by Loree Lough
Connor leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Smiling slightly, he said, “You’re talking to a thickheaded Irishman, Judge. It might seem the most natural question in the world to you, but I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“Thickheaded, my foot!” Thompson’s gruff snort was quickly swallowed up by the carpeting and draperies in the well-appointed room. “I saw your bar exam scores. You were top of the class in every school you attended. Don’t get me wrong. I find your humility charming. It’s like my old grampa used to say, ‘Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight.’”
“I prefer Proverbs myself,” Connor said. “‘Knowledge is a precious jewel.’”
Thompson nodded. “Hundreds of lawyers have stood in front of my bench over the years, and in my opinion, only a handful of ’em will ever amount to anything worthwhile. You know why?”
Connor shook his head.
“’Cause most of ’em are in it for the money. They don’t love the law, they love what it’ll do for ’em.” He waved the paperwork under Connor’s nose. “You believe in something far more powerful than the almighty dollar. I spotted that right off. It’s just one of the reasons I’ve always liked you, Buchanan.”
Chuckling, Connor said good-naturedly, “Coulda fooled me. Sometimes I thought if you’d been allowed to keep a loaded gun up there on that bench, you’d have used it…on me!”
The judge laughed. “I admit I was hard on you. But I was testing your mettle.” One snow-white brow rose high on his wrinkled forehead. “You passed with flying colors, son. Those others…” His face contorted as if he’d inhaled an unpleasant odor. “You’re in a league of your own.”
The compliment might not have affected him had it come from someone he respected less. But coming from Judge Thompson, it was high praise indeed. Connor felt the heat of a blush creeping into his cheeks.
“If you’re a God-fearing man, why are you going about this the hard way?”
“The hard…?”
“Why not just put it in God’s capable hands. See what He wants you to do with it?”
Connor shrugged. “I’m ashamed to say I never gave it a thought.”
“You’re probably wondering what any of that has to do with your petition here, aren’t you?”
“Well, frankly, yes.”
“As I said, after you spoke to me about your great-nephew, I took it upon myself to do some checking on this young lady. Millicent and I have taken a few meals in her diner since then, I’ll have you know. Fine woman, that Miss Chandelle. Hard worker, bright, good-natured…” He winked mischievously. “And mighty easy on a man’s eyes, wouldn’t you say?”
“I’d be a liar if I denied it.”
“And a fool to boot!” The old man’s laughter bounced off every wall in the room. Suddenly, the judge was all business. “Now give it to me straight, son,” he said, giving the petition a shake. “What’s this really all about?”
“I want to adopt the boy,” Connor said.
“That’s nonsense!”
Connor swallowed. He wished now he’d taken the judge up on his offer of a soft drink because his throat was as dry as sand. “I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t beg my pardon. Beg that lovely young woman’s! She’s doing a Grade A job taking care of that youngster. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
“But…but he’s my nephew, my blood kin.”
“No one’s disputing that. I’m just remembering how well she handled it when her diner turned into a three-ring circus. Water everywhere…people falling on their posteriors… She’d make a magnificent mother if—”
“You were there?”
“You seem surprised.” He slapped his knee. “Well, here’s something else that’ll surprise you even more. I was in The Judge’s Bench recently, so I’ve seen the two of you together more than once. You’re in love with that pretty little gal. Not that I blame you….”
Were his feelings for Jaina that obvious? Connor wondered.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, ‘You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.’”
Connor nodded.
“Marry that girl and you can. You’ll have her and the boy, as well!”
“So you aren’t going to sign the petition?”
“Course I am. You want to be the boy’s father legally, don’t you?”
Another nod.
“Then you’ll need all the i’s dotted, all the t’s crossed.” He strode to his desk, withdrew a gold pen from a side drawer and scrawled his name on the last page of the document. “Done! Now it only needs to be filed with the county records office, and providing there’s no one who objects,” he said, winking again, “you’ll officially be a family man.”
Thompson walked around to the front of the desk and handed the pages back to Connor. “Course, if you ask me, you’re not really a family man until you have a wife to go with that youngster.”
Connor slid the petition back into its envelope. “I don’t know how to thank—”
“How old are you, son?” the older man asked, still towering over Connor.
He cocked a brow. What could his age possibly have to do with anything? “I’ll be thirty-five in a few weeks.”
The judge harrumphed. “Land’s sake,” he said, shaking his head, “I was married with four kids by that time. What in the world are you waiting for?” Thompson laid a fatherly hand on Connor’s shoulder as the two men walked side by side into the sunny foyer. “They say free advice is worth what it costs you, but I’m going to give you some anyway.”
Connor grinned. “I’d be honored to take it.”
“The right woman only comes along once in a man’s lifetime. If you let her get away, you’ll regret it for the rest of your days.” The judge opened the door. “Millicent and I will be back in early September. Give me a call. You can fill me in on the details.”
Connor wished him a safe flight and a pleasant trip, then held up the envelope. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
Thompson gave one last wink. “By inviting me to the wedding so I can dance with the bride,” he said, and closed the door.
As he drove away from the impressive estate, Connor couldn’t get Thompson’s words out of his mind. The judge had been right; life was fraught with regrets. Why add another to the already too-long list?
As soon as the adoption papers were filed, he’d visit Jaina, tell her exactly how he felt. Hopefully, she’d agree with him and say yes when he popped the question.
Jaina hadn’t been in when he stopped by, so Connor asked Rita’s permission to take Liam for a drive in the country. Had it been up to her alone, the answer would have been a terse no. Thankfully, Ray had been there, too.
Connor decided to stop off at the office first, to file his copies of the paperwork…and to show Liam off to Pearl. He heard the music even before the elevator doors opened. Standing in the waiting room, he teased, “You’re not going deaf on me, are you?”
“Course not,” she called from somewhere in his office.
“Then why is the radio turned up so loud?”
“Can’t hear it when I’m in here. Besides, that song the DJ is playing is one of my all-time favorites. Has been for years.”
Until that moment, Connor had only been half listening to it. Something about it sounded strikingly familiar. “Nice,” he admitted, nodding as he sat on the couch across from Pearl’s desk, “real nice.”
Liam bounced up and down on his knee. “Mmumm-mmumm,” he said excitedly, pointing to the stereo. “Mmumm-mmumm?”
He looked into the boy’s eyes. O’Dell had told him she’d had one hit record. Could this be it, and had Liam recognized her voice?
“In your eyes, love,” the singer crooned, “I see my future. When you smile, my whole world is at peace. When that old world starts closin’ in around me…wrap your lovin’ arms ‘round me…”
It was Jaina all right. Either that, or there were two women in Ame
rica who had deep, sultry voices. If he remembered correctly, she’d written the song herself.
“Kiss me soft, love, and let me hear you sigh. Only in your arms, love, do I feel free…so wrap your lovin’ arms ’round me…”
Had she written it for that no-account Bill Isaacs? A surge of jealousy sizzled through him. Connor hoped not because, someday, he wanted her to sing it for him.
“I will love you until the day I die. I’ll never leave you, never make you cry. I’ve just one dream for all eternity…that you’ll wrap your lovin’ arms ’round me…that you’ll wrap your lovin’ arms ’round me…”
Pearl bustled into the room, dusting the palms of her hands together. With a flick of her wrist, she turned off the stereo.
“No…don’t,” Connor said.
“The song was over anyway.” She walked closer, then bent over slightly and rested her hands on her knees. “Well, what have we here?” she cooed to Liam. “I haven’t seen you for such a long time, little fella. Lookin’ good. Real good.” Gently, Pearl touched the tip of his nose. “Do you have any idea the effect you’ve had on your Uncle Connor?”
One finger in his mouth, Liam peered up at her through long lashes and grinned flirtatiously.
“You’ve turned a grumpy old meanie into a young, happy man, that’s what.”
For the second time that day, a secretary had referred to him as mean. He couldn’t have been that bad…could he? “Liam and I are going to take a ride in the country,” he announced. “Soon as I stop by the house and change into jeans, I’m going over to Marriotsville Road to check out those horses for sale.”
Pearl straightened up and crossed her arms in front of her. “You have the perfect place for them. All those rolling acres…that big red barn… It’ll look like a picture postcard with a couple of beautiful horses grazing in the corral.”
The only reason he’d considered the idea at all was because Jaina had told him in the parking lot after their lunch that she loved to ride. But he couldn’t very well admit that to Pearl. If he did, her romantic matchmaking side would never let him hear the end of it. Connor was contemplating what he would say when the ringing phone rescued him.
“Mr. Buchanan’s office. May I help you?” Pearl nodded, held one hand over the mouthpiece. “It’s Mr. O’Dell,” she whispered. And making a silly face at Liam, she added, “You want me to get a number? Tell him you’ll call him back?”
The baby giggled at her, and Connor kissed his cheek. “Nah, I’ll take it. O’Dell is usually to the point.” He stood and handed Liam to her. “You don’t mind, do you?”
Beaming, Pearl cuddled the baby to her ample bosom. “Mind? I should say not!” She pulled open a desk drawer as Connor headed for his office. “Look what your old Auntie Pearl has for you,” she cooed, handing him a tea biscuit.
“Not too much junk food now,” he said, grinning.
She never took her eyes from the baby as she waved his comment away.
He picked up his phone. “Hey, O’Dell,” Connor said. “What’s up?”
“Good news, bad news.”
Connor sighed deeply. “Okay, let me have it.”
“Good news first this time. I found your niece.”
“Kirstie? Where?”
“Small hospital outside of Chicago.”
“Have you seen her?”
“Yeah…that’s the bad news.”
“Not good, huh?”
“’Fraid not. You want to see her, better get here fast.”
Connor felt his heart sinking as he jotted down the address and phone number of the hospital. “I’ll be on the next flight to O’Hare. Can you meet me?”
“Sure thing. Just let me know when and where. And Connor?”
“Yeah?”
The man hesitated. “Never mind. Just hurry up, all right?”
They hung up simultaneously. “Pearl,” Connor said, stuffing the message slip into the breast pocket of his suit, “I need to be on the next plane to Chicago.”
She stopped bouncing the baby on her knee. “But…but you have appointments up to here, both in the office and in court, and—”
“Make my apologies and reschedule what you can.”
“O’Dell found your niece?” she asked, standing.
Connor nodded. “She doesn’t have long.” She handed Liam back to his uncle and riffled through her Rolodex. While she was dialing the airline, he said, “Reserve two seats.”
“Two?”
“One for me, one for my boy here.”
Smiling, she nodded understandingly.
“There’s a plane leaving BWI in an hour,” she said a few minutes later. “You might want to stop by your house and—”
“No time for that,” he said, hoisting Liam up. “I’ll stop at the store for some necessities. Whatever else we need I’ll buy when we get there.” Then, “Will you—”
“I’ll call O’Dell, give him the flight number and arrival time. I’ll call Jaina, too.”
Connor gave Pearl a small peck on the cheek. “Thanks.”
She pressed her fingertips to the spot he’d kissed. “For what?”
“For being a gem.”
He left her there, blushing and looking puzzled, and headed straight for the airport.
“What do you mean, he came and took him away?” Jaina’s heart beat double time as she slumped onto the padded seat of a booth.
“I mean,” Rita said, “he said he was going to take him for a drive in the country. He promised to have him back by six.”
Jaina glanced at the antique grandfather clock in the corner of the diner. Any minute now, it would strike eight. “Maybe they got hung up in traffic. You know how crazy that beltway can be on a Friday night.”
“Nonsense,” Rita said. “He’s taken him away, and I don’t think he’ll be back.”
“Have you called his house?”
“No.”
Jaina hurried to the phone behind the counter and dialed Connor’s home number. The answering machine picked up, and she left a brief message.
“He can be a real workaholic. Maybe he stopped by his office,” she said, thinking aloud, “to pick something up, or drop something off, or—” Again, a machine intercepted her call. She hung up quietly and, leaning both elbows on the counter, hid her face in her hands. “I hope there hasn’t been an accident.” Horrible as the thought was, it seemed almost preferable to the alternative.
“He isn’t home and he isn’t in his office and there hasn’t been an accident. I think you should call the police,” Rita said, “because that no-good lawyer has run off with Liam!”
“Mother,” Ray said, “calm down now. You know that it isn’t good for you to get so excited.”
“Well, pardon me all the way to town and back,” Rita fumed, “for having a normal human reaction to this fiasco.”
“Mom,” Jaina said softly, “Dad’s right. I can’t believe Connor would…that he’d just leave without a word. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”
“You could be right, but I don’t think so.”
It wasn’t like Rita to be so pessimistic. Jaina recalled the night Kirstie had left Liam in their care, when her mother had accused her of being cynical. Think positively, she told herself. Anything else is unacceptable, intolerable. Since her accident, it had been Jaina’s nature to be distrustful. How many times had Rita called her a gloomy Gus, a doubting Thomas? And how many times had she excused her own negative behavior by saying that people deserved her cynicism?
Too many to count.
But Liam had changed all that.
Liam…and his uncle….
She refused to believe Connor had simply waltzed in and taken the boy away with a promise to return if he had no intention of doing so. There was a reasonable explanation for his sudden disappearance. There had to be.
Connor couldn’t have done anything as despicably thoughtless as stealing Liam.
Because if he could, it meant she’d let herself fall in love with
the wrong man…again.
Connor had never been so well looked after during a flight in his life. He knew without a doubt he had Liam to thank for the nonstop service. Even before the plane got off the ground in Baltimore, the baby had won the hearts of all the flight attendants. Upon their arrival in Chicago, one pressed a colorful sticker of gold wings to his shirt, while another propped a tiny cap bearing the airline’s insignia onto his head.
As promised, O’Dell was waiting for him at the gate and drove him to the hospital. He didn’t waste a moment explaining the situation to the nurse on duty, who insisted on taking care of Liam while Connor spoke with Kirstie’s doctor.
Dr. Ginnan quickly updated Connor on her condition, explaining the type of cancer that was draining the life away from her.
“How long does she have?”
“Couple of days, a week at the outside.”
“Is she in pain?”
“Well, we have her on a painkiller IV. She can dose herself any time she feels the need.”
“That doesn’t answer my question, Doc.”
The physician sat back, folded his hands atop his abdomen. “Kirstie seems determined to tough this thing out.” He removed his eyeglasses and placed them on the desk. “May I ask you a question, Mr. Buchanan?”
Connor nodded.
“She told us she had no family, made it clear she didn’t want anyone notified of her condition. How did you find out she was with us?”
“She left her son with…” Connor did not want Dr. Ginnan getting the impression that his niece was a flighty girl, too immature to be a good mother. He had two hear-trending notes to prove the contrary. “Kirstie left Liam with a friend who contacted me, and…” He shrugged. “I didn’t want her spending her last days alone, so I hired a detective to find her.”
The doctor pursed his lips and nodded thoughtfully. “I see,” he said. He shoved back his chair and stood. “I’ll let you see her now. Perhaps you’ll be able to convince her to take advantage of the medications. There’s really no sense in her suffering.”
Connor stood. “Will we—her son and I—have unlimited access to her room?”
“Naturally. Have you seen her?”