The Executive's Decision
Page 6

She didn’t speak right away. Instead she stared into the empty locker, willing her unease to subside. She wanted to trust him. “If I choose to stay—and I’m not saying I will—but if I do, I do it for Mary Ellen.” And for myself. She couldn’t be scared for the rest of her life. This was her chance to move on.
“That’s fair.”
“I’ll talk to you, but it’s strictly business.”
“From now on.”
“No more lunches under trees, no more daisies, and no more sitting on your lap on the bus, or…”
“Regan, you’re ruining my day.” A smile broke on his lips. This time it unraveled her nerves, making her hands shake and her heart flutter. She took a deep breath.
The silence of the other employees made the room uncomfortable. She looked around the room at her new colleagues, who had all averted their eyes from what had to be the latest source of juicy office gossip. She contemplated her position and looked back at Zachary. He was a powerful man who was willing to say he was sorry. That wasn’t something she’d run into in the past. Maybe Zachary Benson was different.
It was worth her new beginning to give him the benefit of the doubt. If she was wrong, she’d just walk away.
“C’mon, you have a meeting in an hour.” She closed the locker and walked out of the break room with him a few strides behind her.
Mary Ellen was standing at the door to Zach’s office, her skin pale and her breathing labored. Regan took one look at her and raced toward her.
“My water just broke. I need to get to the hospital.” She bit her lip and wrapped her arms around her stomach.
“Okay. Let’s go.” Regan took her arm.
Zach moved in on the other side of Mary Ellen. Crouching, he laced her arm around his neck. “My car is in the garage. We’ll take my elevator down.”
He stood and carried her into the office without looking back at Regan.
She realized she would soon see the secret workings of the River Front Building.
The elevator was concealed behind what she’d thought was a closet door in the corner of his office. They crowded inside; the elevator car was only big enough for the three of them.
She shifted her glance to Zach. “You have a car? Here?”
“Yeah.”
“And you were on the bus this morning why?”
“Am I not allowed public transportation?”
“You—”
Mary Ellen screamed through a contraction, cutting off her verbal bashing.
“Your conference call,” Mary Ellen blurted out.
Regan shook her head. “I’ll go back up when he gets you in the car, and I’ll reschedule it.”
“Like hell,” Zach said as the elevator slowed to a stop. “You’re going with us.”
“I need to run your office.”
“I can’t do this alone,” he argued as they helped Mary Ellen to the Lexus parked in the parking space marked with his name.
“I’ll catch a cab once I’m done, and I’ll meet you at the hospital.” Regan held tighter to Mary Ellen as he dug in his pocket for his key fob and pushed buttons.
“Just get in. I’ll call someone else to fill in.”
Mary Ellen let out a yelp and they both diverted their attention to her. “Sorry for the interruption,” she scolded as she gripped her stomach again.
Regan climbed into the backseat, and Zach helped Mary Ellen into the passenger seat, easing her down carefully. When Regan looked at Zach and realized he was as pale as Mary Ellen, she had to bite back the temptation to offer to drive. Men—what would they do if they had to bear children?
The hospital was only ten minutes away from the office, but it could have been an hour, as nervous as Zach was maneuvering through the early afternoon traffic. He had his cell phone in his hand calling another executive to cover his meeting.
Mary Ellen handed her phone to Regan as they swerved through traffic.
“Call my husband. He’s on the speed dial under two.” She winced with another contraction as Regan followed her instructions and called her husband.
“He’ll meet us there. He said he’s fifteen minutes out.” Regan closed the phone and handed it back to Mary Ellen.
“God, I hope he makes it.”
“First babies can take hours.”
Zach’s eyes met hers in the mirror. “How do you know?”
“Inside source.” Her voice cracked, and she averted her eyes out the window. She tried to focus on the world that passed beyond the car and not on the year she was trying to move on from.
Zach pulled into the unloading zone near the emergency exit. He helped Mary Ellen from the car, and Regan climbed out from the backseat. She retrieved a wheel chair from the entrance and pushed it to the car. Zach held tight to Mary Ellen and helped to ease her into the chair.
Regan spun her around and headed toward the door. “Go park the car. We’ll be on the second floor.”
“How do you know where you’ll be?” he called back to her.
“Inside source,” she said again and disappeared through the door to the hospital, hoping her slip of words would disappear in the chaos of the moment.
The process was far more streamlined than Regan remembered. When they hit the second floor, nurses jumped from their stations to get Mary Ellen into the right place and start monitoring her. Mary Ellen threw her purse at Regan, who pulled out her identification and the envelope she’d labeled DELIVERY. A laugh caught her. She wondered if she’d ever be that prepared for anything outside of work. Then she thought of the morning and her lack of an umbrella. No, Regan Keller would never be that organized in her personal life.
Most of Mary Ellen’s information was on file, and she relayed necessary details to Regan, who filled in the blanks. By the time the forms were complete, a monitor had been strapped to Mary Ellen’s stomach, and Zach walked through the door with her husband right behind him.
Regan and Zach found themselves pushed to the corner of the room as people came and went. It would never cease to amaze Regan how many people it took to deliver just one baby.
“Are you all family?” The nurse asked as the room grew more crowded.
“No.” Regan answered for Zach and herself.
“You’ll need to wait outside. The visitor waiting area is just down the hall.” She pointed them in the direction.