important he is to me.”

“We could always hire a night nanny,” he pointed out. “Hell, we could hire any amount of help you want. You don’t have to do any of this on your own!”

She glared at him. “It’s not about throwing money at the problem,” she all but growled. “My parents were a team. If they needed help, they asked for it, but they didn’t have living parents, or any siblings to rely on. Their work was important to them, but I never felt like I was a burden to be handed off, and I damn well will not have Harry feel that way. Alma is more than enough. He’s used to daycare. But I’m not hiring strangers round-the-clock to watch him, not unless I physically or mentally can’t manage any other way.”

Now guilt gave way to shame. Nic clenched his jaw and watched as she calmed herself, obviously with some effort. “I’m not asking you to upend your life for me… for us. But I don’t think it’s too much to ask for some simple courtesies. And I need you to start thinking of us on at least the same level as the hospital or your royal duties. If you can’t handle that, then you need to think long and hard about how you want us involved in your life.” She paused a beat, for emphasis. “Or if you want us in your life at all.”

He felt a pang, leaning up towards her, taking her hands. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right,” he said. “I’m sorry. You wouldn’t have done this to me.”

“No. I wouldn’t.”

He sighed, lacing his fingers through hers before pressing a kiss to the back of one, then the other. “I screwed this up,” he admitted. “I was an ass.”

Her silence strongly implied that she agreed with him. At least there was the ghost of a smile at the corner of her full lips.

“How can I make it up to you?” he pressed.

She stared at him, her gaze boring into him, as if she were weighing just how serious he was being. The fact that she couldn’t trust him flayed him, and he had no one to blame but himself for that. Finally, slowly, she nodded. “You could clear your schedule for the weekend,” she said. “There are some new fellows coming in, and Dr. Gunst is back today. We should be fully staffed, and you’ve more than earned time off.”

He felt a stab of doubt as his mind raced through his schedule. He hadn’t planned on going to the hospital that weekend—not officially, anyway—but weekends were usually devoted to policy work. He hadn’t had a true “day off” since the cookie day with Harry, and he’d wound up napping through a lot of that.

Summer seemed to read his thoughts, and she frowned. “Think you can manage that?” It was a challenge—and a warning.

He owed it to her. He cared about her more than he could process, and he loved Harry immediately, even if it scared the hell out of him. He needed to make time for them. He needed to show them that he could put his money where his mouth was, as it were.

“I’ll clear my schedule,” he agreed.

“All right.” She nodded resolutely. “I’ll even make something for dinner. It’s been a while since I cooked—I’ll admit, it’s been great to have a personal chef, especially when I’m exhausted during the week. But I do miss cooking sometimes. It’ll be a nice little family meal, just you, Harry, and me.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Nic said, then gave in to impulse and pulled her closer, tugging her into his lap and nuzzling her neck. “You’ve got two hours until work, you say?”

She burst out laughing, the sound warming him through. “Shoulda come home last night,” she said smugly, tugging out of his embrace. “But hey, maybe if our schedules work out later…”

He let out a low growl of anticipation, even as his body screamed for more sleep.

“But you’re going to need to get some sleep, or you’re going to be useless to me,” she pointed out, straightening her clothes. “Why don’t you go up, grab a few hours, then get Harry ready for Alma?”

He nodded. He could do this.

But as he slowly trod his way towards the bedroom, his eyes low-lidded and ready to fall asleep again, his body protested. His royal duties were his destiny. His profession in medicine was a promise to his brother. And now he had his own little family.

He wasn’t sure how much longer he could juggle everything before he dropped something important.