Beth looked from the picture to the man. They matched. “Mr. McDuff, I was under the impression we would meet in court.”
“Ma’am, we aren’t enemies. We’re both victims of a very strange circumstance, and I’d like to speak with you about it if I may.”
Beth looked past him to his late model SUV parked on the street. The back windows were darkened so she couldn’t see if a baby waited. He must have known what she thought because he glanced over his shoulder and said, “I came alone.”
Anger surged through Beth. How dare he come to see Stevie without bringing my baby! A cold stiff wind whistled around the door, blowing the blanket back from the baby she’d almost forgotten. Talking through an open doorway would send her heating bill through the roof. She took a step back.
“All right.” You may come inside, but the first thing you’d better answer is why you didn’t bring my baby.”
~*~
Jonathan closed the door behind him and took in the sparse furnishings. A sofa and matching chair filled one corner. An entertainment center, probably made of pressed wood particles that came in a box with assembly instructions, stood against the opposite wall. The other end of the room, where two little girls about Lexie’s age played with some wooden blocks, held built-in cubbies with toys, puzzles, and books sorted in each compartment.
From the investigation his father had done, he knew Mrs. Carter ran a daycare in her rented home. She did fairly well if you could call working twelve hours a day for barely enough to support herself and a baby doing well. He didn’t think so, and he doubted Mrs. Carter thought so, either. No doubt she could use extra cash.
“Well?” Beth’s voice reminded him she still waited for his explanation. “Where’s my daughter?”
Jon frowned. With an emphasis on the first word, he said, “My daughter is probably having dinner about now with her grandparents. I did not bring her because I saw no reason to take her out in the cold and upset her routine.”
“And what reason did you see to come yourself?” Beth returned to the rocking chair with the baby.
When it seemed she would not extend an invitation, Jon perched on the edge of the sofa. He tried to see Lexie in the woman before him and couldn’t. While Lexie had blond hair and blue eyes, Mrs. Carter’s hair was as dark as his own. He hadn’t noticed her eye color and couldn’t see them now.
He shrugged. “I came to take you and your daughter to dinner. I thought it would be beneficial to us both if we met and discussed our mutual problem.”
“You mean outside of court?” Suspicion glittered in what he now realized were eyes as blue as Lexie’s.
He nodded. Turning on charm had become a lost art to him, but he gave it a try as he smiled. “I have a reservation at a restaurant in Springfield for this evening, and I’d love for you to accompany me. Mrs. Carter, if we are going to work out an arrangement satisfactory to us both, we need to maintain a friendly attitude.”
Beth rocked and looked down at the baby in her arms. When she looked up, her eyes held distrust. “All right, I have one more pickup and then we’ll go with you, but I’ll take my own car.”
Jon didn’t blame her for not trusting him. In fact, he admired her for it. He settled back and watched the two little girls play. One stacked some blocks and, while she reached for another, the other child knocked them down. Expecting a howl of displeasure, he was surprised when both little ones laughed and clapped their hands.
The two little girls could have been sisters with their coloring so similar. Both had blond hair and he assumed blue eyes. Actually, if Lexie were here, it would be like having triplets. How could he tell which was his daughter? He looked from one to the other and frustration mounted because he didn’t know. Shouldn’t he feel something for his own daughter? He could pick Lexie out of a hundred little girls, but neither of the two across the room held any special attraction to him. Yet, one was his daughter, born of his own flesh.
While he watched them, the doorbell rang and the door opened. A woman with blond hair rushed in, closing the door behind her. “I will be so glad for spring.”
One of the little girls scrambled up and ran to the woman. “Mama.”
Jon tuned out the activity as he turned his attention to the remaining child, who now sat watching her friend get ready to leave. So this was his daughter. A feeling of pride gave way to helpless anger that he had been denied this beautiful child. Then he thought of Lexie, and his anger faded. He could never wish the last year and a half with her away, even as he could never replace the eighteen months he had lost with his own daughter.
Yet, Lexie was his daughter, too. He’d like to see anyone try to prove she wasn’t. His daughter stood and crossed the floor to Beth’s side while a dart of possessive jealousy struck his heart. She didn’t belong with this woman. He wondered if he had enough persuasion to convince her that both babies would be better off with him.
Chapter Three
Beth tried to ignore the man hovering over her while she balanced her daughter on one arm and locked her front door.
“I suppose you expect the baby to ride with you?”
She turned. He stood entirely too close. If he thought she’d turn her baby over to him as soon as he showed up at her house, he wasn’t very smart. She frowned. “Of course Stevie is going with me.”
“Look, there’s really no reason to take two cars. You can ride with me. I’m not Jack the Ripper, after all.”
Beth studied his face and eyes. Mom always said you could tell a lot about a person if you looked them in the eyes. His eyes were brown. She’d noticed that in the house. Steven had brown eyes. She’d always thought Stevie had Steven’s eyes, but she’d obviously been wrong.
“You have an advantage, Mr. McDuff. By not bringing my baby.”
“Lexie is my—” He stopped, his gaze moving to Stevie, and Beth wondered if he felt as confused by the situation as she did. If so, he recovered quickly. “Lexie is better off out of this cold wind just as Stevie will be as soon as we get moving. Please, will you ride with me? I promise I’ll get you both home safe and sound.”
She had no business even going with the man. She wasn’t so hard up she needed a free meal, and she didn’t feel particularly gracious toward him. Lord, I need Your help tonight. I want to be unpleasant toward this man, to say the least. What would You have me do? Strengthen me so I can show forth a Christian attitude.
Beth sighed. “I suppose I may as well save gas.”
The corners of Jon’s mouth twitched, but he walked with her to his SUV without comment. He opened the back door and held out his hands toward Stevie. “The car seat is a bit tricky to operate.”
“Oh, really?” Beth allowed him to take Stevie although she didn’t for a minute believe she couldn’t have buckled her in just as easily as he did. She watched until he closed the back door and didn’t see anything unusual about the seat.
He turned and almost bumped into her. “Excuse me.” He reached past to open the passenger door, giving her a whiff of masculine scent. Something spicy and fresh. She took a deep breath before she realized what she was doing.
She sat down and pulled her feet inside. “Thank you.”
He nodded and closed the door.
Jon pulled onto Highway 13 heading south toward Springfield before the silence grew so loud Beth had to say something. “You said you wanted to get to know Stevie and me. Can you tell me something about yourself? What do you do for a living?”
“I’m an attorney. I work for my father, actually, at McDuff Family Law. We handle estates, divorces, adoptions, family matters for the most part.”
“Oh.” Her one word covered the surge of emotions his disclosure brought. An attorney. He probably made as much in a month as she did in half a year, maybe a whole year. Family law. There went her chances of getting a fair hearing in court. He and his father would know how to use the law to take what they wanted. At least he wouldn’t likely run off with Stevie. He wouldn’t have to. Not when he knew
how to legally take her baby from her.
Jon pushed a couple of buttons on the dash. Soft music filled the interior of the vehicle, but did little to ease Beth’s troubled mind. He seemed to be concentrating on driving. She’d wait until she could watch his expression before asking any more questions. Several minutes later they reached the city limits of Springfield.
Jon turned onto Kearney and then Glenstone. He apparently knew where he was going. In the south part of town he pulled into the restaurant parking lot and stopped. She opened her door at the same time he opened his.
“If you’ll wait, I’ll get her out.”
She opened the back door, fighting the urge to turn and look at him. “That’s all right. I can do it. She’s asleep. If she wakes up to a stranger, it may frighten her.”
He stepped back, and she breathed easier. Something about this man disturbed her. She expected to feel tension because of their unique situation, but this was different. The last time she was so aware of a man, she and Steven had just started dating. This sort of tension, she could do without.
She reached over Stevie and released the restraint on the car seat. It did require an extra tug, but wasn’t so difficult. Still, she couldn’t blame him for using the excuse that the catch was difficult to operate as an chance to hold Stevie. She might have done the same thing.
“Come on, sweetheart.” Beth pulled her baby from the seat. “It’s time to eat supper.”
Stevie’s head nestled into her shoulder and neck releasing a current of maternal love that would never lessen no matter what the courts decided. Beth threw the baby blanket over Stevie’s head and walked beside Jon to the door of the restaurant.
After the waiter left with their order, Beth opened a packet of crackers and handed one to Stevie. She then looked across the table at Jon. “Tell me about my baby.”
His gaze moved to Stevie, and she shook her head. “You called her Lexie. Is that her name?”
He met her gaze. “Alexis Gayle McDuff. And let’s get something straight. Lexie is very much my daughter.”
Just as Stevie is mine. Beth studied the brown eyes she recognized as so much like Stevie’s. His held pain she hadn’t noticed before. Surely they held more secrets than she could imagine. One thing was certain, he loved Lexie as much as she loved Stevie. He said they were both victims of an unusual circumstance, and he was right. They were not enemies and shouldn’t be fighting. Her heart softened to him.
“I’m sorry. Of course, Lexie is yours after all this time. As Stevie is mine. On the other hand, don’t you agree Lexie is also my child by birth, just as Stevie is yours?”
Jon’s expression softened as he nodded. “We can’t argue with DNA.”
“No, we can’t.” There had been an edge to his voice she didn’t understand. Maybe he didn’t want to share Lexie. “Do you have a picture of Lexie I may see?”
“Yes, I do.” Jon pulled his billfold from his back pocket and opened it. He slipped out a small plastic rectangular insert and handed it to her.
When Beth opened it, a string of accordion-folded pictures fell out. The first was a hospital picture very much like the one Beth had of Stevie as a newborn. Printed across the bottom was Alexis Gayle McDuff, 6 lbs. 7 oz., along with her birthdate of July 15. The next picture had been taken at one month with a new picture every few months after that up to eighteen months. Beth studied each picture carefully, laying them aside when their food arrived.
“Would you mind if I pray?” Jon’s question surprised, but pleased, her.
She shook her head. “No, of course not.”
Stevie stuck her hand toward Beth. “Pay, Mama.”
Beth smiled and took her tiny hand in her fingers. “Yes, sweetie, we’re going to pray now.”
Jon stared at their joined hands then bowed his head and offered a short prayer of thanksgiving. At least he knew how to pray and was willing to pray in a public place, although that in itself was not proof of his spiritual condition. He might be a fellow believer. He’d done nothing to indicate otherwise. Whether he was or not, he’d behaved as a gentleman since she opened her door and found him standing on her porch. She needed to remember that.
“Is Lexie talking yet?” There were so many things she wanted to know about her baby. So much she’d missed and could never know.
Jon swallowed the food in his mouth and nodded. “About like Stevie. By the way is that her name? Stevie?”
Stevie looked up at the sound of her name and held her spoon above her head. “Tee-kee.”
Jon laughed.
A dimple flashed beside his mouth. Stevie’s dimple. Beth sucked in a breath and closed her eyes as pain ripped through her heart. She’d always wondered about Stevie’s dimple. Now without doubt she knew where it had come from. She gripped the edge of the table as her world tilted. Stevie banged her spoon on the table and laughed with Jon. Her dimple flashed in and out as if to say, “Look at me, Mama, I’m not really your baby. I belong to this man.”
“Mrs. Carter?” Jon’s voice sounded concerned. “Is anything wrong?”
Beth forced a smile and blotted her mouth with a napkin to hide its trembling. “No, I’m fine. And to answer your question, yes, that is her name. Stevie Elizabeth Carter. My husband’s name was Steven. She’s named after her father.”
“I see.”
Beth’s conscience received a twinge when she realized how petty she sounded. As if she were trying to get back at him for having a dimple in the exact same place as Stevie’s. She picked up the pictures of Lexie and looked through them again. She smiled at one taken outdoors. It appeared the photographer had caught her in a natural pose with her head tilted to one side, her hand digging into her jeans’ pocket.
Jon leaned closer and spoke. “She has a penny in her pocket.”
Beth turned her smile on him. “It’s a wonderful picture. She’s a beautiful child.”
Jon shrugged. “At first I didn’t think she looked like you. Now I can see several resemblances. Her eyes for one. They’re the same color and shape. Her smile is very like yours.”
He couldn’t have given her a nicer compliment. Her smile widened. “Thank you. I appreciate you telling me that. Stevie has your eyes and smile, too. I always wondered where the dimple beside her mouth came from.”
Jon looked at Stevie and his expression grew soft. “Yes, her dimple is a family trait.”
Beth pushed her plate aside and handed the pictures back to Jon as she turned to face him. “There’s one thing I don’t understand. Why did you come here tonight?”
Jon stuffed his pictures back into his billfold. His gaze met hers across the table. “I made this trip, Mrs. Carter, to see my daughter and, before the court date is set, I wanted to meet the woman who has cared for her all this time.”
“I see.”
“Now I’ve met you, I’d like to know how you feel about this situation we find ourselves in.”
“I really don’t understand what you’re asking.” Beth frowned. “Of course, I was shocked to discover my child is not— Is not the baby I gave birth to.”
“Exactly.” Jon nodded. “What are your feelings about keeping Stevie now you know she isn’t really yours?”
Beth stared at the man sitting across from her. Her stomach clenched. What was he driving at? Surely, he had some motive behind his questions.
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “Stevie is mine. I love her just as if she had been born to me. Of course, I want to keep her.”
“Mrs. Carter, you have no blood tie to Stevie, while I do.” Jon still held his billfold in front of him. He glanced down at it then at Beth. “I would be more than willing to recompense any expenses you have incurred in the past year and a half if you will allow me to legally adopt my own daughter.”
The blood drained from Beth’s face then rushed back in full force. The car seat was no accident. He expected to take Stevie home with him. Mr. Rich Lawyer McDuff thought he could buy her baby. That’s why he didn’t bring
Lexie. He had no intention of giving her up, either.
Beth stood, shoving the chair backward. With quick jerks, she grabbed her purse, her baby, their coats and Stevie’s blanket. Without wasting another glance on Mr. McDuff, she headed for the front door.
~*~
Jon sat in stunned silence while she stormed away. Whatever was the matter with the woman? Obviously, he had underestimated her. Did she want more than just recompense?
Where did she think she was going? She came with him. He yanked a bill from his billfold and slammed it on the table for a tip. He shoved his chair back as he stuffed his billfold into his pocket. Then he turned and almost ran into a waiter in his hurry to catch up with Beth.
“May I use a telephone?” Jon heard Beth’s voice before he saw her. “I need to make a long distance call, but I can pay in advance.”
“Oh, no, you don’t.” Jon stepped in front of her and stood close to her without touching. “You came with me. I promised to get you both home safely.”
“That won’t be necessary, Mr. McDuff.” Beth stepped back. Her voice sounded colder than the wind outside.
“Yes, it’s necessary.” Jon ignored the curious stare from the hostess. “What do you intend to do? Call someone in Bolivar to come and get you? You’d have to wait at least an hour for them to drive down here. Stevie doesn’t need that.”
Jon watched indecision flicker in the depths of Beth’s eyes so like Lexie’s and knew he’d won his case. He stepped back to await the verdict.
“All right. I’ll go back with you.” Her voice dropped so he had to lean forward to hear. “And then, I never want to see you again.”
~*~
The ride back to Bolivar was quiet, except for the music Jon played. Beth let the soft classical strings soothe her troubled thoughts. He tried to take Stevie from her. She felt betrayed, and that bothered her even though she didn’t know Jon. Just when she started to like him, he had to do something so stupid, so demeaning. What could she have possibly done to make him think he could buy her?
Nothing. He’d come with the intention of talking her into giving up her daughter. He wanted to pay her for letting him adopt her baby. He wanted to buy Stevie from her. Of course he had played it smart. Asking to adopt Stevie and saying he’d pay for the expenses she’d been out over the last year and a half. What was she supposed to do? Make a reciprocal payment for his expenses in caring for Lexie? Of course not. He intended to have both babies. Well, he couldn’t have Stevie.
This Child Is Mine Page 3