“Or he might take after me and be damned good at it. Don’t turn this into a legal battle, Ms. Hightower.”
His threat was clear. The muscles of her spine went rigid and her heart thumped even harder. Her arms tightened protectively around her middle. They’d done that a lot since he’d walked in. “This is my baby.”
“Is it, if you’ve already signed away your rights? As the child’s biological father I probably have more rights to it than you do.”
Fear slithered down her spine. She was very afraid that what he said might be true, but she wasn’t giving up without a fight. She glared at him, silently telling him to bring it on. The stiffening of his features told her he’d received her message loud and clear. He stood and towered over her.
She rose to meet him at his level, but still had to tilt her head back. How tall was he, anyway? Well over six feet.
“This discussion is over, Mr. Patrick, until I talk to my attorney.”
“Do that. Mine will be calling you. But be warned, Ms. Hightower, I always get what I want, and I will be a father to my child. Make it easy on yourself, accept that and don’t prolong this.”
He turned on his heel, flung open her door and stalked out of her office, sucking all the oxygen with him as he went.
Sapped of strength, but conversely filled with an energizing surplus of adrenaline, Nicole sank into her chair. She had to do something to stop him. Because if Ryan Patrick had his way she would be giving up far more than the right to mother her baby. She might never see her child again. And that was not going to happen.
Two
A pparently it didn’t matter which side of the desk Nicole sat on. Today was her day to receive bad news.
She stared in dismay at the woman in front of her. “You’re saying he’s correct. Ryan Patrick has more right to my baby than I do?”While her attorney’s smile and brown eyes were sympathetic, they didn’t offer much encouragement. “I’m sorry, Nicole. The clinic confirmed his story. There was a mix-up. Biologically, this is his child unless DNA testing proves otherwise.”
“But my doctor said I couldn’t do prenatal DNA testing without significant risk to the baby. So that’s out of the question.” Nicole had called her in a panic the minute Ryan Patrick left her office. “I don’t think I can stand seven more months of uncertainty.”
“I understand. And it really isn’t necessary since the lot number of Ryan Patrick’s…contribution was found written on your record. Too bad the technician didn’t double-check it beforehand.”
She was carrying a stranger’s baby.
Not Patrick’s.
Disappointment and helpless frustration filled her with an antsy urge to climb out of her skin. “Is the contract even valid since the baby isn’t Patrick’s?”
“The wording states you’re providing them with a child, and that you have no intention of claiming that child. It doesn’t specify paternity. The agreement is pretty ironclad. They used all the right phrases to protect themselves in case you changed your mind, and since we didn’t think that would be an issue, I didn’t strike or amend the clause.”
A heavy weight settled on Nicole’s chest. “I don’t want Ryan Patrick to get custody. If he does, I may never see my baby again. At least Beth promised me I could be a hands-on aunt.”
“But you didn’t get that promise in writing, so it wouldn’t hold up in court. I wish I could say the chances of Mr. Patrick winning at least partial custody were slim, but they’re not.
“This isn’t your fight, Nicole, unless you elect to try and revoke your surrogacy contract which I can tell you will be a tough and expensive battle. If you choose that route you’ll fight your sister and her husband first, and then the winner of your battle will fight the baby’s father.”
A lose-lose proposition. “Breaking the contract would destroy my relationship with my family. I won’t do that. My family is too important to me.”
Her attorney nodded. “Then your first order of business is to talk to Beth and Patrick. Tell them what you’ve discovered. Make sure they still want to adopt this child. Their decision determines your next action.”
The idea of confronting Beth and Patrick and the fear of what they’d say made her queasy. Her dream of having Patrick’s baby had become a nightmare. Or had it? She’d given up long ago on ever having children of her own.
“If Beth and Patrick no longer want this baby, can I keep it?”
“Your odds of winning either way are not good. The day you signed the waiver to relinquish to your sister and brother-in-law you knowingly entered into this agreement with no intention of parenting this child. Precedents in Texas and California have granted custody to the father in similar situations.”
That was not what she wanted to hear. But even if she could keep her baby, what did she know about good parenting? Her parents certainly hadn’t set an example to emulate. They’d been gone more than they’d been at home, and when they’d been at home they both tended to be self-centered. Not a pretty picture despite the united front they presented to the world.
“In the meantime,” her attorney continued, “I’ll pursue legal action against the clinic. Besides their negligence, they’ve violated so many rules and regulations by releasing your personal information to Mr. Patrick without following proper legal channels that the courts and several regulatory agencies will be occupied for a long time.”
“I…I suppose that has to be done to prevent the clinic doing this to someone else. I’ll talk to Beth and Patrick this afternoon.” Until then she had no idea where she stood.
And that was one conversation she dreaded more than anything she’d ever had to do in her life except for smiling through congratulating the man she loved on marrying her sister.
“Nicole, I’d like to caution you to be civil to Mr. Patrick. In my thirty years of experience I’ve learned the more contentious the fight becomes, the uglier and more expensive it gets. People forget about doing what’s right and start fighting to win at all costs.”
Nicole had a sinking feeling Ryan Patrick didn’t like losing, and he could afford to fight a lot longer than she could.
Beth and Patrick’s silence spoke volumes as did the look they exchanged.Nicole’s stomach cramped with tension while she waited for their response to her bad news. She dampened her dry lips. “So the baby is still yours…if you want it.”
Beth gave her a patient smile. “Of course we want the baby, Nicole. The child is yours and therefore related to us.”
Relief loosened the knots in Nicole’s muscles.
“Beth, a legal battle could be expensive,” Patrick pointed out with his usual pragmatism.
“This baby is a Hightower, dear,” Beth countered. “We can’t let that man break up our family.”
Beth and Patrick shared another long, speaking glance, and a teensy twinge of jealousy pricked Nicole. In the three months she and Patrick had dated before she’d brought him home to meet her parents and siblings she and he had never shared that type of silent communication.
But Beth and Patrick had been married for a long time, Nicole reminded herself. They’d had time to develop those skills. If things had gone differently, if Nicole and Patrick had married as she’d once believed they would, then they would have been the ones with that special bond. Wouldn’t they?
But Patrick had preferred her sister, and Nicole wanted him to be happy—even if it wasn’t with her. He was one of a kind and the only man who’d ever win her heart. She wasn’t like her mother who flitted from one affair to the next searching for some fantasy that didn’t exist.
“Beth,” Patrick protested.
“Nicole is doing this oh-so-generous thing for me—for us—to repay me for looking after her when we were growing up. How could I refuse such a selfless gift? And we do want a baby more than anything, don’t we?”
“Right. More than anything.”
Did Patrick’s tone sound a little bitter and resentful? No. He was just shaken and disappointed by Nicole’s news. He’d wanted to be a father and now he wasn’t…biologically, anyway. And if he was on edge it was only because he and Beth had been trying to conceive for more than three years. The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with either of them and didn’t have a clue to the cause of Beth’s unexplained infertility.
Thank God Nicole had conceived on the first try. Otherwise—
You’d have come to your senses.
Lea’s nagging voice echoed in Nicole’s head. She squelched it. Her assistant didn’t understand how much Beth had sacrificed for Nicole to have a regular childhood. Beth had forfeited dates, the prom, going to college among other things to play substitute mom while their globe-trotting parents gallivanted frequently and parented sporadically.
Carrying a child for Beth was the least Nicole could do.
“This could get expensive,” Patrick persisted. “You know how much we’re already spending on—”
“On getting ready for the baby,” Beth replied with a tight smile. “Yes, darling, I know. But Nicole doesn’t need to worry about that. She needs someone to take care of her little problem, and taking care of problems is what I do best.” Beth turned to Nicole. “Don’t worry yourself. Big sister will handle everything. Just like I’ve always done.” Nicole stifled a wince. Yes, there had been dozens of incidents when Beth had covered for Nicole—none of which Nicole was proud of these days. But somehow Nicole didn’t feel as confident in her sister’s abilities this time. She wasn’t sure that even the mighty Beth could deter Ryan Patrick from his goal.
Her baby would be happy here, Nicole assured herself as she lugged a mountain of insulated food containers past a black Corvette convertible and up Beth’s concrete sidewalk between rows of blooming dianthus, begonias and hostas.Beth and Patrick had bought the large two-story traditional brick home with the lush emerald lawn and white picket fenced backyard with a large family in mind. On any given weekend morning children laughed and played in the neighborhood, riding their bicycles in the cul-de-sac. What more could any child want?
And what more could any woman want for her child?
You’ve made the right decision. All you have to do is keep Ryan Patrick from upsetting your plan.
The smell of roasting meat filled the air, made her mouth water and thankfully, distracted her from her negative thoughts. She’d been running since her feet hit the floor at five this morning, and she’d barely had time to eat a granola bar for breakfast and swallow her prenatal vitamins.
Letting herself in Beth’s side door the way she always did, Nicole checked the kitchen. Empty. That was odd since there was so much to do before the guests arrived at noon. Beth and Patrick were probably getting dressed.
Nicole deposited the food she’d prepared for the party on the counter then put the cold items in the fridge and the warm items in the oven on low heat.
Next on the agenda, the backyard. She stepped onto the stoop, scanned the fenced area and smiled. The weather on this first weekend in September couldn’t be more perfect for a picnic. The sun was out, but the expected afternoon high temperature wouldn’t be too hot or too cool. This close to autumn it was difficult to anticipate what Knoxville’s weather would be when planning weeks or months in advance as she always did.