Page 26 of Dr. Scandal Claus

"Excuse me, Miss. Can you tell us where Ms. Moore is? We'd like a word with her."

Nellie struggled with a set of keys in the lock as Marjorie asked a few more times where Scarlett could be, and then she whipped around with so much frustration in her eyes and grumbled, "She's probably with her baby daddy." Then she turned around and stomped into the bakery and shut the door and locked it.

When the clip ended and it flashed back to Marjorie in the studio, I was feeling confused. Scarlett seemed paralyzed and emotional, but she fumbled with the remote, dropping it as the broadcast continued.

"That, folks, is the icing on this gossip host's cake." Marjorie was grinning from ear to ear. "We did a little digging and itturns out, the seven-year-old son of Ms. Scarlett Moore has no biological father listed on his birth certificate. Is it possible that our very own Dr. Scandal Claus has a secret life?—"

The screen flashed to black and I sat there staring, wondering where that was going.

"Nick, I'm sorry," Scarlett whimpered and she was crying.

I felt numb as I turned to her. "Sorry for what?" I asked, but even as the words left my mouth I knew. I'd had the brief passing thought that it was a possibility, but I couldn't believe Scarlett would be capable of keeping it a secret from me.

"There was the scandal, and I was only twenty-one. You had this whole life, and you were in a bad breakup. I?—"

"Scarlett," I said, interrupting her as the pieces started to fall into place.

"Nick, I know I should've told you and I was scared but then we were so happy together and?—"

"It's true?" I asked, slowly standing. "He's my son?" The realization didn't dawn on me. It hit me like a Mack truck.

"I can explain it all. Please, sit down and we can talk." She reached for me, but I backed away hastily.

"You hid that from me?" This wasn't happening. This was just a bad dream. I backed away in complete denial.

"Nick, please." Scarlett stood and walked toward me, dropping the remote, and I turned and walked out before she could touch me.

I wasn't mad so much as I was in utter shock. I needed air and I needed it right away. This wasn't the sort of thing I should've learned from a gossip reporter on television. Now I didn't know what to think.

19

SCARLETT

All I could do was watch Nick rush out. My heart was hammering and my hands were shaking, and while I shut that show off as fast as I could so Nick wouldn't hear the awful truth that I'd been lying to him, now I wanted to know what she was saying. I hurried back to the remote and picked it up off the floor, then turned the show back on. Marjorie was talking about her so-called research into my son and his parentage. Of course, she had no real proof of anything, and if I had just blown it off I'd have been fine.

But I wasn't fine.

I wanted to tell Nick the other night when Ethan was feeling ill, before we came to the emergency room. I would have too, if Ethan wouldn't have been so sick. This entire conversation would have gone much differently, and I knew Nick would have understood my position. It was time to tell him, and I messed up so badly.

Nellie wasn't to blame either. The instant I heard those words and saw the anger in her eyes I remembered that I was supposed to cover everything this weekend. She'd had plans to go out of town, and I totally flaked on her. She snapped at thecamera because she was upset over my lack of being responsible and nothing more. Any human in the world could've done something like that. All of this was my fault.

I didn't even try to stop the tears from flowing. I was emotional and it felt like my heart was breaking. I loved Nick, and now I had no way of knowing what was going on inside his head. If he was hurt or if he was angry. I couldn't just chase him down either.

I was alone in my own world in my head, so when Ethan woke up because of my sniffles and sobs, it startled me.

"Mommy? Are you okay?" he asked, and I turned around to see him and forced a sad smile.

"Yeah, baby I'm alright I'm just worried about you is all." I hated lying to my child, but I justified it. I was worried. What would Ethan's life look like now that Nick knew? Would he finally have a father? Or would Nick try to take him from me? Or worse, would Nick refuse to see either of us ever again?

"Why are you and Dr. Nick on TV? What's a baby daddy?" His little eyes stared up at the screen which I'd completely forgotten was running. I quickly shut it off and tossed the remote onto the couch, then sat down and swiped the tears from my eyes.

"It's nothing, baby. You should be resting. I'm sorry I woke you up." I touched his hand softly and he frowned at me.

"You always say that. When I ask you something for grown-ups and you don't want to tell me, you say it's nothing. You're crying." For seven years old, he was definitely smart. But this wasn't something I could discuss with him yet.

"I want you to rest, okay? I don't want you to worry about me at all. Mommy's sad because you're in the hospital, and I just want to go home and everything to be fine again. Dr. Nick is going to make sure you're healthy and you can play sports again." As I said the words my voice cracked because after all ofthis, Nick might not even want to be Ethan's doctor anymore. It was probably against his code of ethics anyway. It was one thing to care for the sick child of someone you care about; it was another thing entirely to treat and care for your own sick child.

"I'm not a baby," Ethan grumbled, but he turned to his side and covered himself with his blanket.