Chapter 7 - THEIR DAUGHTER CAME DURING A BOARD MEETING
Grace went into labor at thirty-seven weeks and two days.
In a Pierce Global boardroom.
Declan was speaking.
Of course.
Grace interrupted him.
“Declan.”
He kept reading.
“The amended debt facility—”
“Declan.”
He looked up.
“What?”
Grace stared down at the chair.
Then at him.
“I think my water broke.”
The youngest billionaire CEO in America lost every trace of executive composure.
“What?”
Martin stood.
Hannah closed her laptop.
Declan looked around as if someone might produce an emergency labor manual.
Grace started laughing.
That turned into a contraction.
Then she stopped laughing.
---
Ethan was notified.
Grace had already established the plan.
He could come to the hospital.
He would not be in the delivery room unless she changed her mind.
He respected it.
That mattered.
He waited for twelve hours.
Did not demand updates beyond what Grace authorized.
Did not use fatherhood as a key.
At 3:46 a.m., their daughter arrived.
Six pounds, eleven ounces.
Healthy.
Dark blonde fuzz.
Furious voice.
Grace cried so hard she could barely see.
She named her:
Lila Rose Calloway.
---
Two hours later, Ethan entered.
He stopped ten feet from the bed.
Grace held Lila against her chest.
He covered his mouth.
“Grace…”
She looked at him.
“You can come closer.”
He did.
Slowly.
When Grace placed Lila in his arms, Ethan’s knees nearly gave.
He sat.
Their daughter yawned.
He started crying.
“She’s so small.”
“She disagrees.”
Lila made an irritated sound.
Grace smiled.
Ethan laughed through tears.
Then whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
Grace’s expression changed.
“Not here.”
He nodded immediately.
Good.
This moment belonged to Lila.
Not their broken marriage.
---
Declan visited later.
One bouquet.
No absurd room full of flowers.
Grace appreciated that.
He looked at Lila.
“She resembles you.”
Ethan happened to be in the room.
He stiffened slightly.
Grace noticed.
Declan noticed too.
Declan looked at Ethan.
“She also has your chin.”
Ethan blinked.
Grace almost laughed.
There was no rivalry.
Not from Declan.
Ethan had invented one because he understood men through possession.
Declan was not trying to take Grace.
He had helped her save a company.
Different.
---
When Declan left, Ethan stared at the door.
“You’re really not sleeping with him.”
Grace looked at him in disbelief.
“Ethan.”
“I know. Stupid.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Lila.
“I think I wanted you to be.”
“Why?”
“Because then we’d be even.”
Grace went silent.
Ethan swallowed.
“And I wouldn’t have to be the only person who destroyed us.”
There.
Finally.
Truth without defense.
Grace’s anger softened into something sadder.
“We were not perfect before Vanessa.”
“I know.”
“But I didn’t cheat.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t pledge your property.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t plan to hand you a voting proxy while you were recovering from childbirth.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
Grace looked at him.
“Unequal mistakes do not become equal because both people were unhappy.”
Ethan nodded.
“I know that now.”
Maybe.
May you like
Time would prove it.
---
