by Barbara Ebel
Dakota barked at the door, but quieted and pranced excitedly in the kitchen when he heard Casey’s car stop in the garage. “You two have a good time?” Danny asked when they walked in.
“Better than good,” Casey said, “except for one thing.”
Mary bent over and gave Dakota the attention he begged for. “We have a surprise for you. Casey and I had continued to ask around about your book and you still had two pawnshops left on your search list. Anyway, we did further investigating.”
“And we’re not divulging the particulars,” Casey said sternly.
Danny stared at their bemused smiles. Dakota’s thin pink lips relaxed into a good-natured grin. Casey handed Danny the small bag. Danny peered in and pulled something out.
“Wow! Holy smoke.” He held onto his mom’s book, embraced Casey, and then hugged Mary. “You don’t know how much this means to me.” His smile faded and his eyes moistened. “It’s supposed to be with me, it’s part of my past. This is like receiving some of what I’ve lost. I can’t thank you enough.” He held the book tight against his chest. “How much do I owe you?”
“Danny, you’re welcome,” Mary said.
Casey sat on a stool and jostled Dakota’s back end. “You don’t owe us anything. We simply recovered it.”
Danny gave his sister a hug again. “If you don’t mind, it’s going into its case.” He peeled away from them, up the stairs.
“I apologize,” Casey said to Mary. “There was something else on my agenda this weekend, but it’s not too late.” He stood and slipped his arms around Mary’s back, into her hair. Dakota sat with attention. “Can you change your mind about marriage? I would love to marry you, Mary Tilson.”
Mary gasped, a little sound popping up from her vocal cords, but it really came from her heart. An extra beat. “Casey, let’s not have a long engagement.”
They kissed while Casey spun her in the air. “I come with a ring,” he beamed, placing her on the floor. He dug into the bag he had left on the counter, opened a white box, and slipped a diamond solitaire on her finger.
________
Weeks later, Nancy waited outside school with a gaggle of girls, her eyes peeled for her father. The girls pointed out boys they expected would turn dicey over the summer, like betting at a horserace, as parents’ cars grumbled to a stop. Nancy clutched books in one arm and jockeyed a knapsack on her back, which held all her locker contents of the last year. Danny inched up and saw her as she reluctantly waved to a friend not returning to the same school next fall.
“Congratulations. Another finish to a school year,” Danny said, when she slid into the front seat. He noticed the addition of lipstick on her mouth, a brownish rose, an “in color” for spring in the girl’s magazine pictures. His daughter was in full bloom, and getting prettier by the day. Nancy glanced at her chest as she leaned over carefully stacking her books on the floor while Dakota tried to greet her, nudging forward from the back seat.
“Like all right already,” she said to Dakota. “You’d think you haven’t seen me in a month.” Dakota licked her hand.
Danny was only driving her to Sara’s. Nancy wanted to unpack her school things and spend time with her father in a day or two. His daughter was explaining to him when she would receive her final grades, when his cell phone rang.
“Danny, it’s Bruce. I’m at the office. Are you available?
“I’m driving and I have my daughter with me.”
“You’re being served with some kind of papers.” With that, Bruce hung up.
Danny’s heartbeat bounded so hard and fast, he could feel his fingertips pulsate on the steering wheel.
“Dad, Dad, slow down, it’s a red light,” Nancy said. “What’s the matter anyway?”
He braked. “I’m sorry, Nancy. That was Bruce. He’d like me to stop by.”
“All right, no big deal.” She turned on the radio to music he despised.
Danny went back to his thoughts. He was still within the statute of limitations for malpractice lawsuits. He racked his brain, imagining every scenario with patients he could think of. He couldn’t remember anyone voicing comments to him that would make him suspicious, that they harbored resentment towards him or were truly dissatisfied with surgical or non-surgical results. Yet, that’s how lawsuits were. They pop up when you least expect them. He had hoped that Susan Dexter’s lawsuit would be the first and last brush with malpractice he would ever see in his career.
Bruce was behind the front desk when Danny and Nancy walked in. Nancy beamed when the staff warmly greeted her, telling her that her hair outdid spectacular salon cuts and she had grown into a young lady.
“Danny, have you had appointments yet with the psychologist?” Bruce asked.
“Once every two weeks. I think they’re going well, so I don’t mind if you talk to her.”
“I didn’t want a uniformed man sitting out here,” Bruce said, changing the subject. Patients in the waiting room read or thumbed through magazines and books. On TV, a shock-show talk host dramatically pranced before a couple’s physical argument, but no one paid serious attention. Bruce motioned to Danny to come in. “I sent him to your unoccupied office.”
Nancy sat on a chair and picked up a People Magazine while Danny walked back through the hallway. Inside his office, the server jumped up from the couch upon seeing him. “If you’re Doctor Danny Tilson, John Hancock this paperwork right here,” he said. Danny signed and the bald man handed him a thick envelope. “Try and have a nice day,” the man mumbled as he left.
Danny sat under his Rockwell fishing print. Beckett and Livingston must be a law firm, he thought, surmising the return address from Knoxville. He flinched while sliding his finger under the flap. He pulled out a cream-colored cover letter stapled to legal-sized papers. He was so accustomed to legal paperwork by now, he recognized a court’s style and font, and his stomach knotted.
Rachel Hendersen vs. Daniel Tilson, it started at the upper left side. What the hell was this all about? He skimmed for the buzzwords quickly to explain what she claimed he had done to her.
Then he found it. This Paternity Suit will seek to … He read and reread the two major words as a tidal wave of disbelief and anger swept over him. She had taken birth control. Or he thought she had taken birth control pills because that’s what she had told him … just like she had told him about being an RN and just like she had told him about going to Wellington’s Life Care with a therapy dog.
He read on. This suit seeks to reimburse the biological mother, Rachel Hendersen, for prenatal and post-natal expenses and establish child support from said biological father, Daniel Tilson, a physician neurosurgeon with The Neurosurgery Group of Middle Tennessee, who makes in excess of $200,000 per year. Said biologic mother is an unemployed parent …
Of course, details of all Rachel’s maternity costs were attached, including all medical bills for a Caesarian section. Her attorney requested Danny to pay all costs since the biologic mother incurred the burden of providing for medical insurance, and requested four thousand dollars a month for child support, to be slightly modified after Danny sends copies of his last three monthly pay stubs. If there were any questions as to the validity of the suit, then Danny could incur the costs for DNA testing.
He couldn’t read any further.
They could test his DNA, he thought, but he knew the results, so it wasn’t worth it. Danny stuffed the cover letter from Phil, the first name of Beckett in Beckett and Livingston and the official lawsuit into the envelope. He waved good-bye at the front desk, and then motioned to Nancy.
Nancy scrambled to catch him through the door. “Dad, you look terrible. Your face is the color green like the Grinch of Christmas. What’s the matter?”
“I’ll tell you in the car.” But he wasn’t sure about that. Dakota greeted them, sticking his face out the half-rolled down window. Danny started the car and headed to Sara’s. He flipped the sun visor down, after squinting from the bright sun, while Nancy studied his fa
ce.
“Well?” she asked. “Your color hasn’t changed.”
“I just found out I’m a father.”
“Well, duh.”
“No, I mean a father again. You have a half-brother or sister.”
Initially Nancy tried to make sense out of that; she kept silent thinking about it. For months, there had been no mention of her father’s affair; the woman her father had fooled around with seemed to have disappeared from the picture. That’s it, she thought, that woman. That woman was now linked to her family.
Now Nancy steamed. She clammed shut, although Danny paid no attention because he was lost in his own world. They pulled into the driveway. Nancy tore out of the car, through the front door, and up into her bedroom. Danny got out, dumbfounded, going after her. Sara came to the open door.
“What was that all about?” Sara asked. She wore no shoes and stepped lightly to the front porch. She had just changed into fresh clothes after showering. She looked radiant and smelled great from her shampoo.
“Can I sit?”
Sara nodded. “You look terrible. But, you’ve looked terrible ever since we split up.” Danny winced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to be nasty. That came out because it’s true.”
“And you are truthful,” he said.
“Sit here on the porch for a minute. Do you mind if I let Dakota out of the car?”
“No.”
Sara walked gingerly across the grass and opened the door for Dakota to jump out. He used the closest bush, then darted around the front lawn looking for sticks.
She came back and leaned against the railing, but decided to pull an Adirondack rocker close to Danny to avoid sitting with him on the glider.
“Sara, I have a favor to ask. Can you cut me some slack? I haven’t had a paycheck come in for months. I’m using annuity money for your alimony and child support but, in addition, something else just came up. I have to retain Mark Cunningham again, besides our mess.”
“It’s not a mess, Danny, at least not to me.”
“I know, I know. I’m the mess.”
Sara crossed her legs, pushed the rocker with the sole of her foot. Dakota dropped a branch in front of the railing, egging them to play.
“Okay, just let me know when you would like to cut the next checks. They can be late. Now, why is Nancy upset with you?”
“I just discovered … I was just served with … I’ve got a new baby.”
“Oh, Danny.” Sara stopped moving, furrowed her face with concern.
“I don’t even know where she went, or if it’s a boy or a girl.”
Sara shook her head, tucked her knees to her chest, and gained momentum to rock. “Nancy must feel like she’s been replaced.”
Danny twisted his hands. He ignored Dakota, who dropped more sticks in front of the bushes. “How, Sara?”
“She’s your youngest. Now she’s not the baby any more. She’ll get over it, just give her time.”
Danny rubbed his chin. “That’s one thing I possess…time for waiting.” At the car door, he glanced back to his ex-wife and waved good-bye.
________
Danny called his attorney and for the remainder of the afternoon trimmed bushes flanking the back patio. At dinnertime, he prepared salads while Mary heated leftovers. He waited for Casey to arrive before he spilled the news about Rachel and the legal papers.
“I heard indirectly from Rachel today,” Danny said when they sat down to eat.
Casey held from shooting a glance toward Mary. “What does she want?” he asked.
Danny tapped his knife on the placemat. “Plenty. Brace yourself. I’m apparently a father. She was pregnant, hasn’t been working, and wants me to pay her child support and her pre-and post-natal medical expenses.”
Mary sighed heavily for her brother.
“Congratulations, I think, for the first part,” Casey said. “But child support … to support her?!”
“Danny, this is a shock,” Mary said. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m seeing Mark Cunningham in two days. His schedule is jammed, but he’ll see me.”
“Is the baby healthy?” Mary asked. “Is it a girl or boy?”
“I have no idea.” He looked back and forth between his sister and best friend. “You two don’t seem that surprised.”
Casey grimaced and Mary bit her lip. Finally, she said, “She’s going to make a hell of a mother, and a hell of a role model.”
Danny and Casey stared at her, allowing those true and uncomfortable thoughts to seep in.
________
“My sister and my best friend, now engaged to each other, suggested this eatery,” Danny said to Mark. “The green curry is the way to go.”
“We’ll make it two, then,” Mark said.
Danny glanced at a tourist industry’s poster of Thailand and the deep green walls with white trim. A college student came to the table and they placed their order with extra rice.
“So you’re in more deep water, Doctor Tilson?” Mark asked, his bushy hair thicker than the last time Danny had seen him.
“Unfortunately.” Danny opened the Barrett and Livingston envelope and handed him the contents. He kept silent, letting Mark read it all, as the waiter returned and poured hot tea.
“Have you had any contact with her lately?” Mark asked. “I take it from this she doesn’t know you aren’t working.”
“I don’t even know where she is, there’s been no communication,” Danny said. “They sent the papers to my work address. It appears that she has no knowledge of my job situation and that I haven’t been working.”
“At least you’ve done something right.” Danny looked puzzled. “She can’t get much out of you under the circumstances.”
“Really?”
“I’ll take care of this. I’ll fire off correspondence to her attorney. You bring your pay stubs?”
Danny handed him copies for the last few months.
“You’ve been suspended; she can’t get money out of a rock. If my hunch is correct, she’s the reason for your present pitiful set of circumstances, anyway.” Mark shook his head and took a sip of Thai tea. “A man’s downfall comes from his crotch.”
Danny felt like ducking under the table; Mark was so direct.
“But, for now, you’ll probably have to pay her something extremely minimal. Since she won’t know when or if you resume working, she’ll have to take the chance of paying her own legal fees later if she wants to find out, so she can up the ante.”
“I get it,” Danny said. “But it says in there, she also wants reimbursement for Mr. Barrett’s services.”
“No kidding. You’re not working right now. You’re in the same boat as her. You will both pay your own legal fees. I’ll see to that,” Mark said, emphatically.
“But won’t they say I’m capable of making a ton of money?”
“The occurrence of your circumstances happened independent of hers. You never planned on being jobless so you wouldn’t have to pay her bills. So eat your curry and relax.” Mark placed the papers on the chair next to him. “When you see your baby, why don’t you hand deliver your pay stubs to the mother?”
Chapter 29
Mary closed her wooden paint box and sat down. She’d been painting outside on the patio for several hours and considered the vibrant landscape finished. Casey had worked a seven-to-three shift and came outside, longing to relax. He wiggled behind Mary, in the same lounge chair, as the Chessie whiffed the air and hummingbirds zoomed between two red feeders.
“I’m going to find Rachel,” Danny said from a nearby chair as he put his novel aside. “Before Mark gets her address from the attorney in Knoxville.”
Casey pinched Mary on her side. “What are you contemplating?” he asked.
“I want to see my new baby. And give Rachel copies of my zero gross pay stubs.”
Danny squinted at the draining feeders while Casey whispered something in Mary’s ear.
“We can arrange a meeting i
f you’d like,” Casey said.
“You can?” Clueless, Danny stared at the two lovebirds. Clearly there was more that they were not telling him. “Then let’s go for it.”
“This weekend when I have off?” Casey asked.
“We know a hotel that takes dogs,” Mary said. “Let’s bring Dakota.”
“That’s fine with me,” Danny said, “and I’m sure that would be fine with Dakota.” He hoisted himself out of the chair. “You two haven’t divulged the big day. When is it?”
Casey caressed Mary from behind. “In the fall. You’re going to be my best man, right?”
“Now that I’ve been formally asked, absolutely.”
“Sara, Annabel, and Nancy will be the maid of honor and bridesmaids,” Mary said. “We’re going to do it right here, Danny. Set chairs and trellises of flowers on the lawn. We’ll have a string quartet over there.” She signaled to the oak tree and the excitement in her voice mounted.
“Mom and Dad would be so proud of you and thrilled with the ceremony at the house … and the groom.” Danny laughed and pointed at Casey.
________
They drove in Casey’s Jeep on Saturday morning. Dakota sat alert, peering out the back window at I-40 traffic as they wound through the Cumberland Plateau passing undeveloped countryside and expansive forests. The valleys between ridges looked fertile and deep green from a wet spring. The lakes and rivers streamed full, replenished from the drought of 2007. The steep mountain curves and windy trip made Mary queasy every time she attempted to read the paper, so she folded it and passed it to Danny sitting in the back seat. She slipped off her leather sandals and turned on Middle Tennessee’s talk radio, which faded as they approached Knoxville. They took a downtown exit, parked in the Crowne Plaza’s garage and walked Dakota. At the lobby’s front desk, clerks complimented Danny on his good-looking, well-mannered Chesapeake, and then the three of them checked into two rooms.